Don Rickles
Donald Jay “Don” Rickles (born May 8, 1926) is an American comedian and actor. A frequent guest on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic. However, unlike many insult comics who only find short-lived success, Rickles has enjoyed a sustained career in insult performance.
Rickles was born in the New York City borough of Queens to Jewish parents Etta (née Feldman) and Max Rickles. His father was an insurance salesman born in Russia. He grew up in the Jackson Heights area.[4] After graduating from Newtown High School, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II on the USS Cyrene as a S1/c. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Two years later he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and played occasional bit parts on television. Frustrated by a lack of acting work, he began doing stand-up comedy. He became known as an insult comedian by responding to hecklers. The audience liked these insults more than his prepared material, so he incorporated them into his act. When he began his career in the early 1950s (as he told Jay Leno April 15, 2009 on The Tonight Show), he started calling ill-mannered members of the audience in burlesque houses a Hockey Puck. His style was similar to an older insult comic, Jack E. Leonard, though Rickles has denied that Leonard influenced his style.
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