Monday, April 10, 2017

Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)

Genre: Documentary / Comedy
Directed by: John Landis
Cast: Don Rickles, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood
Time: 89 minutes



After Don Rickles’ passing, late last week, I decided to check out this documentary that was made by John Landis about the man Johnny Carson nicknamed Mr. Warmth.

In Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, loads of comics, actors and actresses, and public figures share their thoughts about Rickles. You can clearly see their love and admiration for the man who was considered the king of insult comedy. We also see bits of Rickles’ performance at the Stardust Casino, in Las Vegas, in 2006. There also loads of archive footage of Rickles on The Tonight Show, in movies, in Roasts and in other events.

On the surface, Don Rickles was doing jokes that might have been considered racist, sexist homophobic or just plain inappropriate if they had not been done with such a total absence of malice. His timing was impeccable, he was a comic genius. Mr. Warmth was, deep down, a sweet man who was poking fun at everybody equally in his act. This is a documentary well worth seeing about a man well worth remembering.

Rating: «««««



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