Don’t Call Me Sir

I'm an amateur comedy geek. Maybe it's because I've always been the class clown, but all things comedy have always had a pull on me, and somewhere along the way I discovered Don Rickles and quickly became a fan, partly, maybe, because I insult my own friends for fun in all sorts of social settings. Rickles is a genius, easily one of the greatest comics of all time. He's an acquired taste, because his style is unique: insult comedy, from an equal-opportunity offender. Watched in 2026, a lot of his jokes might seem dated, anachronistic and downright offensive. But that's to miss his genius. His satire is aimed at the very bigotry he performs, and he isn't a bigot or a racist, or out to really offend. What stands out to me are the warm words that come after something that sounds shocking at first. He'll make fun of someone's ethnicity, skin colour, race or religion, and then, with his way with words, say something like the line Zoë Heller quotes here: "I wish for you, my friends, that for years to come you have what I have—people who care." Lines like that are really evocative. In the last month or so, YouTube has been surfacing a lot of Rickles clips, especially from The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, and boy, are they fun to watch. I was randomly googling his name when I came across this profile in The New Yorker, a wonderful piece by Zoë Heller. A few clips immediately come to mind: Martin Scorsese's tribute, Clint Eastwood's tribute, the way he makes fun of Julia Roberts, pretty much all his Dean Martin roasts, and especially his appearance on Johnny Carson's show with Frank Sinatra, whom he idolised and who was a thick friend. There's also his dinner with Snoop Dogg, which I highly recommend. All you have to do is search YouTube for Don Rickles, and I guarantee you'll have a fun time. B.