Starting at Sahara, Rickles turned put-downs into an art form

Rich Little’s first conversation with Don Rickles unfolded on his doorstep in Los Angeles, about 60 years ago.

Little lived next door to Rickles’ mother, Etta, on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.

“All that I’d known about Don Rickles in those days was that he was a stand-up comic, and he was very close to his mother,” Little said Thursday, shortly after hearing of Rickles’ death at age 90. “Don was always bringing [his mother] chicken soup. One day, he banged on my door and said, ‘Hey, are you shtupping my mother? Keep away from her! She’s horny, but she’s not your type!’

“I went, ‘What! No, no!’ ” Little recalled. “Then I realized, he’s doing his act, and I went into hysterics. That’s how I met Don Rickles.”

The two appeared together in several “Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts” at the old MGM Grand, where Rickles often turned his attention to the young impressionist. “He told me, ‘If you ever find out who you really are, you’ll want to be someone else!’ “

Little shared the famed roasting dais with such comic legends as Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Jonathan Winters, George Burns and Johnny Carson. Nonethelesss, Little said Rickles “was the funniest comedian I have ever seen in my life. I don’t take saying that lightly. He was always on, and always thinking of his next line, and even the one after that. The only other comics I ever saw who could do that were Winters and Robin Williams, but the only one who made me laugh so hard I fell out of my seat was Don.”

Rickles arrived in Las Vegas in 1959 and performed here steadily through his last shows at Orleans Showroom last October. Among his earliest supporters was fellow comedic legend Shecky Greene, a top draw at the Riviera when Rickles was being considered for a run at Sahara.

“I had known of Don, and Milton Prell, who owned the Sahara, asked me about him. I said, ‘Give him a shot, like you gave me. Maybe you’ll get lucky with him in the lounge.’” Greene said. “And he was a hit, because what he did onstage was vitriolic and it set him apart.”

Rickles got the gig. “When Don Rickles and Louis Prima were at the Casbar at the Sahara, that lounge was more important than the main room. You could see these world-class entertainers, for free, and Don really progressed from there and became a national name.”

Certainly, the two venues concurrently presented top-flight entertainers. In one memorable co-headlining run in the mid-1960s, Carson played the showroom and Rickles headlined the lounge.

Rickles began his run on the Strip the same year Wayne Newton and his brother, Jerry, were booked at the Fremont Hotel. Newton was friends for decades with Rickles and his wife of 52 years, Barbara.

“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know Don,” Newton said Thursday. “He was truly one of the kindest people I have ever known and his family meant the world to him. He and Barbara always reminded me of ‘The Honeymooners.’ Don was a one-of-a-kind talent, and spent his life bringing laughter and happiness to all of us.”

Clint Holmes’ first Vegas performances were opening for Rickles in the late-1970s, at the Sahara showroom, and later for a series of shows at Golden Nugget. “He was one of the people who had the most positive influence on my career, and he was always ready to entertain. He always had an insult ready for you,” Holmes said. “I had this big hair at the time, with these tinted-blonde tips, and he took a kind of sideways look at me and said, ‘Did somebody just shove a broom up your ass?’ “

But those who knew Rickles also talk of his kind disposition away from the spotlight. Pia Zadora, Rickles’ opening act dating to the late-1970s, recalls riding in a limo while on tour in Framingham, Mass. when Rickles spotted a stray dog.

“Don tells the driver to stop and goes out to grab this dog, this mangy terrier-type,” Zadora said. “We did local TV and brought this dog with us, asking to find the owner. He became our mascot for a few days, and finally the owners got a hold of us. But that’s how Don was when he wasn’t throwing the daggers at you.”

Current Las Vegas headlining comics who arrived on the scene generations after Rickles’ debut have also felt his influence. Brad Garrett, who operates his own club out of the MGM Grand, remembers running into Rickles while Garrett was dining with Ray Romano and a group of comedy writers at at Nobu restaurant in Malibu, Calif.. This was when “Everybody Loves Raymond” was at the peak of its fame.

“Don walked by our table and said, loudly, ‘Losers! All of you!’ ” said Garrett said. “We all laughed our asses off. We felt like we were knighted in the world of comedy, skewered by the king.” Garrett, who has carried the insult-comic tradition in his own act, added, “He’s probably the main reason I chose this business … There was no one like him; never will be. He got away with stuff in the day that no comic would dare even try, and he did it brilliantly.”

Scott Thompson, better known as Luxor headliner Carrot Top, co-starred with Rickles in the 1997 film “Dennis the Menace.” Just two months ago, Thompson ran into Rickles at Craig’s restaurant in Beverly Hills.

“I went up to him and said, ‘I don’t know if you remember me …’ and he cuts me off and says, ‘I have tried to forget everything I have ever done with you, ever.’ I told him his group of friends looked like the ‘Last Supper,’ and he goes, ‘Oh, you’re trying to be funny now? Why can’t try being funny in your act, too? You should have tried that years ago!’ It was great. He just destroyed me.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. Follow him @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.