Rickles: He's able to close now

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 20th, 2004

The Seattle Times has a nice interview with Don Rickles, a compact and peppy chat with a nice compendium of Rickles’ career achievements.

Rickles tried a variety of jobs while he was scouring for an acting gig. He pitched cosmetics, cars and insurance. “I was a lousy insurance man because I could never close. Somebody would say, ‘I’ll think about it.’ I’d say, ‘Fine,’ and I’d leave.

“My father was a great insurance man. He said, ‘What did you do? You should’ve stayed there with him until he closed.’ I didn’t have that spark to make them buy it.”

With the passing of Rodney and Alan King, Rickles is the grandaddy of all comics now. His name has lent itself to an adjective (“Ricklesian”) and, at 78, he’s gigging regularly and acting as well. All hail Rickles!