Style
It is well known that Rickles has nothing against the people that he insults during his routine, and that it is all just part of the act. Although sarcastically nicknamed "Mr. Warmth" due to his offensive and insensitive stage personality, in reality most know him to be actually quite genial and pleasant. It has been said that being insulted by Rickles is like "wearing a badge of honor."
When asked by an interviewer if he ever worried that his insult comedy might ever become too offensive, Rickles replied, "You know, every night when I go out on stage to do my comedy routines, there's always one nagging fear in the back of my mind. I'm always afraid that somewhere out there, there is one person in the audience that I'm NOT going to offend!"
Rickles is known for lackadaisically saying the word "anyway" and "let me tell ya this," following most of his comedic insults, in order to appear nonchalant about the comic volley he had just thrown at an audience member, show host, etc. This is widely regarded as one of Rickles' classic comedic tactics that contribute to his impeccable sense of timing.
Read more about this topic: Don Rickles
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“To me style is just the outside of content, and content the inside of style, like the outside and the inside of the human body—both go together, they can’t be separated.”
—Jean-Luc Godard (b. 1930)
“Always, however brutal an age may actually have been, its style transmits its music only.”
—André Malraux (1901–1976)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)