Don Rickles was really funny

We saw a rerun of the Dick Van Dyke Show this week that featured comedian Don Rickles as a guest star. Rickles was a busy stand-up jokester with a thick NYC accent who specialized in insult humor, especially along ethnic lines. After he would make an ethnic dig, he sometimes would ask the audience, "Is he laughing or walking toward me?" Likely in this hyper-sensitive age, his humor would not work as well, but it was funny in its time.

On one occasion, Rickles ribbed mobster Joe Gallo  in a routine despite being warned not to do so. Gallo accepted the digs in good humor.