Don Rickles overcomes leg infection and appears in ‘Just For Laughs’ special

TORONTO – Comedy legend Don Rickles admits he thought his storied standup career was over when a leg infection forced him to undergo several surgeries and postpone touring for a few months last year.

“I thought, ‘Oh God, that’s the end of me,’ but it certainly wasn’t,” he said in a recent telephone interview to promote the “Just For Laughs Presents: Don Rickles” special, airing on CBC-TV on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. ET.

“So right at this moment I sit in a chair with a cane and perform, and (audiences) are still wonderful and they show up to see me and that’s the name of the game.”

The 88-year-old said he had to undergo six operations after a fungal infection struck his leg over a year ago, but added “it’s coming around now.”

“Eventually … I’ll either keep the cane or walk by myself or have two guys carry me around,” he quipped. “But it hasn’t reached that point and I still work and I’m still very happy.”

Taped at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival earlier this year, “Just For Laughs Presents: Don Rickles” sees the famed wisecracker performing his insult brand of comedy and delivering songs and stories about his stints in Las Vegas and times with the Rat Pack. Other comedians on the bill include Tom Papa, Alonzo Bodden, Adam Hills and Canadian native Caroline Rhea.

Rickles said he still performs not out of obligation, but out of passion.

“I’m 88 years young and have a wonderful wife and two grandchildren and a daughter,” said the New York Native, who voices Mr. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” animated films.

“My family life has been wonderful, and as long as people show up to see me, I’m very happy. … As you get older it’s good to keep moving, and when you entertain it keeps the mind going and so forth.”

Rickles said he has many fond memories of performing in Canada. As fans may recall, he even kicked off his famed 1968 live comedy album “Hello, Dummy!” by telling a guy in the front row he looked like a Mountie.

Yet Rickles admitted he had a hard time north of the border when he started his standup career. His cutting humour that’s earned him the nicknames The Merchant of Venom and Mr. Warmth wasn’t resonating with comedy clubs in Montreal and they asked him to change his act.

“The boss, I’ll never forget it, said, ‘Why does he pick on people? I don’t need this,’ and first thing you know I was in the car and back on the plane,” he said. “Then I went back again and they said, ‘Play the harmonica. Tell them you play the harmonica,’ and I had a harmonica and I never took it out and never played it, and I started to do the same thing I’ve done all my life and I was back on a plane again.”

Eventually he “got lucky with the Canadian people,” added Rickles, noting he’s since worked in many cities throughout the country.

Rickles noted he’s never been mean-spirited or out to hurt anybody onstage, and he’s never felt a need to use foul language in his act. He developed his insult style of delivery while responding to his hecklers, whom he’s famously called “hockey pucks” throughout his career.

Of course, he went on to become a venerable personality on the stage and the late-night TV circuit, bonding with Bob Newhart (“His wife and my wife are like sisters, practically, and we’ve travelled around the world together,” said Rickles) and Johnny Carson, who gave him his “first big break” in New York.

Rickles has had a similar rapport with David Letterman, who recently announced he will host his final “Late Show” on May 20. Rickles said he’ll appear on the “Late Show” on May 11 and joked he may give him a picture of himself as a good-bye gift.

“It’s sad to see him depart, but everything comes to an end,” said Rickles. “I just hope that new people are warming up in the bullpen and ready to come up.”

Rickles said he is encouraged by the newer faces he sees on late-night TV these days, noting he and Jimmy Kimmel are also good friends, but he’s not sure where that genre is headed.

“I really don’t care,” he razzed, “because they’ll probably be giving me mouth-to-mouth and I’ll be a gurney out on the stage with a nurse and they’ll lift my head and I’ll go, ‘You’re a hockey puck’ and boom, fall back into the bed.”

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