Don Rickles on SNL

Ben Douwsma is a Canadian photographer (I think) who has an amazing blog that is slowly filling with incredibly detailed reviews of every SNL from seasons 6-10.  Recently, he posted one on the 1984 episode hosted by Don Rickles.

This review was almost totally on-point... it's one of my favorite episodes!  One very minor quibble (which I will now devote a major post to) is that the monologue should really get 5-stars, not four.  Rickles absolutely SLAYS the audience (and I mean that both ways).  Having seen the man in-person, I am actually wondering if this is the only widely-available video record of his masterful stand-up.  Think about it...

Most of his TV appearances have been on talk shows (hilarious) or sitcoms.  Neither of those arenas lets him wander the stage and insult regular people (plus a few celebs), as he does in Vegas and did on SNL.  The only things that come close are.... his 1968 LP (audio-only) and his appearances on the Dean Martin Show and at Ronald Reagan's second inaugural (both audiences full of celebs, not regular people).  He came close during his early 1990s appearance on Comic Relief, but the SNL audience is so much more electric.  Seriously, if any non-Eddie Murphy segment deserves five-stars in the non-Lorne Michaels years, it's Rickles' monologue (which is also probably one of the best monologues in the show's history, period).

As a bonus, here's some of Rickles' finest moments in television... a good case for him to win the Mark Twain Price?