Customer Reviews

Hello Dummy!

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It was 1968 and even if you were not alive during that year you certainly know about the assassinations, the war, the rioting in the streets. If someone wanted to argue that racial tensions in this country were at an all time high in 1968 it would be hard to argue with them. But at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas Don Rickles was insulting everybody, as is proven in his one classic comedy album, "Hello Dummy!" Ultimately what was hysterical about Rickles was not so much the quality but the quantity of the insults. You have to take my word for this because I do not think I could quote any of the attacks Rickles makes on this album as her insults every race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, hair color, etc. on the face of the earth, all at the rate of a machine gun being fired by the Terminator. It is just that he keeps piling it faster and higher so that you cannot help but get caught up in the momentum. Remember, this was the guy whose stepping stone to national recognition was spotting Frank Sinatra in his audience and saying: "Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody." Sinatra became the comedian's biggest booster and every star in Vegas was showing up to be insulted by Rickles.

On this classic comedy album (which peaked at #54 on the Billboard charts) Rickles starts close to home, ripping apart what his wife Barbara is like in the bedroom, and then goes after the audience. Pay attention, because more often than not it is the fact that he brings up these subjects rather than what he has to say that is "shocking." A lot of his insults are so inane that you can never take any of it seriously, but like the audience trapped with this insane man while he performs you just go with the flow of laughter. True, it is never as funny the second time around, which is the one shortcoming of his comedy in general and this album in particular, but Rickles was not that sort of comedian. His point was that you could not take what he said seriously, which leaves laughter as your only response. "Hello Dummy!" offers proof positive that Don Rickles was the ultimate put-down artist and comedy's unquestioned master of the insult.

"Nice to see you in a red shirt, right in the front. I never entertained a Mountie ! Forty million Americans and I gotta get a Mountie ! Hello dummy !" This album was first released in 1968, but you'd never think it ! This is just about the ultimate CD to make anybody who's politically correct blead from the ears ! Extremely funny, extremely rude, extremely modern ! How anybody was able to get this released in the late '60s is unbelievable ! Well done, Warner Bros. ! WARNING ! Do not buy this album for your grandmother's birthday ! She'll either die laughing, OR cut you from her will ! (Perhaps both.)

If you are a real Don Rickles fan you will like this album. I've reviewed it and listened and found it very funny. Take my word for it if you like to hear him insult people in the audience it a rib tickling album.

Michael Walker

Recorded in 1968, Don Rickles is heard in this 40 minute audio recording performing his "typical" Las Vegas nightclub routine - as a man who thwarts political correctness and comedically savages every race, religion, media star, and profession known to mankind! I say this is "typical" Rickles because I have heard many of these routines before on U-Tube and on television, and these are the routines Rickles is known for. He blasts his Jewish heritage, "The Chosen Race", his wife, his sex life, Latinos, Polacks, American Indians, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, "queers" (as he calls them), fat guys, fellow comedian Don Adams, and even the legend himself, Ed Sullivan! The put-downs come a mile a minute and one has to listen closely to hear every last one of them. Some hit the funny bone dead-on, while others miss the mark slightly. Overall, I think this is a funny recording, especially the first time you listen to it. As with all recorded comedy routines, (which for the most part rely on the element of surprise to make you laugh), this is not an album that you will listen to over and over. I will probably listen to it one a year or so. I bought it because I wanted the younger generation to hear whom I considered a very funny man in my day.

My 23 year old son commented that Rickle's comedy was so different from any other form of comedy he had heard before. He wondered how Rickles could get away with the racial jokes - the same jokes that would be considered "hate-speech" today. And yet, this was an era before the advent of political correctness (thank goodness). My 18 year old daughter hardly laughed at all when she heard the album, so evidently, some of Rickle's humor does not translate through the generations. My wife thinks Rickles is an idiot. I really do think that it comes down to whether you enjoy his humor and can see the comedic genius that resides in this remarkable man. Some can see the genius and laugh, while others turn away shocked and dismayed. Rickles is not for everyone.

Rickle's humor is unique. No one else did what he did, or if they tried, could not do it as well as Rickles. He was and is the master of the put-down, yet he always closes his routine with a plea for humans to love one another across racial and religious lines. He explains that his humor is meant to poke fun at the preconceived notions we have about other races and religions, and to dispel bigotry, not promote it.

I have the Don Rickles Project (DVD), and I actually like this audio recording better, as it does not have the profanity the DVD contains. If you want a small taste of what Don Rickles is like, you can't go wrong with this album. To me, Rickles is one of the funniest men in America. He really tickles my funny bone. Rickles is an aquired taste and is not for everyone however. If you buy "used" you are only chancing less than 4 dollars for this recording - a small price to pay for a great comedian.

Jim Koenig

Hey, I thought I was the only person who thought Don Rickles was funny. Evidently not, as these other reviews show. I remember seeing Mr. Rickles in those Beach Blanket-type movies, displaying a subtly cutting sarcasm, and from his many appearances on Johnny Carson's show. Does anyone else remember him hosting Saturday Night Live once? I sure do! Buy this album right now and go back in time to when people said whatever the heck they felt like and there was no such thing as political correctness. He is like Bob Newhart's dark and evil twin!

Some comedians never get old and Rickles is certainly no exception. Very little of this CD sounds dated (with the exception of impressions of Don Adams and Ed Sullivan) and the jokes are 100% hilarious (being 19, I can confirm that). I've always found Rickles to be very entertaining whether it was his comedy, his Carson appearences, or his bit roles in films such as "Toy Story" or "Casino". This CD has Rickles the way he was meant to be heard. Political correctness is nowhere to be found on this disc and some jokes might be a little off color to some people but never offensive. It's not to be taken seriously for it is a comedy album. Wonderful CD. Check it out.

This cd made me laugh harder and more often than any comedy cd I own, period. I must mention that I have quite a selection among the best comedians ever. Don Rickles comes through more than expected on this cd, it's brilliant work. Don proves definitively that it's really those who get offended by ethnic jokes who are the true bigots, because after all you have to take something seriously to get offended by it, don't you? A true lover of people of all creeds and colors cannot be offended by Don Rickles' jokes, because that person realizes we are all just people and, as Don says, we were put on this earth to laugh. ... By equally lampooning the stereotypes cast upon people of all walks of life, he reminds us to enjoy life and have a good laugh. ... He says what is funny, and by making fun of stereotypes, he pushes them into ridicule where they belong... Buy this cd if you want to know what a true sense of humor really is.

"Hello dummy"by Don Rickles is a completely hilarious comedy album. He has a talent of improvising so rare these days. he's not afraid to humiliate the audiance.he breaks the bounds of political correctness with no regrets or worries.It is impossible in this day and age to find a comedian like him.nobody does it better. Only question is,doesn't he have any more titles on sale? "sammalaaaa - sammalaaaaa"

This is a great example of Don Rickles humor from the late 60s. The judge it by what is funny in todays politically correct time is to due it a great injustice. Rickles has always been great and this shows him at his prime. The humor is a little insensitive but perhaps we as an audience have just become too sensitive. Judge it as a record of it's time and not as Rickles today. If you are judging comedy of the past by today's standards then don't listen to L.Bruce, R.Pryor,G.Carlin, or even R.Dangerfield because they all would fail today's "PC" police.

I've been a fan of Don Rickles since I was a kid. His charm comes from his quick wit and biting sarcasm which is belied by a kind of warmth and a sense of playfully poking fun without a shred of true malice.

This kind of implicit irony may qualify Rickles as, at the very least, the progenitor of post-modern and alternative comedy. It should be noted that it is quite an achievement for an insult comedian to rise to the level that Rickles achieved. Contemporary comics like Carlos Mencia and Lisa Lampanelli, along with many others, owe a great debt to Don Rickles.

Sadly, Rickles' Hello Dummy CD was a tad disappointing. His performance comes off as a little bit rote and his conspicuous use of the transitional phrase "anyway gang" becomes very tiresome. Still, there is quite a bit that is amusing, if somewhat dated, on this CD. After all, it's still Don Rickles.

Admittedly, my opinion of this CD is partially colored by my having seen Rickles in other contexts performing with much higher energy, sounding more off-the-cuff, and as brilliant as any comic I have seen or heard anywhere. So, compared to Rickles' very best stuff, Hello Dummy doesn't quite measure-up.

Still, this CD would be very interesting, and possibly indispensable, for hardcore Rickles fans (like me) and students of stand-up comedy. If I could, I would give this CD 3.5 stars.