Don Rickles: Alive and Kicking

1st reviewer gave it 3 stars, and I'm sure people who actually saw it in 1972 (like me) would have rated it the same.

But if you believe bad shows get better over time if they have enough star talent just for watching great performers in their heyday - this fits the bill. McLean Stevenson & Tim Conway are in the audience. Newhart - Don Adams - Carrol O'Connor are amusing in their cameos. Harvey Korman and Anne Meara always deliver what the script calls for. Julie Prowse is always a wonder to behold.

Rickles is Rickles, but there's clearly an intention to deviate from his obvious persona, so some hit and miss.

Not a Laff Riot - but the older you are the more you might like it. Certainly a time capsule...

I saw this TV special on the "Don Rickles TV Specials" DVD, and it was a real letdown. I should mention that I'm a Don Rickles fan, but this special doesn't do him justice. Part of the problem is that this, along with another special on the set ("The Many Sides of Don Rickles") shoehorn him into sketches that don't take advantage of his persona. Aside from the sketch where he played a United Nations security guard that tried his hardest not to lose his temper, the sketches here could really star any comedian and it wouldn't make much difference. There are also a few musical numbers in here that aren't funny at all, and seem to exist solely to let Juliet Prowse show off. When someone upstages Don Rickles (who should control the room), you know you've got a dud special on your hands.

The only highlight is the post-title segment, where Don (as himself) just riffs on one audience member after another. It's the kind of thing that made him famous, and shows him at his best. In all honesty, I could've just watched this for an hour, since he's so good at improv and there's a lot of variety in his insults so it's not one-note. But sadly, this only lasts about five minutes before we launch into generic variety show fluff.