Don Rickles, king of insult comedy, dies at 90

Don Rickles, king of insult comedy, dies at 90

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Don Rickles, the big-mouthed, bald-headed ‘‘Mr. Warmth’’ whose verbal assaults(मौखिक हमले) endeared(प्यार बचाना) him to audiences and peers and made him the acknowledged grandmaster of insult comedy, died Thursday. He was 90. Rickles, who would have been 91 on May 8, suffered kidney failure and died Thursday morning at his home, said Paul Shefrin, his longtime publicist (प्रचारक) and friend. For more than half a century, Rickles headlined casinos and nightclubs from Las Vegas to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and livened up late-night talk shows. No one was exempt from Rickles’ insults, not fans or presidents or such fellow celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Johnny Carson. Even volatile Sinatra let Rickles have his comedic way with him. ‘‘Hey, Frank, make yourself at home. Hit somebody,’’ Rickles snapped at the singer attending his show. Sinatra laughed. Despite jokes that from other comics might have inspired boycotts, he was one of the most beloved people in show business, idolized by everyone from Joan Rivers and Louis CK to Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman.

Billy Crystal tweeted simply, ‘‘A giant(बहुत बड़ा) loss.’’