It’s Over!

The other night, I watched about 15 minutes of a tribute to the great comedian Don Rickles. I turned it off when Rickles came out using a walker and with a frightened, bewildered look in his eyes. This was definitely not the Don Rickles I remember, but I give him credit for having the guts to appear on television in such an alarming state of decrepitude.

No, it wasn’t Rickles that I found so annoying. Rather, it was the many preening “celebrities” the camera kept dwelling on. Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese were present which was tolerable because they actually knew and worked with Rickles, but unless I missed the connection, what the f–k does Johnny Depp have to do with Don Rickles?

 It was kind of like those usually absurd “American Masters” documentaries where someone like Billy Crystal is called upon to hold forth on anyone  from Mark Twain to  Pete Seeger. It’s like the “clergyperson” who’s paid to eulogize a person he or she never met.  Embarrassing.

Just as irritating was the constant cutting away to “celebrities” (none of whom I recognized, but then I’m an out of touch old fart), who were all young and good looking, the sole purpose of which, obviously, was to provide eye candy to the viewers. All of these twenty-somethings looked just as bewildered as Rickles, like who the hell are they talking about up there  and why am I here?

Here’s the bottom line:  Don Rickles is an old guy from another era, so why not have more people in the audience who actually enjoyed Rickles in his prime or even know who he is?

Which leads me to a recent Rolling Stones concert in London that was shown on HBO. Like with the Rickles show, the camera kept going to the audience which seemed to be comprised entirely of sexy 20 year olds with their boobs hanging out. Now I love 20 year old boobs as much as the next guy, but do you (HBO and the Stones) really want me to believe that people that young are really your most ardent fans? Where’s the pot-bellied old bald guy (with the requisite pony tail) who actually comes to your concerts and listens to your songs?

As Don Rickles would say:  Mick, just between me and you: It’s over!