By all accounts, Don Rickles was a great friend to many.
In the 2007 documentary about his life, Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, there were so many appearances by famous friends that David Letterman voiced his displeasure at not being included. “How do you think that made me feel?” Letterman asked. “I hope bad,” Rickles replied.
Rickles’ friendship with Bob Newhart was chronicled in a short 2024 documentary by Judd Apatow, Bob and Don: A Love Story. Later in life, he developed a bond with John Stamos, with whom he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2016. Kimmel also became a friend, giving a moving tribute to Rickles after he died in 2017.
But perhaps none of his friendships manifested better on television than his one with Regis Philbin, the TV icon whose first big break came as the sidekick on ABC’s The Joey Bishop Show.
The Rickles-Philbin friendship stretched decades. When introducing Rickles at the 92nd Street Y, Philbin said he did not quite know how long he had known Mr. Warmth, but at least since the early 1960s. At that event, Philbin remembered working as the entertainment editor at KABC in Los Angeles. Whenever he needed tape, he would find Rickles, who would always deliver.
Rickles and Philbin were both late night legends. No list of the greatest TV talk show guests of all time would be complete without Rickles. And no one appeared more with Letterman in late night than Philbin.
The pair would also appear on late night television together, with Philbin often walking on to join Rickles on whichever coach he was seated. The pair appeared on Letterman together in 1998 and then again in 2013. On the latter occasion, Letterman asked Rickles who he thought might be joining them that evening. “In New York, it’d have to be my good friend, Regis,” Rickles replied. And, of course, it was.
This week on the Late Night Time Machine, we travel back to February 24, 2009, a date that saw the duo reunited on the West Coast, where Rickles was appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to plug his new book, Rickles’ Letters. Following the commercial break, Kimmel asked his trusty sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, to read a letter from the book that Rickles wrote to Philbin. Once he finished, Philbin came out from behind the curtain, genuinely shocking the comic, as he’d traveled all the way out to Los Angeles just to surprise him.
“Newhart’s a dear friend. And this guy, is right there with him in friendship,” Rickles says, before briefly sharing their history together. “Little did I realize he would become a billionaire and brush me.”
Philbin built on their history, explaining how he used to show up at whatever celebrity functions were going on in town, ready with his camera to interview Rickles. “All the great comedians lived here in L.A. in the 60s and into the 70s,” Philbin said. “But Don Rickles ended each show, and the reason why was no one else could follow him.”
But Philbin brought more than just stories with him that night. He went on to play a series of clips from his local L.A. TV days, with Philbin acting as the interviewer/straight man to Rickles. The first features Rickles at an event honoring the then-manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tommy Lasorda. “He’s wanted by the Italian people in Sicily,” Rickles says in the tape, staring at a large image of the man printed on carboard. “He was in a cave in Salerno with my uncle.”
And then the killer line: “He’s got a personality like a bad dugout.”
The next clip sees the duo in a parking lot. In 1977, Paul Anka released a television special, Paul Anka … Music My Way, recorded at the Hollywood Palladium and released by ABC. The Palladium was the initial home to the long-running The Lawrence Welk Show. In the clip, Philbin interviews Anka about the special, at least until Rickles happens to pass by. Rickles is set to make a cameo in the special, but Philbin doesn’t believe it.
“You’re included?” Philbin asks.
“No, I’m on a tour. I’m in downtown L.A. on a tour and the bus got stalled here,” Rickles says, as Anka cracks up in the background. “I’m waiting for Lawrence Welk to suck bubbles for a half hour.”
Among the great joys of watching the segment on Kimmel is seeing Philbin and Rickles’ reactions to these clips. It’s as if they’re watching home movies and we get to sit in on the fun.
“Then there was the night they were honoring Danny Thomas,” Philbin says. “They honored Danny Thomas every other week.” Rickles cracks up at the inside joke about one of the most popular comedy stars of the 1950s and 60s. Philbin then plays a clip from an afterparty of sorts, during which a woman comes up to Rickles in the middle of an interview and demands a kiss from the comic. He kindly obliges, giving her a nice kiss on the cheek.
But the woman is relentless, continuing to badger Rickles during the interview. “I hope your camel dies, leave me alone already,” he says. “Go away, lady! Go away!”
In their later years, Philbin and Rickles toured and performed together. When Philbin spoke at the 2014 tribute special, Don Rickles: One Night Only, he showed a wonderful, hilarious image of the pair relaxing backstage in their respective bathrobes. On this episode of Kimmel, Philbin credits Rickles with being the one to convince him to get back on the live stage.
The final clip features an early shot of the pair in tuxedos, getting ready to go on at the Resorts Hotel in Atlantic City. Of course, Rickles’ encouragement could not come without a barb or two. “You don’t see clip-ons anymore,” Rickles says, adjusting Philbin’s bowtie.
“Don’t come around anymore,” Rickles says, walking chest-to-chest into Philbin, who backs away towards the door, laughing directly into the camera. “The voice is weak: you stink.”
He walks him to and out the door: “I never want to see you again!”
The Kimmel audience gives the pair big applause. “You’re not very nice to Regis,” Kimmel says to Rickles. “Why don’t you butt out?” he replies, without missing a beat.
“I feel like a real talk show host for perhaps the very first time,” Kimmel said later of having the pair there together.
Watch Rickles’ entire 2009 appearance with Regis Philbin on Jimmy Kimmel Live! below:
