The Dean Martin Show with guest Don Rickles (1969)

In this wild footage we see Don Rickles reprise his live act for television. Cleaned up a bit for TV, although parts were obviously edited to eliminate anything profane. It was probably edited for time too, but its incredible how long this set is, on somebody else's show. Just shows you how much of a fan Dino was of Don. Rickles has described himself as "an unofficial member of the Rat Pack." But indeed, he was. This footage features an incredible planted audience of celebrities. In this television studio audience, appearing specifically to participate in this segment, are Don Adams, Danny Thomas, Lena Horne, Polly Bergen, Ricardo Montoban, Barbara Eden, Ernest Borgnine, Jackie Cooper, Guy Marks, The Andrews Sisters, Rose Marie, Bob Newhart, Dom Deluise, Pat Boone, Robert Morris, Pat Collins and several more. It's the greatest lounge act ever on this episode of The Dean Martin Show. It includes a staged cameo from Bob Hope in which Rickles reprises some once-improvised lines from a real-life cameo Hope made at one of his shows.


The pseudo-native dance with audience participation in that clip is something Rickles still does most nights in his live-act today, forty years later. I guess it's a crowd pleaser.