Growing Up Laughing_ My Story and the Story of Funny - Marlo Thomas [46]
—M.T.
Marlo: Hello, Don?
Don: Yeah . . .
Marlo: Hi, it’s Marlo Thomas.
Rickles: Hi Marlo. What are you doing in town?
Marlo: I’m not in town, actually. I’m in New York.
Rickles: Well, I’m not gonna do it.
Marlo: You’re not going to do what?
Rickles: I thought you were going to ask me to do something for that hospital you raise money for. And I was going to say, no, I’m sick, I can’t do it.
Marlo: [Laughs] Oh, Don, you make me laugh. Wait. You’re not really sick, are you?
Rickles: Yes. A truck hit me about a week ago, but I know you’ve been busy. Don’t worry about it.
Marlo: [Laughs] Well, if you were sick, you know that I know a lot of people in the medical field, so you can always call me . . .
Rickles: I’m too big now, Marlo. I can’t even speak to you. You know, when you become an Emmy winner . . .
Marlo: I know. I watched the show, and it was quite a thrill to see you win.
Rickles: Oh, you saw it.
Marlo: Yes, Phil and I watched it together. It was great.
Rickles: Did Phil understand it?
Marlo: [Laughs] Yeah, he got it.
Rickles: Explain to Phil that I got bigger than him, and now I don’t have to go to Cleveland to be on his Mickey Mouse show.
Marlo: Well, you’ll be happy to know that he’s not in Cleveland anymore.
Rickles: I know that, Marlo. I’ve been around.
Marlo: I’m calling you because I’m writing a book that has lots of stories about my dad . . .
Rickles: Who’s your dad?
Marlo: Some old guy. I also read your book . . .
Rickles: Oh, did you?
Marlo: Yes.
Rickles: Did you enjoy it?
Marlo: Yes I did. I loved the stories about your mother and your relationship with Frank Sinatra. Great stuff.
Rickles: Well, thanks. You know, I have a new one out now.
Marlo: I know—the one with the letters to you. I read that, too. I thought it was fun.
Rickles: It’s so funny. All of a sudden I’ve become the Jewish Mark Twain. Tell Phil I’m the Jewish Mark Twain.
Marlo: I will. He’ll get that. He knows from Mark Twain.
Rickles: Okay.
Marlo: So, anyway, my book is about growing up with comedy, and I was wondering, was there somebody in your childhood who made you laugh? How did you become as funny as you are?
Rickles: It was always my personality. Even as a kid, my sarcastic humor and the insults, it was all just in me. It’s not something you go to school for, though Milton Berle was my hero when I was growing up.
Marlo: You watched him on television?
Rickles: Yeah, Milton was one of the first guys I used to watch. His delivery was something else. Then as I got older, I realized I was wrong. Don’t put that in the book.
Marlo: [Laughs] Too late—it’s in.
Rickles: I think he would’ve gotten a kick out of that.
Marlo: Me, too. How about on the radio? Any heroes there?
Rickles: Jack Benny, Sid Caesar, and that whole group. Those were the guys I listened to.
Marlo: Were you funny in school? Did you make people laugh?
Rickles: Yeah, I was the president of the Dramatics Club in high school, and failing every subject.
Marlo: Because you were funny?
Rickles: Because I was always busy acting and never studying. Then the war came, and I went into the navy.
Marlo: I saw that picture of you in your book. You were handsome as a sailor.
Rickles: Handsome? You must have cataracts.
Marlo: Not yet, thank you. So when did you realize you could make people laugh? When you were a little boy, did you make your parents laugh?
Rickles: It wasn’t like that. In my case, I never realized it. My mother would just say, “Get up there and do Uncle Jack—show everybody how he walks.” So I’d make fun of my Uncle Jack. And my Aunt Dora. Then when I was about 12 and the holidays came around—Hanukkah or Christmas—I would get up in the synagogue and do impersonations of the rabbi, off the top of