The entertainment world was struck a blow Thursday with the passing of comedy pioneer and insult extraordinaire Don Rickles at 90 years old. In the wake of his death, The Hollywood Reporter has announced that AARP Studios released the trailer for the already wrapped Dinner With Don, an interview style program starring Rickles. The project is AARP Studios’ first and a marvelous look into the mind of a comedy genius.
You can watch the official trailer below via Deadline Editors on YouTube.
Guests featured in the trailer include Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis, Paul Rudd, Jimmy Kimmel, and Amy Poehler. While these A-Listers all react to the interview in their separate ways, from Galifianakis’s playful barbs to Poehler’s trademark sincerity, the true star is Rickles and his musings. “You got off a good one there,” he tells Galifianakis after a joke about his age, “and it’s pissing me off.” The progenitor of “insult comedy” clearly didn’t lose a step to the end.
Rickles was a key player in various roasts, skewering some of entertainments best and biggest (his work on Dean Martin is still widely regarded by many as a key moment in comedy) and paving the way for the likes of other over the top comics such as Sam Kinison or Bill Burr. While his vitriolic style wasn’t always accepted by certain audiences, the individuals he directed insults at typically had the fondest memories. In a personal ode to the departed comic published by The Hollywood Reporter, actress Janis Paige ended her reminiscing on Rickles’s 1957 slamming of her with “Thanks for reminding us that we’re all a comedy act. I’ll miss you always. There is no replacement.”
As for Dinner With Don, the program is set to span 10 episodes. Other posthumous work for Rickles comes in the form of voice work on Toy Story 4. At this point, a network or release date hasn’t been put forth for Dinner With Don, but viewers might expect it sooner than later. Until then, stay tuned with mxdwn Television for information regarding the series premiere.