Don Rickles: Performing for President Ronald Reagan Was the ‘Highlight of My Life’
Comedian Don Rickles told David Letterman, on Friday’s Late Show, that “the highlight of my life was doing the Ronald Reagan Inaugural,” the 87-year-old (88 on May 8) recalled of his legendary career.
He reminisced about how Frank Sinatra used his clout to overcome opposition to his inclusion by Reagan aides concerned Rickles would “make us all look like jerks.”
Video, on YouTube, of Rickles’ pretty mild performance at President Reagan’s Inaugural Gala, for his second term, held at the old Washington Convention Center, on Saturday night, January 19, 1985.
Rickles is making TV appearances to plug One Night Only: An All-Star Comedy Tribute to Don Rickles, which will debut Wednesday night, May 28 on Spike.
— Brent Baker is the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Follow Brent Baker on Twitter.
