Comedian Don Rickles, Merciless 'Merchant Of Venom,' Dies At 90
The famed insult comic and showbiz veteran worked well into his 80s. At his prime, Hollywood elites like his friend Frank Sinatra considered it an honor to be roasted by Rickles.
Before Comedy Central's celebrity roasts, before American Idol's Simon Cowell, before Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, one man abused people on TV and in clubs like no other — as one emcee introduced him, "the Sultan of Insults, the Merchant of Venom, the pussy cat with claws, Mr. Don Rickles!"
Rickles died of kidney failure Thursday at his home in Los Angeles.
