Watch Don Rickles' Saturday Night Live monologue from 1984
The late comedian insults the audience, shakes John Madden's hand.
Don Rickles' ability to throw insults around earned him many nicknames, such as the Sultan of Insults, the Merchant of Venom and sarcastically, Mr. Warmth. The comedian died today due to kidney failure at 90 years old.
When he hosted Saturday Night Live in 1984, he held nothing back, spending nine minutes insulting as many audience members as possible. More than 20 years after that performance, it's impossible to not feel a bit uncomfortable at his punch lines.
"I make jokes about the black people 'cos I'm not one," he says at one point, before making jokes about people of Chinese, Italian, Jewish and even Swedish descent. He appeared to share his barbs equally amongst the audience members, and he was always careful to say it was just in jest as a way to excuse some of his more questionable content. You can watch the full monologue below, which includes him spotting football great John Madden in the audience, one of the only moments Rickles broke character to sing his high praises.
— Jesse Kinos-Goodin, q digital staff