Hollywood has changed. It's not glamorous like the old days. Last time my wife and I went down there to go to the movies, we got car-jacked by a guy with a .357 Magnum.
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What I've Learned
Political correctness? In my humor, I never talk about politics. I was never much into all that.
I've got an accountant who's been with me forty years. If he makes a mistake, he dies.
Room service is great if you want to pay $500 for a club sandwich.
I can sit all day in a comfortable chair and watch ball games, but I don't need a blanket.
I've never walked off stage and said, I shouldn't have done that. Because when you do what I do, you're like a fighter. You throw the right hand and say, That's what got me to this dance. You can't have doubt. If you have doubt, there's no show.
It's tough having the last name Rickles. Luckily, my kids handled it great.
Asians are nice people, but they burn a lot of shirts.
Showbiz is great if you're successful.
I don't care if the average guy on the street really knows what I'm like, as long as he knows I'm not really a mean, vicious guy. My friends and family know what I'm really like. That's what's important.
I don't feel an obligation to give everyone a hard time, but when they're important people, it's fun. I've met every president since Gerald Ford. When you go in the reception line and they announce your name, they all look at me the same way. They all go, Oh, nooooooo! You can see it in their eyes.…
I don't have regrets. I've never sat here and thought, Gee, if only I'd done The Man Who Came to Dinner on Broadway, I would have been happier.
Once in a while, when I'm alone, I think about my age. I think, How many more years do I have on this earth? But I can't really conceive of dying. Somehow, in my head, I don't think I'll die. I know that everybody dies, of course. I just think that it'll never come to me. It's crazy, but there it is…
I used to play golf. I wanted to be a better player, but after a while I realized I'd always stink. And that's when I really started to enjoy the game.
People think being in your seventies means sitting around in a chair with a blanket over your legs, drooling.
The thing I love about Vegas is that it's a melting pot. It's like working Ellis Island.
You can't study comedy; it's within you. It's a personality. My humor is an attitude.
Struggling is hard because you never know what's at the end of the tunnel.
One time I did Carson and I made a joke about a black guy in the audience, and Carson stopped me and said, Show me a black guy. The camera panned the audience, and there was no black guy. And I said to Johnny, Did they laugh? The answer was yes. And that's all that matters.
I always rib people, but nobody ever gives me a hard time. I don't know why. Maybe they're afraid of what I might say. There's probably a lesson in that somewhere, but I don't know what it is.