December 19, 2025 • 10 mins
Pod Crashing episode 424 with Mindy Rickles host of the podcast Mindy Ed and Don Rickles. Mindy Rickles and Ed Mann, daughter and son-in-law of comedy icon Don Rickles, will host a weekly podcast featuring a chat between the long-time radio host and standup comic, and commentary on clips of Don, with perspective on what Ed, and particularly Mindy was doing at the time of the original broadcast, what was happening with Don's career, and what he and Mindy's mom Barbara and her late, Emmy Award winning brother Larry were up to then. Season one of Mindy, Ed and Don Rickles will highlight the Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearances as well as never before heard clips of his live shows, as well as stories of Don's career and family life that have yet to be told. Don's audience encompassed one of the widest demographics of any comic, and his appearances with Jimmy helped ensure that exposure to a younger crowd of comedy fans. He sold out shows until his passing in 2017, never stopped working and never lost a step. All of his fans are invited to enjoy these special podcasts. Ed Mann was a radio host in Los Angeles for 19 years and was founder of Premiere Radio Networks, now the largest radio syndicator in the country. Mindy was a standup comic for 10 years and toured the country with her act, opening for the likes of Tim Allen, the late Bob Saget, and others. Wynnefield Productions is podcast producer having wrapped up 117 episodic recaps of the Brady Bunch hosted by The Real Brady Bros, Christopher Knight and Barry Williams, and continues with Q&As, interviews and other exclusive material.
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-view-from-the-writing-instrument--1023245/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been one of the most successful talent contests on
the planet NBC's The Voice since twenty sixteen. I've been
blessed with the opportunity to share a lot of conversations
with those that have been featured. You can get them
all at Arrow dot net, r Roe dot net. Look
for the podcast that Voice. Enjoy the exploration. Hey, welcome
(00:21):
back to the Conversation. You feel like doing some podcrashing,
Let's do it. Episode number four twenty four is with
the legendary Mindy Rickles, hosts of the podcast Mindy Ed
and Don Rickles.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hi Ero, how are you? Thank you for having me?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Oh, I'm very excited to share a conversation with you
because you are exercising what I believe is a mantra
that all should lead lead in their lives, and that is,
share your story or somebody will write it for you.
And I'm hearing things from your podcast and I'm going
I didn't know, and if I wouldn't have known, then
I would have assumed and I would have written my
own story. So you're doing something here that is absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, we're very excited about it. I mean being able
to as my dad always said keep my name alive,
you know, being able to do that and talk about
my dad and you know, growing up and what it
was like. And I've always sort of wanted to do that.
I did that a little bit and stand up, but
I really wanted to be able to have audiences listen
(01:22):
to these clips. Right now, we're doing Jimmy Kimmel and
also My Dad's Act, a clip of clips of my
dad in Vegas, you know, through the nineteen sixties, on
clips that people haven't heard before and some I haven't heard,
and just him on stage when he did like four
shows a night at like twelve two for five o'clock
(01:45):
in the morning, and just how he related to the
audiences and how that worked, and you know, it was
really exciting to listen to and to discuss.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, but the way that you and Ed are presenting
this is in a modern form. And what I mean
by that is, sure, we could go and live in
the past, which we're told not to do, but you're
planting it in a brand new generation. The same way
that I watched Johnny Carson on we TV. I want
to know the greats so that I can take with
the great shared and try to move it into our
(02:16):
present place of now because they obviously figured it out
before we got here.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Oh absolutely, I mean, yeah, my dad started doing stand up.
You know, it might have been he might have been
bombing in the lounge, and then he started insulting a
guy at the bar, and that sort of spanned out
and he would do imitations of his mother and her friends,
and again, you know, relating to the audience. And I
(02:42):
think shows like Carson where my dad would come on
and it was a totally different format where everyone would
sit on the couch, all the celebrities, they would stay
on the couch and my dad would come out and
it became like a party because they were all sitting there.
My dad would insult them and it was just a
really interesting, fabulous dynamic to watch that you really don't
(03:03):
see today that I think was very exciting because it
just was so spontaneous and just worked so well.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
One of the things that's still stuck in my heart
is the fact that when he would look at you
and say just keep my name alive, I just in
my own personal vision, I would see that smile after
he would say something like that, And was he that
way to where he would say something so seriously, and
then all of a sudden he would just he would
laugh it up and all of a sudden, it's like
it was like the extra soil you put on a
(03:34):
seed so you have a great crop.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Definitely, I mean he always had that sort of I
think that's what helps so much with his comedy. He
always had that little chuckle at the end or that,
you know, I'm really a nice guy and this is
not really who I am. You know, we make fun
of people and we laugh, and these are the things
(03:57):
he would say on stage and you know, trying to
bring the audience together, which you really was able to
do all different walks of life and different ethnicities, I
mean things, A lot of it not politically correct today,
but in the time that it was, it worked. So
(04:18):
you know, he came out at at the exact perfect time.
There wasn't a better time for that.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Please do not move. There's more with Mindy Rickles coming
up next. The name of the podcast Mindy Ed and
Don Rickles. We're back with Mindy. With all of Ed's
experience in the broadcast industry, did he ever sit back
and look at what your father has accomplished and said,
my god, he was doing radio the way radio became.
(04:45):
But we needed someone like your father in order to
open up that door for radio people to cut loose
into when you cross this line, you know, radio people
are going to say some stuff. Well you know what,
don Rickles beat you to it.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Oh for sure. I mean he really was the start
of all of that. And and you know, you see
like Howard Stern and people like that today that were
just very outlandish, I mean more so than my dad
would ever have been. But I'm sure I know that
Howard Stern, my dad was on him one time, and
(05:19):
I know you know Howard Stern loved my dad and
just thought he was great. And I'm sure he took
some of his stuff from my dad in terms of
being able to just break out and say what you
wanted to say. And again, I think it brought audiences
together in a way that was very you know, special
(05:40):
and unique.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
But what a brilliant plan for your father though, to
go on Jimmy Fallon and to continue that journey of
comedy forward. Because all of a sudden he was sitting
there with Generation Z and X and the millennials and everything,
and your father now was still shining that star that
was just as bright as those early days.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh definitely, he was able to continue. I mean, so
many comics can't say this. His career spanned, you know,
like forty five years. He was able to really go
from the early days in the sixties through the seventies, eighties, nineties,
and his audience has stayed with him. He had new audiences.
(06:19):
He always had young people in his audience. It wasn't
like as he aged the audience age. You know, there
were older people, there were younger people, there were all
different walks of life. And that was an incredible thing
that he was able to keep going and audiences still
wanted to see him all through the years. With all
the different comics coming up, they still loved my dad.
(06:40):
And all these comics that worshiped my dad that I
met doing stand up that said, oh my god, your
dad was such a legend and he's the reason I
do stand up and different things like that were just
really you know, great to hear.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
What about all of the writing, because your dad comes
across to me as somebody who was a writer, What
are you doing with that? And he was, wasn't he?
Because I mean with the way that he expressed himself
that had to have started on a page, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Actually Arrow, it didn't. He really did not write. Bob
Newhart's best friend was the opposite he wrote. He was
very meticulous, you know, like a Jerry Seinfeld. And the
act was brilliant. But my dad never wrote a joke,
and he sort of got a sense of what kind
of an act he was doing depending on stories he
might have told about his mother and his mother's friends,
(07:31):
or different imitations he did and the insults or whatever,
and it sort of formed an act. I don't know
how he did it, but he did, and he was
able to do that, and yet there was so much
spontaneity in his act because when he spoke to people
in the audience, that was right off the top of
his head. So and yet it was always brilliant. So
(07:53):
how he did that, I would not know, because I wrote,
and every comic I know says they write. And he
never wrote a joke. He never really told jokes per se.
But he really never wrote anything down. It was all
sort of in his head. And he would listen to
his act certainly, but it was all in his head,
which was truly amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Would you say then that he was a stream thinker,
and that he trusted improv where so many other people
would rather sit there and ask a question when they're
an improv when in reality it's about forward motion.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh absolutely. I mean, he wouldn't even go what the
hell is improv? But he was doing that all the time.
You know, he was just off the top of his
head and whatever he was getting back from the audience,
things would just come out and they would love it.
And the more the audience, of course laughed, the more
it fueled his energy and his spontaneity. And he just
(08:50):
went from there. Yeah, and it worked, you know, And
he did all the Friar's roasts of all these big stars.
He didn't know what he was going to say about them.
And I got up there and whoever he was roasting,
Orson Wells or Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin or whoever
these people were, he just kind of went off the cuff.
(09:12):
And you know, he was often he was usually the
funniest one up there. So it always it always worked.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I can't thank you enough for this podcast because I
feel like that you and Ed have invited me over
for dinner and we're talking about your dad and we're
just having this honest to god conversation and your format
with Ed is just so mind blowing and so addictive.
I just it is such a beautiful place to be
to put your dad up on display like that, just
so we can love him even more.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Oh, Aero, thank you so much. That's exactly what we're
hoping to get across. So I really am thrilled that
you feel that way, because that's what we want the
audience to listen to. Here.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Mindy, Thank you, Ero, thank you. It was great to
join you.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Would you'd be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Okay, okay, thank you
It's been one of the most successful talent contests on
the planet NBC's The Voice since twenty sixteen. I've been
blessed with the opportunity to share a lot of conversations
with those that have been featured. You can get them
all at Arrow dot net, r Roe dot net. Look
for the podcast that Voice. Enjoy the exploration. Hey, welcome
(00:21):
back to the Conversation. You feel like doing some podcrashing,
Let's do it. Episode number four twenty four is with
the legendary Mindy Rickles, hosts of the podcast Mindy Ed
and Don Rickles.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hi Ero, how are you? Thank you for having me?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Oh, I'm very excited to share a conversation with you
because you are exercising what I believe is a mantra
that all should lead lead in their lives, and that is,
share your story or somebody will write it for you.
And I'm hearing things from your podcast and I'm going
I didn't know, and if I wouldn't have known, then
I would have assumed and I would have written my
own story. So you're doing something here that is absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, we're very excited about it. I mean being able
to as my dad always said keep my name alive,
you know, being able to do that and talk about
my dad and you know, growing up and what it
was like. And I've always sort of wanted to do that.
I did that a little bit and stand up, but
I really wanted to be able to have audiences listen
(01:22):
to these clips. Right now, we're doing Jimmy Kimmel and
also My Dad's Act, a clip of clips of my
dad in Vegas, you know, through the nineteen sixties, on
clips that people haven't heard before and some I haven't heard,
and just him on stage when he did like four
shows a night at like twelve two for five o'clock
(01:45):
in the morning, and just how he related to the
audiences and how that worked, and you know, it was
really exciting to listen to and to discuss.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, but the way that you and Ed are presenting
this is in a modern form. And what I mean
by that is, sure, we could go and live in
the past, which we're told not to do, but you're
planting it in a brand new generation. The same way
that I watched Johnny Carson on we TV. I want
to know the greats so that I can take with
the great shared and try to move it into our
(02:16):
present place of now because they obviously figured it out
before we got here.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Oh absolutely, I mean, yeah, my dad started doing stand up.
You know, it might have been he might have been
bombing in the lounge, and then he started insulting a
guy at the bar, and that sort of spanned out
and he would do imitations of his mother and her friends,
and again, you know, relating to the audience. And I
(02:42):
think shows like Carson where my dad would come on
and it was a totally different format where everyone would
sit on the couch, all the celebrities, they would stay
on the couch and my dad would come out and
it became like a party because they were all sitting there.
My dad would insult them and it was just a
really interesting, fabulous dynamic to watch that you really don't
(03:03):
see today that I think was very exciting because it
just was so spontaneous and just worked so well.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
One of the things that's still stuck in my heart
is the fact that when he would look at you
and say just keep my name alive, I just in
my own personal vision, I would see that smile after
he would say something like that, And was he that
way to where he would say something so seriously, and
then all of a sudden he would just he would
laugh it up and all of a sudden, it's like
it was like the extra soil you put on a
(03:34):
seed so you have a great crop.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Definitely, I mean he always had that sort of I
think that's what helps so much with his comedy. He
always had that little chuckle at the end or that,
you know, I'm really a nice guy and this is
not really who I am. You know, we make fun
of people and we laugh, and these are the things
(03:57):
he would say on stage and you know, trying to
bring the audience together, which you really was able to
do all different walks of life and different ethnicities, I
mean things, A lot of it not politically correct today,
but in the time that it was, it worked. So
(04:18):
you know, he came out at at the exact perfect time.
There wasn't a better time for that.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Please do not move. There's more with Mindy Rickles coming
up next. The name of the podcast Mindy Ed and
Don Rickles. We're back with Mindy. With all of Ed's
experience in the broadcast industry, did he ever sit back
and look at what your father has accomplished and said,
my god, he was doing radio the way radio became.
(04:45):
But we needed someone like your father in order to
open up that door for radio people to cut loose
into when you cross this line, you know, radio people
are going to say some stuff. Well you know what,
don Rickles beat you to it.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Oh for sure. I mean he really was the start
of all of that. And and you know, you see
like Howard Stern and people like that today that were
just very outlandish, I mean more so than my dad
would ever have been. But I'm sure I know that
Howard Stern, my dad was on him one time, and
(05:19):
I know you know Howard Stern loved my dad and
just thought he was great. And I'm sure he took
some of his stuff from my dad in terms of
being able to just break out and say what you
wanted to say. And again, I think it brought audiences
together in a way that was very you know, special
(05:40):
and unique.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
But what a brilliant plan for your father though, to
go on Jimmy Fallon and to continue that journey of
comedy forward. Because all of a sudden he was sitting
there with Generation Z and X and the millennials and everything,
and your father now was still shining that star that
was just as bright as those early days.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh definitely, he was able to continue. I mean, so
many comics can't say this. His career spanned, you know,
like forty five years. He was able to really go
from the early days in the sixties through the seventies, eighties, nineties,
and his audience has stayed with him. He had new audiences.
(06:19):
He always had young people in his audience. It wasn't
like as he aged the audience age. You know, there
were older people, there were younger people, there were all
different walks of life. And that was an incredible thing
that he was able to keep going and audiences still
wanted to see him all through the years. With all
the different comics coming up, they still loved my dad.
(06:40):
And all these comics that worshiped my dad that I
met doing stand up that said, oh my god, your
dad was such a legend and he's the reason I
do stand up and different things like that were just
really you know, great to hear.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
What about all of the writing, because your dad comes
across to me as somebody who was a writer, What
are you doing with that? And he was, wasn't he?
Because I mean with the way that he expressed himself
that had to have started on a page, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Actually Arrow, it didn't. He really did not write. Bob
Newhart's best friend was the opposite he wrote. He was
very meticulous, you know, like a Jerry Seinfeld. And the
act was brilliant. But my dad never wrote a joke,
and he sort of got a sense of what kind
of an act he was doing depending on stories he
might have told about his mother and his mother's friends,
(07:31):
or different imitations he did and the insults or whatever,
and it sort of formed an act. I don't know
how he did it, but he did, and he was
able to do that, and yet there was so much
spontaneity in his act because when he spoke to people
in the audience, that was right off the top of
his head. So and yet it was always brilliant. So
(07:53):
how he did that, I would not know, because I wrote,
and every comic I know says they write. And he
never wrote a joke. He never really told jokes per se.
But he really never wrote anything down. It was all
sort of in his head. And he would listen to
his act certainly, but it was all in his head,
which was truly amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Would you say then that he was a stream thinker,
and that he trusted improv where so many other people
would rather sit there and ask a question when they're
an improv when in reality it's about forward motion.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Oh absolutely. I mean, he wouldn't even go what the
hell is improv? But he was doing that all the time.
You know, he was just off the top of his
head and whatever he was getting back from the audience,
things would just come out and they would love it.
And the more the audience, of course laughed, the more
it fueled his energy and his spontaneity. And he just
(08:50):
went from there. Yeah, and it worked, you know, And
he did all the Friar's roasts of all these big stars.
He didn't know what he was going to say about them.
And I got up there and whoever he was roasting,
Orson Wells or Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin or whoever
these people were, he just kind of went off the cuff.
(09:12):
And you know, he was often he was usually the
funniest one up there. So it always it always worked.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I can't thank you enough for this podcast because I
feel like that you and Ed have invited me over
for dinner and we're talking about your dad and we're
just having this honest to god conversation and your format
with Ed is just so mind blowing and so addictive.
I just it is such a beautiful place to be
to put your dad up on display like that, just
so we can love him even more.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Oh, Aero, thank you so much. That's exactly what we're
hoping to get across. So I really am thrilled that
you feel that way, because that's what we want the
audience to listen to. Here.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Mindy, Thank you, Ero, thank you. It was great to
join you.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Would you'd be brilliant today?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Okay, okay, thank you
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