Don Rickles’ 1968 album Hello Dummy! earlier today became the 14th comedy album to be inducted into the National Recording Registry (NRR). The album – even the very title – exemplifies the brash insult humor that was Rickles’ stock-in-trade.
Hello Dummy! received a Grammy nod for best comedy album in 1969. Rickles was nominated in the category again the following year for Don Rickles Speaks! (He lost both years to Bill Cosby.) Rickles, who was nicknamed The Merchant of Venom, was a regular presence on television for decades, but he wasn’t even nominated for a Primetime Emmy until 2008, when voters started to realize what a unique comic personality he had been all along. In 2008, he won for outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program for the HBO special Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, which also won a second award for outstanding variety, music or comedy special.
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04/09/2025The roster of comedians who have albums in the National Recording Registry includes seven who have also received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor – Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Steve Martin, George Carlin and Cosby. (Cosby’s Mark Twain Prize was rescinded following his 2018 rape conviction.)
Two of the comedy albums in the National Recording Registry – Newhart’s The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart and Vaughn Meader’s The First Family – had long runs at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. A third – Martin’s A Wild and Crazy Guy – just missed the top spot, logging six weeks at No. 2.
We’ve all heard that laughter keeps you young, and that seems to be the case. Two of these artists are deep into their 90s – Mel Brooks is 98, while Tom Lehrer is 96. Four others, who have taken their final bows, made it to 90. Reiner lived to be 98; Newhart and Mort Sahl both made it to 94; Rickles hurled his last insult at age 90.
Here’s a closer look at the 14 full-length albums in the National Recording Registry. They are listed in chronological order by release date.
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