Don Rickles was as excellent at 78 as he was at 76 or however old he was exactly when I saw him over in Newark with reader Michelle E. a few years back. The show was a bit longer than when I saw him before, and during the last 20-30 minutes of it Don turned unexpectedly sentimental, talking about Sinatra and some other old friends who helped him out when he was starting up, getting a little choked up when talking about his mother, and while it was nice to have him break character for longer than usual (he always sings a sweet little song about how he doesn't mean any harm and just wants to make people laugh to close his shows), it also gave the impression that he might have a feeling he's not going to be around much longer. On the other hand, I got a little sentimental and overwrought here myself earlier this month, and I don't have any intention or premonition of dying anytime soon, that was just a case of trying to work out some personal issues and taking a moment to be thankful for what I've got before going on to get some more (helpfully enhanced by barely sleeping for two weeks). So hopefully Mr. Rickles was also just getting tuned up for bigger and better things (and/or has a problem with fleas), he did say that he's going to be in some movie on TNT soon which he thinks might get him an Emmy nomination. If he does he vowed that we'll never see him onstage again, but he just signed a deal to appear at least three times at Resorts over the next year (with Oct. 23-25 being his first stand) so you ought to get down there the next time he shows up just in case, because he is the last of the breed, and the best.