George Harrison Said The Beatles Could Have Made ‘Mincemeat’ Out of a Famous Comedian
During The Beatles’ 1964 trip to America, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr went to a comedy show. Don Rickles was doing standup in Miami and the band stopped in to see him. They weren’t familiar with his comedy but quickly discovered that he liked poking fun at his audience. Harrison said that if they had been in their own element, they could have hit back at Rickles.
George Harrison said The Beatles could have ripped Don Rickles to shreds
The Beatles were some of the most famous people in the world in 1964, so, naturally, Rickles poked fun at them during his show.
“He went on, ‘It’s great. They just lie up there on the ninth floor, between satin sheets and every time they hear the girls screaming they “Oooohh”‘ McCartney recalled in The Beatles Anthology. “Very funny, we thought. We were not amused, as I recall. Very cutting. I like him now but at first he was a bit of a shock.”
The Beatles sat there in shock. They hadn’t expected Rickles to turn on them in this way. Still, Harrison said that if they’d been in a different venue, they could have torn him apart with their humor.
“We were all a bit taken aback. Also, we were trying to keep a low profile and suddenly he kept putting the spotlight on us, and embarrassing us,” he said. “I think John felt a bit embarrassed, too, at the time. However, if we’d had him on our own terms we could have made mincemeat out of him.”
The band could reportedly be vicious
According to those who knew the band, Harrison was right. They all had sharp senses of humor and had no problem turning it on people when they were annoyed. According to Beatles press officer Derek Taylor, it was incredibly unpleasant to have the band go after you.
“Nobody liked to be rounded upon by the four of them — in however jokey a way,” Taylor said, adding, “It was not pleasant for those four buggers to be at you. It was ‘whoosh’ —and all the fangs were in you at once. It didn’t last, but it was very painful. Crawl away quietly and lick your wounds.”
George Harrison and his bandmates shared a sense of humor
The Beatles all grew up in Liverpool, which they said was a city with a distinct sense of humor.
“It was going poor, a very poor city, and tough,” Lennon said. “But people have a sense of humour because they are in so much pain, so they are always cracking jokes. They are very witty.”
Their shared humor was what brought them together. It was how they survived the intensity of Beatlemania.
“The main thing that’s kept us going when it’s been real hard work is the humour amongst ourselves, we can laugh at anything — ourselves included,” Lennon said. “That’s the way we do everything — everything’s tongue in cheek. We’re the same about ourselves; we never take it seriously.”
