Rickles (who died a few years ago) was AFAIK the original insult comic.
He was most popular back when people still had a sense of humor. When you could still make movies like "Blazing Saddles" because you could say shocking things and people knew you weren't endorsing those things.
Don Rickles, by everybody who knew him, was the sweetest guy, a man who would be mortified if he ever thought someone took his act seriously. He said racist, sexist, ageist things--like, to a random Asian in the audience, "Hey, Kung Fu! When's my shirt gonna be ready?"--but people laughed because they knew he was putting them on, playing the part of a crude jackass. We weren't laughing with the insult...we were laughing at it, thinking Omigod, I can't believe he said that!
Which is totally the opposite of Trump, who ridicules people for their color, sex, age, political affiliation or whatever, because he thinks mocking people for those things is funny--and so does his audience. That's the bully mentality, one which is often followed up with, "What's the matter? Can't you take a joke?" No, because we know you actually mean it.
Rickles' "victims" actually enjoyed his insults because they knew he didn't mean it. Witness Reagan and his cabinet members being really good sports about it.
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