This is incredible, the way Lewis rescued his own career right at the inception. Brave and brilliant. I think of this whenever I hit a potentially life-altering crossroads myself but I seldom live up to it.
I'm not a fan - but the man is a genius, and you have to respect his talent and skill, even if his humor isn't quite to your taste: the wisdom he puts out in this simple 5:24 interview alone would've taken a lifetime for most other comics to figure out. Sadly he comes off as a touch arrogant - but even that he may have needed to make certain he got listened to! Jerry's the real deal.
Boy that's great about his take one story. Having the talent grind through take after take for angles that won't or can't be used (AFI directors just do it automatically), it's unfair to the talent and the audience. But you'd have to be someone of Jerry's position to make that reality come true.
The French acclaimed Jerry Lewis as the greatest clown of all time. Americans never truly understood him, claiming that he insulted handicapped people with his 'cruel' humor. Freud would have had a field day analyzing that critique!
sorry you are so wrong,,jerry lewis was a star well before he was on the jerry lewis telethon,,he did it because he loved kids and wanted to help find a cure
Jerry was the Chevy Chase of his time. One character for every movie. When u cant come up with a line Squack WAAAAAA. Dean was Cool, s great singer & helped Lewis along. Jerry was workaholic yet Dean did more & better without trying than Jerry ever did. Jerry is a one character act. The Telethon is what kept him ion the public eye
Jerry lobbied hard for the part of "AL" but he stunk. Hal Wallis wrote Jerry's part into the film and told him it was either this or nothing. God bless Jerry but he's way off on the "My friend Irma" scenario.
