I guess I should have mentioned that the film I named earlier "Funny Bones" does have Jerry Lewis in it. It's one you don;'t want to miss.

Here's an unusual MDA telethon moment where Jerry Lewis asks the nation's drug dealers to make a donation.

[www.youtube.com]

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Hairball
I met him briefly when I was about 10 years old, and he was the exact opposite of what his goofy image and comedic film roles would have you believe.
He was very serious to the point of almost being mean...no goofy faces, no jokes, no funny voices, etc., just all business.
Shows what a great actor he was I suppose.

RIP Jerry Lewis.

seems to be a jerk

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stonehearted
Here's an unusual MDA telethon moment where Jerry Lewis asks the nation's drug dealers to make a donation.

[www.youtube.com]

NICE!! What a great idea.
I wonder if any of the drugs dealers, and cops on the take, he asked to give actually did.

Thanks for sharing the link and thanks to the person who posted the video!


RIP Mr Lewis
You were one of the greats, you made a lot of people laugh A LOT!!
I understand you even got some of the grumpy French to crack a smile every once in a while.



I saw him live one time as a kid... he was funny.
I sill remember one of his jokes.

"I like golf, I like to be out there on the greens, smell of the grass..."
I hit a couple of good balls the other day... I stepped on a rake"


I heard him tell that joke myself live in person

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HankM

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stonehearted
Here's an unusual MDA telethon moment where Jerry Lewis asks the nation's drug dealers to make a donation.

[www.youtube.com]

NICE!! What a great idea.
I wonder if any of the drugs dealers, and cops on the take, he asked to give actually did.

Thanks for sharing the link and thanks to the person who posted the video!


RIP Mr Lewis
You were one of the greats, you made a lot of people laugh A LOT!!
I understand you even got some of the grumpy French to crack a smile every once in a while.



I saw him live one time as a kid... he was funny.
I sill remember one of his jokes.

"I like golf, I like to be out there on the greens, smell of the grass..."
I hit a couple of good balls the other day... I stepped on a rake"


I heard him tell that joke myself live in person

(that drug dealer appeal. More than a bit of balls right there)





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-08-23 19:37 by hopkins.

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black n blue

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Hairball
I met him briefly when I was about 10 years old, and he was the exact opposite of what his goofy image and comedic film roles would have you believe.
He was very serious to the point of almost being mean...no goofy faces, no jokes, no funny voices, etc., just all business.
Shows what a great actor he was I suppose.

RIP Jerry Lewis.

seems to be a jerk

Perhaps, I never found him funny. Either way, the 'jerk' may apply, seems a news article came out this weekend, stating that he ignored a couple of his children, to the point of claiming they never existed -- one being an illegitimate daughter who apparently has been homeless for years, living on the streets of Phili.

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LeonidP

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black n blue

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Hairball
I met him briefly when I was about 10 years old, and he was the exact opposite of what his goofy image and comedic film roles would have you believe.
He was very serious to the point of almost being mean...no goofy faces, no jokes, no funny voices, etc., just all business.
Shows what a great actor he was I suppose.

RIP Jerry Lewis.

seems to be a jerk

Perhaps, I never found him funny. Either way, the 'jerk' may apply, seems a news article came out this weekend, stating that he ignored a couple of his children, to the point of claiming they never existed -- one being an illegitimate daughter who apparently has been homeless for years, living on the streets of Phili.

Jerry Lewis, excludes 6 sons from his Will
More "jerky" evidence.

Never liked him, never thought he was remotely funny, although I liked his performance in Scorsese's 'The King of Comedy'. He disinherited his FIVE sons because they affirmed the childhood abuse they sustained at his hands. The sixth committed suicide. As noted above, his daughter is homeless.

Not a funny guy

Funny guy.

[www.youtube.com]

No one knows what Jerry did for or gave to his sons when they were younger. Maybe he gave them money, gifts, or loans that were never repaid. He probably paid child support to all until they were 21, and they lived an affluent life style and had a chance to go to good schools. Maybe he was an awful father or a mean man, but these kids are all over 40 or 50.

It's surprising someone as well-off as Jerry didn't have a family trust to avoid the probate fees that are part of wills in most states. Maybe he had one in addition to the will, but the contents are not known. Not that the sons had any part of that, but who knows. Their mother may have received a big community property settlement from the divorce that she's managed well enough to leave to the sons, so they may not be left broke.

The oldest of those children, Gary Lewis (yes, Gary Lewis & The Playboys) is 71. The homeless daughter he never acknowledged is 64. These kids are well beyond 40 or 50. Not saying he was a good Dad or husband, but just putting an age to the story.

My Jerry Lewis story...

Back in the mid to late 80's I was in Lake Tahoe with a friend for a convention. At the Sahara Tahoe (same venue I saw Elvis back in 1971) Jerry Lewis was playing the dinner show and George Carlin was doing the late show. We went to both.

Jerry Lewis was not funny, he sounded like an angry old man. My friend, who idolized Lewis couldn't understand why the audience was so lame. I told him it was because Lewis isn't funny, so, he blamed the crowd for being lame.

A few hours later we went to see George Carlin. He was on top of his game and the crowd really got into it. About 15 minutes into the show, my friend says...he's horrible, what do these people find so funny, I'm leaving....and he got up and left.

He just couldn't stand the fact that his idol bombed and was outdone by Carlin

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BluzDude
My Jerry Lewis story...

Back in the mid to late 80's I was in Lake Tahoe with a friend for a convention. At the Sahara Tahoe (same venue I saw Elvis back in 1971) Jerry Lewis was playing the dinner show and George Carlin was doing the late show. We went to both.

Jerry Lewis was not funny, he sounded like an angry old man. My friend, who idolized Lewis couldn't understand why the audience was so lame. I told him it was because Lewis isn't funny, so, he blamed the crowd for being lame.

A few hours later we went to see George Carlin. He was on top of his game and the crowd really got into it. About 15 minutes into the show, my friend says...he's horrible, what do these people find so funny, I'm leaving....and he got up and left.

He just couldn't stand the fact that his idol bombed and was outdone by Carlin

I think this illustrates more that humor is totally subjective . . .

Having said that, I never thought Lewis was funny, either, but knew nothing about his personal life--what I'm learning here doesn't endear him to me, I have to say.

And in the end George Carlin became the angry old man, going off on pointless political rants trying to pretend to be funny, just because unlike his contemporaries and people who followed him he was unable to advance beyond stand-up comedy and move on to a successful acting career.

Instead, he was left with unending tax debt and having to tour constantly and do Vegas 100 nights a year.

At least Jerry Lewis had 20 years more of life than George Carlin -- Carlin would never have been able to stand it, living through his seventies and eighties doing endless stand-up.

Here's a pic of George doing what he really wanted to do (on an episode of That Girl! in 1966 [Break A Leg, season 1, episode 10]), and tried to do so many times but failed to do.



George Carlin: great (stand-up) comedian, terrible actor.

I wonder if any of his kids attended the funeral.

carlin totally brilliant and accomplished and his work will live on and on; much more impactful and actually courageously important than two bit jokesters desperate to get a couple of lines on a shit sitcom; this guy did Sullivan as the youngest man and killed; he's done so much tv and had premier, even cutting edge contracts with HBO; Bill Maher and lost souls in his league could never hope to touch the hem of a garment George might have casually tossed in the trash...
brilliant important cat; casting him as any kind of 'failure' is remarkable incorrect, assumptive and misses not only the boat, but the entire harbor.

George Carlin, Bill Hicks, there will never be others like them

All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration
[www.youtube.com]

Its just a ride.
[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-09-25 16:14 by stone4ever.

I don't think anyone would mistake Jerry Lewis for a philosopher. A silly comedian and a philanthropist, sure. George Carlin and Bill Hicks were stand-up philosophers (to borrow Mel Brooks' phrase). You would never see them pulling silly faces or acting like a child, an idiot, or a monkey. Lewis was part of a tradition that went to Vaudeville and the Borscht Belt. Not belittling him for it, but it's an apples and oranges comparison to guys like George Carlin and Bill Hicks.

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stonehearted
...
George Carlin: great (stand-up) comedian, terrible actor.

Disagree, Carlin was fine as an actor in the few movies I've seen him in (off the top of my head, I can think of Jersey Girl, Dogma, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back).

And agree on the stand-up, Carlin was great! Lewis, not so much.

I live in France and I will never understand why my fellow French residents elevate JL's status to comic genius on par with Chaplin. They even adore a sitcom character who behaves like him, a young black boy who wears big eyeglasses named Urquell.

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marianna
No one knows what Jerry did for or gave to his sons when they were younger. Maybe he gave them money, gifts, or loans that were never repaid. He probably paid child support to all until they were 21, and they lived an affluent life style and had a chance to go to good schools. Maybe he was an awful father or a mean man, but these kids are all over 40 or 50.

It's surprising someone as well-off as Jerry didn't have a family trust to avoid the probate fees that are part of wills in most states. Maybe he had one in addition to the will, but the contents are not known. Not that the sons had any part of that, but who knows. Their mother may have received a big community property settlement from the divorce that she's managed well enough to leave to the sons, so they may not be left broke.

The brilliant but balmy UK Actor/Comedian Peter Sellers disinherited his children, leaving pretty much all of his estate to his wife of 3 years (and with whom he had a rocky relationship). She blew it all on drugs and died quite young

I wonder if Jerry left any money to the Muscular Dystrophy charities ?

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Bliss
I live in France and I will never understand why my fellow French residents elevate JL's status to comic genius on par with Chaplin. They even adore a sitcom character who behaves like him, a young black boy who wears big eyeglasses named Urquell.

Never equated Steve Erkell with the JL character - but there it is, right before my eyes!

"Did I do that"?

"No Anchovies, Please"

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Bliss
I live in France and I will never understand why my fellow French residents elevate JL's status to comic genius on par with Chaplin. They even adore a sitcom character who behaves like him, a young black boy who wears big eyeglasses named Urquell.

You forgot the deplorable Mchel Leeb who, in the mid-80's, got famous covering Jerry lewis "typexriter" skit. Urgh...

When The French started their onw telethon in the late 80's they thought it'd be good to invite the inventor of the show... Jerry flew to Paris settled in the best hotel in town, and spent like 10 minutes on air to support the cause ("Good evening give us your money, thank you good night").

A few days later he flew back to the US leaving an unpaid huge hotel bill behind him. Some of the donations to this debut French Telethon had to be used to pay the bill.

Nice classy move Jerry...