Jerry Lewis was one of those comedians you usually found funny when you’re a kid and as you get older, his schtick becomes lame. With him though, there was the addition of his unbearable actual asshole self you’d catch in interviews, etc. One thing he never was, was modest.
Going back to my childhood in Central IL there were always two separate weeks of Jerry Lewis movies on Channel 3’s Early Show. One week of movies with Martin and Lewis like Pardners or The Caddy, then later in the year, around Labor Day week it was Jerry’s solo movies offset by the telethon. How my brother and me laughed while Mom rolled her eyes in “pain.”
I had easily outgrown his “comedy” by high school and then pondered why the French thought he was funny. The best explanation I’ve heard was his schtick representing the worst exaggerations of Americans. I still have doubts. We can be loud yet we’re not super clumsy. I also learned Europeans (the non-English speaking) tend like physical humor more than we do.
In closing, I have to fall back on Kliph Nesteroff’s book again (I didn’t expect two major players in comedy history to pass away this soon). Seems that numerous contemporary comedians hated Jerry too. Unlike Chevy Chase, he did have friends but his sudden success at an early age puts him more in line with Dane Cook or Carrot Top. Plus Dean Martin ended their partnership 0ver Jerry demanding that Dean never had any funny parts. After rehearsals, Jerry would appropriate anything Dean got laughs from. The biggest demonstration of Jerry’s ego is told in great detail in The Comedians; ABC spent the budget of a mid-sized city on his disastrous talk show in the Sixties. Hint, it outlasted Chevy Chase’s attempt on Fox, but only due to it airing on Saturday evenings.
However, I do thank you Mr. Lewis. You did create tropes other comedians and writers used have applied. Professor Frink on The Simpsons, Jim Carrey’s physical performances both good (The Mask) and crappy (Ace Ventura, The Cable Guy) and his surrogate on Animaniacs.