I just watched the PBS Jerry Lewis special. Part of me thinks it's great that at his age, he can still go out there and make audiences somewhat happy. The other part wishes someone would lovingly tap this man on the shoulder and say, "Time to get off the stage, Jerry." The special is filled with vintage Jerry (or Dean and Jerry) clips that only serve as contrast and make him seem even older than he is.
He rambles on, does the typewriter bit and sings about as well as he ever did. The hour contains only a small part of the stage act he did in Vegas (looking very much like the telethon) and a lot of clips and other interviews. He talks a lot about his "partner" (i.e., Dean) and about the love they had for each other and he compares them rather flatteringly to Laurel and Hardy. He also tells us that at one point, he was "making it" with Marilyn Monroe. (Jerry was one of several people I've met who claimed unconvincingly to have had sex with Ms. Monroe. Others included Milton Berle and Bob Kane.)
And of course, what would a Jerry Lewis appearance be without an anecdote that in no way corresponds to known facts? This time, he tells a story that — well, here's the first part of it…
When Johnny Carson called me in 1983, he asked me to take over The Tonight Show. I said, "Yeah, I'd love to do it." So I went to New York for six weeks and did The Tonight Show.
Didn't happen. Jerry did host the Tonight Show occasionally in the sixties, including the infamous week in which he told a joke about how great it was to be in an airplane and be able to go to the bathroom over Mississippi. There was much protest and he wound up delivering one of those awkward apologies that was probably worse than the original joke. But I don't think he hosted at all after that and certainly not for six weeks. Also, of course, the Tonight Show was done in Los Angeles by 1983.
But he's Jerry. The show is still running on PBS…though not so far in Los Angeles. I picked it up on a satellite channel.