timing, the voices, the characters. but he was always such a physical comment. the falling, just the facial expressions. really unforgettable. yeah. he just was completely, was completely funny all the time, and was kind of very, very pure, a very, very pure way. i mean, just he was just deeply funny. every second. when i first met him i kind of tried to be cool and kind of a he s the old school, we re the new school. you know? way back then. you just couldn t do it. i felt a piece of my hole childhood, everything i considered funny was built by jerry and because i ve been part of a comedy team for 42 years, martin and lewis, you know, teller and i studied everything about them. watched every single appearance we could see. listened to everything. watched all the movies, every
i just talked to penn and teller, they were a duo made of dissimilar personalities work on stage for a long time. they owe a lot of their template at least of that approach to martin lewis. talking about martin lewis, this was a discussion with bob costas on later with bob costas, lewis talking to bob in 1993 about his career and debunking the myth that buddy love in the nutty professor was based on the partnership you just mentioned here, johnny, with dean martin. take a listen to this. i got him from the anti-semite, i got him from the racist, i got him from the people on the bus that won t get up for a lady. i got him from a cheat. i got him from a guy that don t pay his debts. i got him from everything that s ugly. so, was he talking about dean martin, his partner, going back to the 40s, and were they
dean martin and jerry lewis, the crooning casanova and the clown, jerry lewis and dean martin were literally an overnight sensation. it wasn t long before hollywood called. they made 17 movies together, all box office hits. then in 1950 they got their own variety show. jerry lewis was only 24 years old. they were making $10 million a year. fans couldn t get enough of them, but then as suddenly as it started it was over. after ten rolicing years, jerry and dean called it quits. when martin and lewis parted they were no longer friend, and there were rumors that the break-up would end each of the men s careers. instead, jerry lewis went on to sign the biggest deal in hollywood history, a $10 million contract with paramount. he made more than 30 movies solo. those movies broke new ground.
really the first partnership? you know, it s hard to say. you know, he jerry would always bring up laurel and hardy, you know, abbott and costello, there are others. there are others, but i don t know with this kind of breadth that you would see. they were the first maybe that were superstars live in film and tv concurrently, you know? i think that s what martin and lewis were. go to the colgate comedy hour, go to the incredible film career over a decade, they were definitely selling out as a live act everywhere they were performing, including in las vegas. you know, i don t know how you get more influential than that. right. finally, what will your headline be for your column? you know what, i think that i lost a friend, you know, i think
combined dick gregory, you get a man who was influenced by both of them, a man who is now considered to be the greatest comedian of all time richard pryor. richard pryor might surprise some people, but he said jerry lewis was one of his biggest influences early on and a martin and lewis picture and they started to mimic jerry lewis. you see him on stage, black and white footage and the skinny suit and he s doing physical comedy. he s mugging to the camera and he s doing a great schtick that was inspired by jerry lewis, and after he started about the plight of black in america talking about racism. you saw richard pryor talking about the same types of topics and talking about racism in america. with the influence of jerry lewis, the two biggest comedy stars of 1961 and get richard pryor. their influence cannot be overstated in the history of comedy. we are honoring both their