Monday 21 August 2017

Sorry, Jerry.

I just read that Jerry Lewis died today. The report was awash with claims that he was one of the funniest comedians who ever lived.

OK, the death of someone familiar is always tinged with a little sadness, but I have to say that I never found him even slightly funny. I don’t mean to denigrate him in saying that; maybe it’s a matter of personal taste, or maybe it’s symptomatic of the difference between what we Brits find funny and what Americans laugh at. But the fact of the matter is that I never found him anything more than irritating.

I think it’s also true that comedians of his generation generally followed a style which oozed ego. Bob Hope often fell into that trap, and it was certainly true of the big British comedian, Bob Monkhouse. The persona always seemed to radiate the same message: ‘Look at me and worship, for I hold you in the palm of my hand.’ Comedy actors were a different species, which is where Bob Hope redeemed himself in my book.

And what about Jim Carey’s accolade:

That fool was no dummy. Jerry Lewis was an undeniable genius, an unfathomable blessing, comedy’s absolute. I am because he was!

If ever there was an unmitigated expression of ego wrapped up in an overly effusive overstatement, that has to be it. I find Jim Carey hard to tolerate even when he’s acting.

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