Jerry Lewis' MDA telethon status gets nutty

It's becoming a story right out of a Jerry Lewis routine.

The comedian, who was unceremoniously relieved of his duties as host of the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon two weeks ago, seemed poised to reclaim those host duties, at least according to a Sunday gossip column in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

The column, written by longtime city reporter Norm Clarke, said that "Comedy king Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association have made peace," going on to say that "[I]n a stunning reversal, Lewis was reinstated Saturday to the MDA Labor Day Telethon he has hosted since 1966," attributing the information to "a source close to Lewis."

But late Sunday Clarke sent a tweet that appeared to recant the story ."A source told Vegas Confidential that Lewis had been 'reinstated,' " Clarke wrote. "The source clarified that today, saying he meant reconciled."

Clarke's muddled retraction comes after a period of denial and confusion.

Reached just before noon, Lewis spokeswoman Nancy Kane told Show Tracker she had not heard anything of the news and would reach out to her client to confirm; she has since been unavailable.  A second Lewis spokeswoman, Candi Cazau, then told Reuters that the report was untrue. "Him being reinstated as the host of the MDA telethon is not accurate," she said. Clarke would later also tweet a denial from an unnamed Lewis publicist.

Meanwhile, multiple calls to an MDA spokesman went unreturned, in what amounted to a strange turn for an organization that had allegedly made peace with the performer.

Clarke's report came after the 85-year-old Lewis turned out to receive an award at the Nevada Broadcasters Association gala in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Lewis himself made no reference to the MDA controversy in accepting the honor.

As remote as it seems, a reinstatement or even reconciliation would've saved face for the organization, which came under withering criticism from the comedy community this month when it severed ties with Lewis and reversed an earlier decision to make this Labor Day weekend telethon his last. That news suggested Lewis would leave the telethon he hosted for 45 years quietly, but the developments on Sunday ensured that at least the exit would not happen with some noise and maybe even a few pratfalls.

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— Steven Zeitchik

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Photo:  Jerry Lewis at TCA '11. Credit: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Jerry Lewis' ouster prompts outcry among comics at Laugh Factory

 

A dozen or so angry comedians gathered on the stage at the Laugh Factory comedy club in Hollywood for a news conference Friday afternoon in defense of Jerry Lewis.

The 85-year-old Lewis was abruptly, if a bit mysteriously, dismissed Wednesday night as the host and national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.’s annual Labor Day Telethon -- an event he helped shape, and was the face of, for nearly 60 years.

Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada said he was "disgusted."

"He’s done so much for the telethon, and he raised over $2 1/2 billion for the telethon, and what they did to him is a shame," Masada said. "I can’t describe how hurt I am, how hurt every comedian is."

Masada said the purpose of the news conference was to rally public support to protest the MDA. "What we’re trying to do is see if we can get Jerry Lewis back on the telethon again."

Among those in attendance were Paul Rodriguez, Larry Miller, Tom Dreesen, French comedian Mustapha El Atrassi and 83-year-old Norm Crosby, who co-hosted the telethon with Lewis for more than 25 years.

Rodriguez said many of his fellow comedians had called and emailed from the road Friday to offer support, including Dave Chappelle and Kevin Pollak.
 

Crosby called the MDA’s actions "abrupt" and "cruel."

"If it was time for him to leave, that’s debatable. If he was cranky and nasty and difficult, that’s possible too," Crosby said."But it was all because of the passion he had for these kids and the money they raised and for the telethon. Certainly there could’ve been a much more pleasant, easier way for him to go."

Jim Brown, the MDA's vice president of public relations, said the organization declined to comment about Friday's news conference.

"We live with rejection. We know what rejection’s about. It’s part of our life," said comedian Tom Dreesen, who's appeared on the telethon more than 20 times. "But if you … were a major star and hosted a telethon that raised $2.5 billion, you at least deserve to go out in a gracious way."
 
The event was not without some bitter-laced humor. "We’re gonna host our own telethon," Rodriguez said. "We’re trying to find a cure for disrespect and ingratitude."

The Laugh Factory is planning a fundraiser this Labor Day weekend from which all proceeds will be donated to research for muscular dystrophy.

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-- Deborah Vankin
Twitter.com/debvankin

Top photo: Paul Rodriguez takes the podium with Tom Dreesen, center, and Jamie Masada.

Bottom photo: Norm Crosby speaks out in Jerry Lewis' defense.

Credit: Deborah Vankin

 

Jerry Lewis ousted from MDA telethon -- and comics are outraged

Jerry Lewis has been ousted from the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. telethon he has hosted for nearly half a century -- and the comedy community is outraged.

On Wednesday night, the MDA released a statement saying it was severing its association with the 85-year-old performer. Lewis won't appear on this year's Labor Day weekend telethon.

The announcement provoked an outcry from the comedy community, even as the circumstances surrounding Lewis' departure remained mysterious.  Here’s what some of L.A.’s comics had to say:

Tom Arnold: "Younger comics were coming out [to the show] for Jerry Lewis. Jerry let them fly. They would use the word ‘genius’ -- and he certainly is. It’s been handled so poorly. To me, Jerry should be able to come back and say goodbye.... It's probably time for him to retire.  But he should get to say goodbye. They screwed up. If they'd promoted this as Jerry Lewis' final telethon they could've gotten guys like George Clooney, which would've opened the door to God knows who. It would've been a big deal and showbiz loves big deals."

Critic's Notebook: Jerry Lewis walks alone

So. Jerry Lewis is out as host of the Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day Telethon, which he had captained since 1966 (though he had hosted local telethons for the charity as far back as the early 1950s). Having announced that the 2011 telethon would be his last, Lewis later called that into question; perhaps, like that other aging, raging lion, Lear, he suspected he might have been hasty in giving up the crown. The matter was then settled for him by the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. itself, which announced Wednesday, in the briefest possible statement, that his "more than half century of generous service to MDA" was done. "We will not be replacing him as MDA national chairman," said Dr. R. Rodney Howell, chairman of the board of directors, "and he will not be appearing on the Telethon."

There may continue to be an MDA Labor Day Telethon without Jerry Lewis, though it will contract from 21 hours to six this year and possibly continue to shrivel away, like the vestigial appendix, to a memory of its former usefulness. But there is no Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon without him, and whatever difference that makes to the fate of "Jerry's Kids" — no longer Jerry's Kids, I suppose — or the number of dollars racked up on the tote board, that one very special tradition ends here. The charity may be no less worthy, but the television event is over. There is really no reason to watch it now.

Photos: Jerry Lewis: A 59-year association with the MDA draws to a close

Some might say that was already becoming the case. There was a time, when Lewis was younger and his associates were hale — many, of course, lacking his superheroic constitution, have predeceased him to that great Friar's Club in the sky — that the telethon was a lively, star-studded event, worth staying awake for almost through its entirety. It was unpredictable, in a good way; it had currency. More lately, it can seem a little shopworn or second-string, emerging as if out of a time capsule, or like the mythical, musical city of Brigadoon, reappearing whole once a year, but here showing its years.

So it is with Lewis, who, like most of us, remains a creature of his own youth into the youth of a different world. (In more than one interview over the last decade he has suggested that one problem with showbiz kids these days is that they don't know who Al Jolson is.) His timing, in a kind of existential sense, is off. His jokes, which, in the habit of his generation, flirt with racial and gender stereotypes — or I should say, flirt with them in a way in which no irony is apparent — have created little hiccups of controversy in recent years. The show became unpredictable, in a less good way. And yet it was no less fascinating. The man, like the artist, represents an inextricable mix of sentiment and steeliness, and part of the fascination of the telethon has been watching him rocket between those poles, like the divided self he played in his masterpiece "The Nutty Professor" — the sweet scientist, with his thick glasses and sideways teeth, and the soulless swinger, with his slicked hair and sharp tux.

But that is only part of the story. Because if the telethon was on the one hand a very long variety show, it was also something greater: a kind of ritual, a rite of sacrifice, an altar across which Lewis splayed himself in order that the coffers would be filled and a cure found. If there was something almost unseemly in the intensity of his identification with his cause, an identification that may have ultimately discomfited the organization for which he worked for so long as "a labor of love," there was also something wonderful about it. He played the telethon like a Yiddish-theater Las Vegas remake of the climax of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," where James Stewart holds the Senate floor, flooding it with truth and beauty, until he collapses — but with funny walks and noises and faces. For many years, Lewis was onstage for the whole 21 hours: Going the distance was part of the point; it was what the gods required.

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-- Robert Lloyd
twitter.com/LATImesTVLloyd

Photo: Jerry Lewis, who predicted he would be "right on top" of heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano in their exhibition bout in Hollywood on Nov. 18, 1954. Credit: Associated Press

Jerry Lewis on the MDA telethon: Five memorable moments [Video]

Jerry Lewis may have a big, new documentary coming to Encore this October, but you won't see him hosting the annual Labor Day telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. Even though this year's telethon was reportedly going to be the last for the 85-year-old comedian, the MDA released a statement Thursday confirming that Lewis was off the telethon and out of the organization effective immediately.

Lewis has been hosting telethons for the MDA since 1952, but the national Labor Day telethon we're all familiar with began in 1966. Now that era is over. There will be new hosts for the telethon and money will still be raised, but we won't have Jerry Lewis to kick around anymore.

Photos: Jerry Lewis

Here, then, is a look back at five of the most memorable moments from the telethon's first 4 1/2 decades -- a time that future generations will come to know as the "Jerry Years."

Jerry Lewis has hosted his last MDA telethon

Last week at TCA, Jerry Lewis batted down rumors he was severing his association with the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. telethon he presides over every Labor Day weekend. On Wednesday night, MDA confirmed those rumors -- the organization said that it was relieving the performer of his duties as national chairman and that Lewis won't be appearing on this year's telecast.

In a short statement announcing the telethon news, R. Rodney Howell, MDA chairman of the board, said that Lewis is a "world-class humanitarian and we're forever grateful to him for his more than half century of generous service to MDA." It said it would not replace him for the post of national chairman.

The 85-year old Lewis has hosted the telethon since it began in 1966, turning a generic fund-raising event into a fixture of the entertainment calendar and raising more than $2 billion for the disease.

Photos: Jerry Lewis

But his involvement hasn't been without controversy in recent years. In 2007, Lewis nearly let slip a homophobic epithet. In the last few months the question of his relationship with the telethon has grown more complicated. In May, news surfaced that Lewis would host his last telethon in 2011. Lewis denied the report. At TCA, he reportedly said to journalists that "it's none of your business" when they asked about his future association with the event.

MDA is expected to name a new host, who will join a quartet of co-hosts that includes entertainment personalities Nigel Lythgoe, Jann Carl, Alison Sweeney and Nancy O'Dell.

Lewis can still be seen on television in the coming months: He'll appear in the new documentary "Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis," which takes a look at his long career via rare footage and the testimonials of comedians such as Eddie Murphy and Alec Baldwin. The special airs on Encore this fall.

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Photo:  Jerry Lewis at TCA '11. Credit: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

TCA 2011: Cameron Crowe puts Pearl Jam in group therapy

There were a few nervous moments when the members of Pearl Jam screened the new PBS documentary about the band, the film's director says.

Cameron Crowe, the Oscar winner behind "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous," told reporters Saturday that "Pearl Jam Twenty" covers such touchy topics as the grunge band's tortured feelings about Seattle rivals Nirvana, their battles with Ticketmaster and their slow shift from being led by guitarist Stone Gossard to vocalist Eddie Vedder. Vedder has told journalists the film was difficult to watch.

"That's a measure of success, that you're able to get under people's skin a little bit," Crowe told reporters at the TV media tour in Beverly Hills.

Crowe, a former music journalist, has known the band members since their beginnings 20 years ago and spent three years assembling footage, he said. "It was our labor of love, our hobby," he said of the project, which will premiere Oct. 21 under PBS' "American Masters" banner.

During filmmaking, band members compared the experience to group therapy.

Over the years, Pearl Jam has gradually moved from laboring in obscurity to becoming an international sensation, and now enduring as a grassroots touring band with enduring appeal.

"There was no rulebook for what they did," Crowe said. "They've become a little bit like the Grateful Dead."

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-- Scott Collins
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Photo: Pearl Jam (with frontman Eddie Vedder, second from right) is the subject of a new PBS documentary. Credit: Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times