Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #53: Happy 90th, Jerry Lewis!

Episode Date: March 31, 2016

Each week, comedian Gilbert Gottfried and comedy writer Frank Santopadre share their appreciation of lesser-known films, underrated TV shows and hopelessly obscure character actors -- discussing, dissecting and (occasionally) defending their handpicked guilty pleasures and buried treasures. This week: Roger C. Carmel! John McGiver returns! Lucas and Spielberg go to school! And Jerry Lewis meets the Hudson Brothers! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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fan duel casino where winning is undefeated 19 plus and physically located in ontario gambling problem call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca please play responsibly don't forget to follow us on our Facebook page, Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, on Twitter, at RealGilbertACP, and on Instagram, Gilbert Podfried, P-O-D-F-R-I-E-D You see, it's kind of a pun on the last name. Ah, never mind. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Colossal Obsessions with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. Once again at Nutmeg Post with our engineer, Frank Furtarosa.

And we're here with one of the former Hudson brothers, Mark Hudson. He's still one of the Hudson brothers. When we were an act, now I'm Zeppo Hudson. Yeah. When we were in act, now I'm Zeppo Hudson. Now, I remember talking to Penn Jillette about this. Both me and Penn could be very, you know, like, you know, stabbing people. A little cervix. Yeah.

people. A little Cervic. Yeah. And we would make fun of Jerry Lewis like, you know, he gets pompous or talks about being a filmmaker. And both of us had the same, practically same exact story. When we met him, it all changed. met him, it all changed. And then you're three years

old, and it's Jerry Lewis in front of you. Absolutely. Well, you know, it's interesting, because being in showbiz, as I make the quotation, Mark, we always hear the negative stuff, or the bad stuff, or the ego,

pompous guy. When my brothers and I met him, it was exactly the same gilbert we went back and the first thing he did was my ring guy that was like the first thing out of his mouth he was that and then he goes you know i want to be serious with you guys because i know that you're funny like the risk brothers and he started giving us all these compliments like he was teaching us something he goes you understand what i mean And we're in his dressing room, so it's really tight like this. He goes, yeah. Pulls out a cigarette, and he already had preset his lighter to 9 million.

So he goes, and he goes, and that was it. We were gone. We were over with. That's great. It was over with. And everything, he was so the real deal that he started – he goes, well, you boys come and do my telethon. And we just said, anytime you need us. And every year we'd get a call from him and we would go. Oh, so you did the telethon.

Oh, God, all the time we would do the telethon. And I had never – it's weird when you see like when people have good or bad stories about someone. My only stories of him was that he was beautiful, funnier than I wish I could be, and really, really smart from the business. Never really talked about the Dean Martin times, but that's like any breakup from the Beatles to Sonny and Cher,

Mark Arrow, but when it comes to him, he was Jerry Lewis. And in certain places in Europe, his films that sometimes When it comes to him, he was Jerry Lewis. And in certain places in Europe, his films that sometimes people could make fun of are brilliant. They are truly brilliant. Well, we should say, too, that we're doing this mini-episode as a tribute to Jerry, who is – we're recording this on March 16th, and he's 90 today. Wow.

Born Joe Levich 90 years ago. Yeah. March 16th, and he's 90 today. Wow. Born Joe Levich 90 years ago. Yeah. March 16th, 1926. In Jersey. In Jersey Bay. And I remember, too, I attended that thing when they were putting the plaque of Jerry Lewis on the Friars Club. Right. And I wound up with him just the way I just was standing in the crowd, standing next to Jerry Lewis, who was in his chair. And Lewis kept yelling out stuff, like heckling his own thing.

His own tribute. Yeah. That's so great. Just kept heckling, and then he yelled out one crazy thing and laughed at it afterwards and reached and squeezed my arm. There it is. Like to get me in, and I thought that was like electricity. Absolutely. Isn't that – And the weird thing is when you can see someone who's the real deal, he – love him or not is the real deal

like Shakespeare said to thine own self be true he's been Jerry Lewis since the beginning of time and he's going to be Jerry Lewis when he's 95 too you wait and see he's that great I love him he's one of those people when you're in his presence you go

oh fuck it's Jerry Lewis you only can hope that the generations you're in his presence, you go, oh, fuck, it's Jerry Lewis. It's Jerry Lewis. And you know what? You only can hope that the generations, you know, I mean, I worry about the way things are now with, you know, InstaHole and FaceFuck and all that stuff that people are doing. InstaHole. Yeah. You know, I worry that it's so immediate and then gone that nobody looks back and can appreciate the work that happened before us.

And any great comedian, if you look at Jim Carrey, you're not going to see Jim Carrey without seeing Jerry Lewis. You just don't see it. And sometimes for the younger people out there, go back and look up the Nutty Professor, not the Eddie Murphy one, the Jerry Lewis one, and just check it out. 1963. There it is. I got a list here of all of Jerry's movies.

And one movie, one person I appeared in the movie with, Ford Failing, the whole Dice character is Buddy Love. Oh, yeah. I never thought of that. Yeah. That's interesting. Well, here's a list of some of the movies that Jerry made with Dean. I'd be curious to know your guys' favorites

and also the ones that he made by himself. So what is your... First of all, Gil, what is your favorite Jerry and Dean movie? Because they've ranked 10 here. Oh, I think of their movies, because it's funny. Like, people who've seen them say in a club

it was there's no way to explain it no it was so amazing you're right and getting back to beatles who we were talking about with you uh they said they were like bigger than the beatles yeah as a comedy team. Yeah, Pat Cooper was just telling us about seeing them live and what an experience it was for him. Really? People went crazy when they saw him live? Yeah, it was insanity.

And I never thought the movies captured what the magic was, but I like That's My Boy, I think. You know what they ended up trying to do, and this goes from the Marx Brothers on down, you know, a lot of the Marx Brothers stuff, they would go on the road and do comedy routines. Oh, sure. And the comedy routines that work, they would insert those into their films. And I think that Martin and Lewis attempted to do that, and although it was funny, it probably wasn't the same as seeing them in person dean martin this gorgeous beautiful man that was could sing and he was a straight guy and then jerry was complete it's it was such a beautiful combination of two different beings and that's why it made it

great and you know in one way you know it's like the beatles too we love their solo career but there was something that suffered when they weren't with each other no matter how no question how much i love dean martin's like that oh yeah i know it's like it's like separating mel brooks and gene wilder absolutely not as interesting no without each other look at that and you go wow i still love him he still but there was that other thing that that angst or that beautiful thing that Jerry and Dean had. And, you know, I knew them both but never together. So it was like – Did they ever mention each other?

No, rarely. It never, you know – No. Sometimes it would come up and you'd see the smile and the look in their face was the whole paragraph of what they would say if they were talking. But once again, you know, that relationship is between them, and it was them, them, and I'm sure they hold on to the beauty and the pain of it. How flattering for you guys that he expressed that he was a fan. It was like, you know, but I'm talking in a room this, you know, and still doing jokes. Yeah.

As soon as he started, like, pouring coffee, he didn't stop. Oh, you boys want some? And he's talking to us and coughing. And it's just. Well, how are you? But he was just doing it just because. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning. Which beats even the 27th best feeling,

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anyone else, even us, exclusive podcast merchandise, video hangouts, so you can see how beautiful we are. And just added, I will record a personalized roast of you and only you, so you could share it with your friends. Me telling you what a schmuck you are go to patreon.com slash gilbert gottfried that's patreon p-a-t-r-e-o-n dot com slash gilbert gottfried and thank you for your generosity i remember uh on saturday night live uh piscopo and i found out he was going to be on this show live at five. Wow. So we headed down and he was exactly like Mark was saying, everything you wanted him

to be. He was like going up to the phones, unscrewing the speakers and putting them in his pocket and knocking stuff off the shelves. I know. And doing this crazy walk. But isn't that beautiful that that's, you know, I wish him happy birthday. And I'll guarantee you if he was in this room right now, something would happen where he would turn into that guy that would make us melt and make us go, oh, my God, we're in a room with Jerry Lewis. And we got to mention, it's been mentioned a million times, but worth mentioning again, he invented this thing called video assist

that you could watch the scene right after it was filmed. Right, right. Well, that's what I mean, way ahead of his time. I think he directed a lot of his physical, like Fred Astaire directed most of his dance numbers. He directed them because no one could shoot them to make it look like the way he wanted it to look. I think Jerry started to do the same thing with his comedy. And if you notice, much more of it is wide.

It's like a big shot where you can see everything. Wasn't his book – what is it called? The Total Filmmaker? Oh, yes. Wasn't that book a Bible for many film directors? I heard like Spielberg used to take his class. Yeah, Spielberg and Lucas were in his class at USC, apparently. Wow, are you kidding?

Yeah, isn't that good trivia? Found some good trivia on him today. There was one scene that made me laugh out loud in a Marx Brothers, not Marx Brothers, Martin Lewis. Jerry Lewis is dancing the jitterbug with Cherie North. Which movie? I wonder if that's Living It Up. Okay, I'll find out. What was it when he was directing the band?

Oh, God, he did a few where he directs the band. He's hysterical. Living It Up is the one with Janet Leigh. What did a few where he directs the band. He's hysterical. Living It Up is the one with Janet Leigh. Janet Leigh's in Living It Up. Oh, okay. This is one with Cherie North. Okay, I'll look up. And he does a jitterbug dance with her that he looks

like a cartoon character. Can we have our researcher, Paul, find the Jerry Lewis and Cherie North movie? S-H-E-R-E-E. And you know what else is really interesting when you don't look at it? A lot of guys, a throwback to the older generation, James Cagney was like the tough guy. All right, you rat, dirty rat. And then he's dancing on the table doing Yankee Doodle Dandy.

And when you look at a guy like Jerry Lewis, he was a physical comedian. He could also be very serious. He could sing. He could dance. He could act. It was this entire bohemian throwback to I can do a little bit of everything, and he really could. Nutty Professor, your favorite?

Oh, how could it not be? Yeah. That's one that I've seen like a thousand times. Yeah, that one's biblical. And your favorite Lewis picture without Dean also? Yeah. Gil? Yeah.

Nutty Professor without question. Yeah. Okay. It has to be. What's your take on the bellboy, Cinderfella, the ladies' man? Oh, Cinderfella with Ed W' Man. Cinderfella? With Ed Wynn. Ed Wynn.

Ed Wynn. Cinderfella was great, too. And then there were the Tashlin ones, too. It's only one. When did he start directing? He didn't direct all of them. I believe The Bellboy was the first one that he directed. Oh, yeah, that's the one he did in Florida. Yeah.

I think that was at the Fountain Blue. Tom Leopold told us a story about that when he was on the show. That was the first one that he directed? In 60. And then Cinderfellow, The Lady's Man, The Aaron Boy, It's Only Money, Nutty Professor in 63, Who's Minding the Store? I loved that one. In 63. It's Only Money was with one of my favorites, John MacGyver.

That's right, John MacGyver. I think John MacGyver also turns up in another one. Who's Mining the Store is great, too. Yeah, Who's Mining the Store was 63. Ray Walston's also in that one. Oh, yes. The Patsy with Peter Lorre. Oh, I love that one, too.

And John Carradine. And John Carradine and Scatman Crothers. Yes, the Patsy. What's interesting about that is it's a crazy, typical crazy Jerry Lewis, but there's something so hip about it where Jerry Lewis is just this schmuck who's found that these managers say, we'll make him into a star. Watch. Yeah, right.

Yeah. And then the Disorderly orderly after that, and then Family Jewels, and then Boeing, Boeing, and Three on a Couch. What was his last movie? You know what I mean? Like the De Niro one.

What was the last movie that he did that was him? You know what I mean? You mean the Jerry character? Yeah. Oh. There was... There was Which Way to the Front? There was Smorgasbord. Well, there was the ones in the 80s to the Front? There was Smorgasbord.

Well, there was the ones in the 80s. Yeah, those horrible... The Smorgasbord and Hardly Working. Hardly Working Smorgasbords. What do we got? Sherry North and Jerry Lewis. Sherry North made her Broadway debut in the musical Hazel Flag, which she reprised in the film version, Living It Up.

There you go, Gil. Living It Up. Nice work. Nice work. Yeah. And we only talked about the ones once Jerry started directing, because before that, there was Visit to a Small Planet. There was Don't Give Up the Ship, The Geisha Boy, which Tashlin made, the great Frank Tashlin. Geisha Boy was great.

Rockabye Baby, The Sad Sack, and I think the first solo film is The Delicate Delinquent. Don't they have a retrospect? I mean, can't you buy, can't you get like a box set of Jerry Lewis? Probably. The problem with box sets is when they do a box set, they pick the worst movies.

Or they shove the mediocre ones in with the ones that you really want. Like when you get the Marx Brothers, it'll be out west. Yeah, right. Something like that. I think that's so they can make money. Yeah.

It has nothing to do with the talent of the art. Here's a little bit of Jerry trivia for you guys, and we'll wrap it up. This is fun stuff that I found. He apparently encouraged Christopher Walken to pursue a career in acting, which I didn't know. Spielberg and Lucas we talked about.

I don't know if this is bullshit. I hope it's not. He apparently for years tried to direct an adaptation of Catcher in the Rye. Oh, I knew he was crazy about that book. Can you imagine? Okay, here's trivia for you two guys, Jerry Lewis experts. Name two films, I believe the only two films he directed that he does not appear in.

Oh, one's with Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. It's called One More Time. Yes. And it was a sequel to Salt and Pepper. Yes. Although his voice is heard in it, but he does not appear visually. What is his voice in it? It just says Lewis Voice Cameo. It's a diamond smuggling

story and Peter Lawford. I saw it years ago. Peter Lawford as a twin brother. Oh, and what's the... Give me a clue. The other one was made in 1979. I'll give you the cast. You guys will enjoy this. Roger C. Carmel, who Mark probably worked with.

Al Lewis. Oh, God. Rue McClanahan, Ruth Gordon, Vincent Gardenia, and wait for it, Danny Thomas. Make room for Danny. Only hardcore Jerry Lewis fans are going to know this one. Wow. I'm a hardcore Jerry Lewis fan. I think I'm stumped

on this one. I'm going by IMDB, and it's called That's Life from 1979. Wow. Yeah. There you go. Did he write the screenplay as well? I do not know. I'd have to do some extra research for that. But we also have talked about The King of Comedy, because we were just talking about Scorsese outside. He was terrific. No, like unbelievable.

Which just goes, that's a whole other side to him. Yeah. That all of us that were seeing the Patsy and all of the other stuff, you never think he could handle that. And he handled that so great. You'd never think he could handle that, and he handled that so great. In fact, that was kind of like him when I would see him in real life get serious. There was a tonality that he had in that character that I actually saw him not be that, but in the room, that tonality thing was there. Did you guys do some shtick on the telethon, or you just sang?

No, we always did. And every time, once he knew, and I mean, you know, he made me laugh so hard in the dressing room, I had an asthma attack. You know, he's just like, things are exploding, and his voice, you know, when his voice would go, that would be it for me. So every time he would see us, he knew that he owned us. So he would go out of his way, and that's the curse of any great comedian. You know, once you know you've got him, you just keep going and keep

going until you cross the line and they hate you. So 90 today. Yeah. Wow. Jerry Lewis. Happy birthday, Jerry Lewis. We'll try to get this to him. Who knows? Maybe we can through our various channels.

Is he Californian? I think he's in Vegas. I think he's in Vegas. You know, there's another thing that got me. I remember for years, everyone has mocked the French saying, oh, you know, he goes over there. They think he's the next chaplain. How stupid that is. And he does a movie that takes place with the Holocaust.

That's so stupid. Then Roberto Benigni comes to America. Right. And we start calling him the next chaplain. Interesting. And we give him an Academy Award. Interesting. Standing on a an Academy Award. Interesting. Standing on a chair.

Yeah. Right. But once again, happy birthday, Jerry Lewis. Absolutely. Why don't you guys take us out with your best Jerrys? Since you're feeling the call. You're hearing the call. My favorite football player, Myron Geithner.

New York Jet. And with the thing with the portion. And he go in and die. And he die. Happy birthday, Jerry. I've been lying. I win! Lying. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Colossal Obsessions Colossal Obsessions