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King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis
A provocative portrait of one of America's most influential comedians analyzes the complex, sometimes disturbing world of Jerry Lewis, from his rise to fame and philanthropic work to the dark side of his career and personal life. 60,000 first printing. $60,000 ad/promo.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1996
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234 people want to read
About the author
Shawn Levy
14 books183 followersShawn Levy is the author of eleven books of biography, pop culture history, and poetry. The former film critic of The Oregonian and KGW-TV and a former editor of American Film, he has been published in Sight and Sound, Film Comment, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Black Rock Beacon, among many other outlets. He jumps and claps and sings for victory in Portland, Oregon, where he serves on the board of directors of Operation Pitch Invasion.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 26, 2008
The best thing I learned about Jerry Lewis from reading this book is that he always carried a separate suitcase full of socks with him so that he would never have to wear the same pair of socks twice. Did you hear me?...HE NEVER WORE THE SAME PAIR OF SOCKS TWICE!!! I worship this man.
October 20, 2017
Finally Finished, Jerry lead a very interesting life and Levy covers every month of it. I Rate this Book a 5 for information it has it all including both sides when other sources conflict. But it is DRY which ment a slow read, falling asleep, stopping to read other books etc.
April 10, 2012
A BOOK FOR SCHMUCKS
At the time this book was written, the only hope any writer had of interesting a publisher in a work on Jerry Lewis was to offer them a scathing one, a hatchet job. Shawn Levy turned one in and made some money. As he says at NiemanStoryboard.org, “When I think of writing a book, I think of a New York Publisher writing a check.” That about sums up his dedication to his craft.
From the early 50s to the late 60s, Jerry Lewis was as big a star in the U.S. as any who came before him or have followed, and to this day he remains a star around the globe. In the late 60s (more than ten years after his breakup with Dean Martin) his star at last began to fade. He had a twenty-year ride at the top, and that’s a success story. But not in Levy’s book.
Levy portrays Lewis throughout his years with Martin as a young man destined to self-destruct. After the breakup of the team, Levy can’t disregard Lewis’s decade more of box-office success (during which he became the highest paid performer both in film and on television), but he can quote from bad reviews (most U.S. critics being contemptuous of Lewis, due to his being hailed as a genius in Europe), deliver gossip from countless anonymous sources, and throw in enough snide remarks of his own that you’re likely to forget that, long before Lewis’s star began to fade in this country, we had already lost our taste for Abbott and Costello, Hope and Crosby, The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, Phyllis Diller – for wacky comedy, period. (On TV, even Lucille Ball was unable to carry her 50s’ success through the 60s. If Lewis is the King of Flop Sweat, what does that make Lucille Ball?)
Though Lewis’s successes since the 60s haven’t been as consistent as they were before, he goes on having them, both in film, on television, and on Broadway. Even as Levy was writing his book, Lewis became the highest paid performer ever to appear on the Broadway stage.
The book is littered with inaccuracies, but I’ll limit myself to those pertaining to THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, the most legendary of all unfinished films. Levy perpetuates the fallacy that Lewis showed the film to comedian Harry Shearer, who in turn told Lewis the film was terrible, provoking Lewis into a rage. In reality, Shearer has acknowledged that Lewis DIDN’T show him the film - he sneaked a look at it behind Lewis’s back (or else made the story up to boost his reputation). That the ridicule of so lowly an individual as Harry Shearer has actually impacted the public’s view of THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED is disgraceful, but Shearer’s ridicule is mild compared to Levy’s.
When Lewis points to the public’s shifting taste in comedy as a reason for his box office decline, Levy likens him to Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD. When Lewis says, “I don’t expect the critics to say bravo, but I want them to LOOK at my films, not send some kid from the copy office and say, ‘Tell me what the plot is and I’ll fill up a few lines,’” Levy’s response is: “Did he really expect critics to apply themselves to HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER?” (Yes, I think he actually did, and so did the public who read those reviews - it’s disturbing to consider that Levy was a critic at the time he wrote the book.) Levy characterizes Lewis, in his capacity as MDA chairman, as “the most visible and arrogant of bigots, making a spectacle of his insensitivity” and growing “creepier than ever” in the 90s, when the telethons, no longer attracting the biggest names in show business, become “a refuge for [his] old friends (Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Norm Crosby).” When Lewis receives the French Legion of Honor (placing him in the company of Louis Pasteur, Albert Schweitzer, John F. Kennedy, Emile Zola, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight Eisenhower, General Pershing, and Alfred Hitchcock), Levy calls it “startling,” and mocks him for wearing his ribbon back into the U.S. later that month. When Lewis serves on the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979, Levy writes, “That year’s top prize was split between Volker Schlondorff’s THE TIN DRUM and Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW – a movie about a child in Nazi Germany who refuses to grow up, and a war epic about an irrational general who sets himself up as a god on the outer reaches of the Vietnam War. Jerry must have felt right at home.” This is among the most telling passages in the book. It shows us Levy’s disdain for Lewis, and it suggests his view of himself: If Colonel Kurtz is Lewis, then who can Willard be but Levy readying us for the big slaughter at the finale? I guess even small doses of fame can make a man delusional.
Some of Levy’s attacks are so over the top as to be incomprehensible. When Lewis has his fourth child and says, “Now I’m even with Bing Crosby,” Levy notes that Lewis fails to mention Dean Martin, who at this time has seven kids. (Four is four, seven is seven, right? So why should Lewis mention Martin, who isn’t even in his life at this point?) Probably the strangest part of the book comes when Lewis’s first wife Patti and two of their sons break into a locked drawer in Lewis’s bathroom and find “pills and two loaded pistols. ‘My God in Heaven!’ Patti screamed. ‘I almost vomited,’ Joseph recalled.” But why? Lewis had already defended the family with a gun against an intruder, and Lewis was the first to realize he had an addiction to painkillers. Should the drugs and guns not have been locked up in a drawer? It’s interesting also that Levy finds no fault with Patti or the kids for violating Lewis’s privacy. The only villain in his book is Lewis himself.
At the same time Levy was writing his book, James Neibaur and Ted Okuda were writing “The Jerry Lewis Films: An Analytical Filmography.” It’s interesting to compare the Lewis-quotes provided by Levy in his book to the quotes found in the latter. In the quotes that Levy draws from, Lewis is consistently either boasting of his greatness or blaming others for his failures. He’s paranoid, egomaniacal, and so prone to rages that Levy claims he has nightmares about him. The quotes in the filmography show a side of Lewis Levy keeps hidden from us. He’s actually human, actually self-deprecating. Of THE FAMILY JEWELS he says, “The mistake I made was that I was trying to accommodate the budget and not the material.” Of THE BIG MOUTH, “I was having a great time in my life, but sometimes when you’re in control of a project, the tendency is to believe it’s far greater than it actually is.” Of HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER, “Sometimes my input can be wrong. I’m not infallible – even though I believe I am. (laughs)”. Of HARDLY WORKING, “It just wasn’t good work, and nobody but myself was responsible for it.”
Levy never takes into account that Lewis’s hostility toward the U.S. press is due in no small part to his having been subjected (for going on 70 years now) to the kind of brutal, manipulative tactics employed by Levy himself on virtually every page of his book. This is an author, after all, who uses The National Enquirer as a source and expects his readers not to bat an eye. At one point, in an attempt to portray Lewis as “tantrum-prone,” he quotes Lewis speaking of the press: “I was not put on this earth to please those who would be happiest if I went on my ass. I’m here for me. And if I contribute something for all of you while doing what I need to do for me, I’ve lived a life. I’ll sit in the corner and let you pound me if I’ve got it coming. If I don’t have it coming, you’d better know what you’re doing, because you’re tangling with a g*ddamn son of a bitch.” Levy’s anti-Lewis bias is so deeply ingrained that he can’t hear himself implicated by these words, much less grasp that they convey no tantrum at all, but are simply the words of a man standing up for himself. “The answer to all my critics is simple,” Lewis says. “I like me. I like what I’ve become. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I may have an ego that’s bigger than others’, but thank God for that, if it’s brought me to where I am.”
For a better book on Lewis, I would recommend Frank Krutnik’s INVENTING JERRY LEWIS, published in 2000. Lewis is as hostile toward Frank Krutnik as he was toward Shawn Levy, and there’s enough dirt in the book to keep any dirt-lover happy. But Krutnik is a better writer and wrote a better book.
At the time this book was written, the only hope any writer had of interesting a publisher in a work on Jerry Lewis was to offer them a scathing one, a hatchet job. Shawn Levy turned one in and made some money. As he says at NiemanStoryboard.org, “When I think of writing a book, I think of a New York Publisher writing a check.” That about sums up his dedication to his craft.
From the early 50s to the late 60s, Jerry Lewis was as big a star in the U.S. as any who came before him or have followed, and to this day he remains a star around the globe. In the late 60s (more than ten years after his breakup with Dean Martin) his star at last began to fade. He had a twenty-year ride at the top, and that’s a success story. But not in Levy’s book.
Levy portrays Lewis throughout his years with Martin as a young man destined to self-destruct. After the breakup of the team, Levy can’t disregard Lewis’s decade more of box-office success (during which he became the highest paid performer both in film and on television), but he can quote from bad reviews (most U.S. critics being contemptuous of Lewis, due to his being hailed as a genius in Europe), deliver gossip from countless anonymous sources, and throw in enough snide remarks of his own that you’re likely to forget that, long before Lewis’s star began to fade in this country, we had already lost our taste for Abbott and Costello, Hope and Crosby, The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, Phyllis Diller – for wacky comedy, period. (On TV, even Lucille Ball was unable to carry her 50s’ success through the 60s. If Lewis is the King of Flop Sweat, what does that make Lucille Ball?)
Though Lewis’s successes since the 60s haven’t been as consistent as they were before, he goes on having them, both in film, on television, and on Broadway. Even as Levy was writing his book, Lewis became the highest paid performer ever to appear on the Broadway stage.
The book is littered with inaccuracies, but I’ll limit myself to those pertaining to THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, the most legendary of all unfinished films. Levy perpetuates the fallacy that Lewis showed the film to comedian Harry Shearer, who in turn told Lewis the film was terrible, provoking Lewis into a rage. In reality, Shearer has acknowledged that Lewis DIDN’T show him the film - he sneaked a look at it behind Lewis’s back (or else made the story up to boost his reputation). That the ridicule of so lowly an individual as Harry Shearer has actually impacted the public’s view of THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED is disgraceful, but Shearer’s ridicule is mild compared to Levy’s.
When Lewis points to the public’s shifting taste in comedy as a reason for his box office decline, Levy likens him to Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD. When Lewis says, “I don’t expect the critics to say bravo, but I want them to LOOK at my films, not send some kid from the copy office and say, ‘Tell me what the plot is and I’ll fill up a few lines,’” Levy’s response is: “Did he really expect critics to apply themselves to HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER?” (Yes, I think he actually did, and so did the public who read those reviews - it’s disturbing to consider that Levy was a critic at the time he wrote the book.) Levy characterizes Lewis, in his capacity as MDA chairman, as “the most visible and arrogant of bigots, making a spectacle of his insensitivity” and growing “creepier than ever” in the 90s, when the telethons, no longer attracting the biggest names in show business, become “a refuge for [his] old friends (Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Norm Crosby).” When Lewis receives the French Legion of Honor (placing him in the company of Louis Pasteur, Albert Schweitzer, John F. Kennedy, Emile Zola, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight Eisenhower, General Pershing, and Alfred Hitchcock), Levy calls it “startling,” and mocks him for wearing his ribbon back into the U.S. later that month. When Lewis serves on the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979, Levy writes, “That year’s top prize was split between Volker Schlondorff’s THE TIN DRUM and Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW – a movie about a child in Nazi Germany who refuses to grow up, and a war epic about an irrational general who sets himself up as a god on the outer reaches of the Vietnam War. Jerry must have felt right at home.” This is among the most telling passages in the book. It shows us Levy’s disdain for Lewis, and it suggests his view of himself: If Colonel Kurtz is Lewis, then who can Willard be but Levy readying us for the big slaughter at the finale? I guess even small doses of fame can make a man delusional.
Some of Levy’s attacks are so over the top as to be incomprehensible. When Lewis has his fourth child and says, “Now I’m even with Bing Crosby,” Levy notes that Lewis fails to mention Dean Martin, who at this time has seven kids. (Four is four, seven is seven, right? So why should Lewis mention Martin, who isn’t even in his life at this point?) Probably the strangest part of the book comes when Lewis’s first wife Patti and two of their sons break into a locked drawer in Lewis’s bathroom and find “pills and two loaded pistols. ‘My God in Heaven!’ Patti screamed. ‘I almost vomited,’ Joseph recalled.” But why? Lewis had already defended the family with a gun against an intruder, and Lewis was the first to realize he had an addiction to painkillers. Should the drugs and guns not have been locked up in a drawer? It’s interesting also that Levy finds no fault with Patti or the kids for violating Lewis’s privacy. The only villain in his book is Lewis himself.
At the same time Levy was writing his book, James Neibaur and Ted Okuda were writing “The Jerry Lewis Films: An Analytical Filmography.” It’s interesting to compare the Lewis-quotes provided by Levy in his book to the quotes found in the latter. In the quotes that Levy draws from, Lewis is consistently either boasting of his greatness or blaming others for his failures. He’s paranoid, egomaniacal, and so prone to rages that Levy claims he has nightmares about him. The quotes in the filmography show a side of Lewis Levy keeps hidden from us. He’s actually human, actually self-deprecating. Of THE FAMILY JEWELS he says, “The mistake I made was that I was trying to accommodate the budget and not the material.” Of THE BIG MOUTH, “I was having a great time in my life, but sometimes when you’re in control of a project, the tendency is to believe it’s far greater than it actually is.” Of HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER, “Sometimes my input can be wrong. I’m not infallible – even though I believe I am. (laughs)”. Of HARDLY WORKING, “It just wasn’t good work, and nobody but myself was responsible for it.”
Levy never takes into account that Lewis’s hostility toward the U.S. press is due in no small part to his having been subjected (for going on 70 years now) to the kind of brutal, manipulative tactics employed by Levy himself on virtually every page of his book. This is an author, after all, who uses The National Enquirer as a source and expects his readers not to bat an eye. At one point, in an attempt to portray Lewis as “tantrum-prone,” he quotes Lewis speaking of the press: “I was not put on this earth to please those who would be happiest if I went on my ass. I’m here for me. And if I contribute something for all of you while doing what I need to do for me, I’ve lived a life. I’ll sit in the corner and let you pound me if I’ve got it coming. If I don’t have it coming, you’d better know what you’re doing, because you’re tangling with a g*ddamn son of a bitch.” Levy’s anti-Lewis bias is so deeply ingrained that he can’t hear himself implicated by these words, much less grasp that they convey no tantrum at all, but are simply the words of a man standing up for himself. “The answer to all my critics is simple,” Lewis says. “I like me. I like what I’ve become. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I may have an ego that’s bigger than others’, but thank God for that, if it’s brought me to where I am.”
For a better book on Lewis, I would recommend Frank Krutnik’s INVENTING JERRY LEWIS, published in 2000. Lewis is as hostile toward Frank Krutnik as he was toward Shawn Levy, and there’s enough dirt in the book to keep any dirt-lover happy. But Krutnik is a better writer and wrote a better book.
September 26, 2025
There are lots of ways to describe Jerry Lewis and his impact on popular culture. Innovator,(he did things with video in a lot of his early films that are still being used today) Comedian, (I guess, never got him personally, but, what's funny to one person may not be to another) Charitable, (His anual MDA telethons on Labor Day brought in over a billion dollars) and a self-proclaimed genius. He certainly accomplished a lot in over 60 years of performing, how one gauges his overall impact is certainly subjective.
Born Jerome Levitch, his father was a Vaudeville comic who never quite hit it big as a poor man's Al Jolson. His dad was never able accept Jerry's fame and constantly criticized him literally until his dying breath. Jerry spent his entire life trying to prove that he was better than that, but, he treated his six sons (among them Gary Lewis from Gary Lewis and The Playboys, who hit it big with "This Diamond Ring" in the 60's) horribly through abuse, both mental and physical, oftentimes using them as his excuse for unpopular decisions he would make in his career. His wife Patti, was treated significantly worse in their 36 years with abuse, infidelity and dishonesty.
Jerry was also an egoist and a petulant child, turning his anger on any critic, reporter or co-star that criticized him. His insecurities and raging ego caused the split in his partnership with Dean Martin, the most profitable of his career. He constantly tried to play himself as a serious dramatic actor, but only being appreciated in France where he was viewed as almost a diety. When asked why, he would say that "The French are smarter than the Americans. " His ego made him state that every penny that was donated to the MDA and "Jerry's Kids" was because of him and he did them a favor by donating his time to the cause.
Shawn Levy, this author, who I am a huge fan of, goes out of his way to put as much detail as possible on both sides out there so the reader can form their own opinion. Even in this case when he met Jerry and was bullied and abused by him. He can provide too much detail at times, some of his stuff just goes on too long and can be a bit tiring to read. But, I enjoyed this book overall, as I have all of his others because he stays neutral, even when he has every reason to not.
This book was a "B-" well done and thoroughly detailed overall. The boring stuff happens a lot in biographies and it doesn't distract overall.
There was no bigger fan of Jerry Lewis than Jerry Lewis. I am certainly not a fan after reading this.
Born Jerome Levitch, his father was a Vaudeville comic who never quite hit it big as a poor man's Al Jolson. His dad was never able accept Jerry's fame and constantly criticized him literally until his dying breath. Jerry spent his entire life trying to prove that he was better than that, but, he treated his six sons (among them Gary Lewis from Gary Lewis and The Playboys, who hit it big with "This Diamond Ring" in the 60's) horribly through abuse, both mental and physical, oftentimes using them as his excuse for unpopular decisions he would make in his career. His wife Patti, was treated significantly worse in their 36 years with abuse, infidelity and dishonesty.
Jerry was also an egoist and a petulant child, turning his anger on any critic, reporter or co-star that criticized him. His insecurities and raging ego caused the split in his partnership with Dean Martin, the most profitable of his career. He constantly tried to play himself as a serious dramatic actor, but only being appreciated in France where he was viewed as almost a diety. When asked why, he would say that "The French are smarter than the Americans. " His ego made him state that every penny that was donated to the MDA and "Jerry's Kids" was because of him and he did them a favor by donating his time to the cause.
Shawn Levy, this author, who I am a huge fan of, goes out of his way to put as much detail as possible on both sides out there so the reader can form their own opinion. Even in this case when he met Jerry and was bullied and abused by him. He can provide too much detail at times, some of his stuff just goes on too long and can be a bit tiring to read. But, I enjoyed this book overall, as I have all of his others because he stays neutral, even when he has every reason to not.
This book was a "B-" well done and thoroughly detailed overall. The boring stuff happens a lot in biographies and it doesn't distract overall.
There was no bigger fan of Jerry Lewis than Jerry Lewis. I am certainly not a fan after reading this.
February 8, 2019
It's hard to read this and not be impressed with Jerry Lewis as a talent. The dude worked his ass off– he taught himself every job on a film set, from lighting to directing to producing, and he managed to push boundaries of what could be done largely because he had the liquid cash to do everything to his crazy specifications. But it's also fascinating how somebody who was so in tune with his body physically could be soooooo out of touch with himself mentally. He's so clearly driven by impulses and unchecked emotions, it's no surprise he was a gigantic jerk.
Which like, I get it–you became famous as a teenager for being an anarchistic and impulsive twit, and the world threw millions of dollars at you for a decade until one day it didn't. I don't blame him for being angry and feeling betrayed about that, it was pretty much all he knew (on top of a general emotional neediness). But it is amazing this guy who knew how to micromanage every moment on a film set seems so out of touch with the "why"s of his own actions. He even acknowledges that he knows he works on impulses, but declines to take a step further and question them!! Thus, he dug in even more and remained an egotistic jerk as he aged. He reminds me of a lot of men in powerful positions, the type who openly say "Only an evil prick would do XYZ" and it comes out later that they were the only ones doing literally that.
I enjoyed reading this book, Shawn Levy seems to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with his subject which feels like the only relationship you can have. I, of course, was more interested in the details of his time with Dean, and Levy sure delivers in that respect. The true nature to Jerry's relationship to Dean is another thing I could go on about but I'll end it here. All in all, a great in depth look at Jerry Lewis–talented weirdo jerk.
Which like, I get it–you became famous as a teenager for being an anarchistic and impulsive twit, and the world threw millions of dollars at you for a decade until one day it didn't. I don't blame him for being angry and feeling betrayed about that, it was pretty much all he knew (on top of a general emotional neediness). But it is amazing this guy who knew how to micromanage every moment on a film set seems so out of touch with the "why"s of his own actions. He even acknowledges that he knows he works on impulses, but declines to take a step further and question them!! Thus, he dug in even more and remained an egotistic jerk as he aged. He reminds me of a lot of men in powerful positions, the type who openly say "Only an evil prick would do XYZ" and it comes out later that they were the only ones doing literally that.
I enjoyed reading this book, Shawn Levy seems to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with his subject which feels like the only relationship you can have. I, of course, was more interested in the details of his time with Dean, and Levy sure delivers in that respect. The true nature to Jerry's relationship to Dean is another thing I could go on about but I'll end it here. All in all, a great in depth look at Jerry Lewis–talented weirdo jerk.
March 29, 2018
Fascinating bio of Lewis never stops offering up fresh anecdotes, a remarkable amount of praise and, especially, suspense as the man experiences the turbulent 70s, 80s, and 90s. What unfolds is a roller-coaster life with numerous downfalls, and you experience them as if in the same room with him. Levy uses Lewis' own comments, writings, recorded conversations, plus witness testimony and captures the man as both the genius who revolutionized comedy (and film-making) throughout the 50s and 60s, yet succumbed to his own ego and became, in many cases, a vulgar, obstinate blowhard whose threshold for cruelty was Olympian. Great portraits of Lewis's childhood and early Broadway. The coverage of the Martin & Lewis success story--who mirrored rock-stars, in their time--is just as entertaining as the depressing sleaze of Vegas variety clubs and the troubled, muddied reputation of the "Jerry's Kids" enterprise to come. A very hard to put down book.
December 3, 2017
The book was at least twice as long as it needed to be. I did not need to know every single day in the life of Jerry. He comes across as a pretty unpleasant person. He appears to have had some real talent behind the camera and came up with some innovative ways to film. He taught a film class. He seemed to be hypomanic most of his life.
It was weird the ways the author inserted himself into the book with the chapter at the end. I think he contact with Jerry impacted the way he wrote the book and what he wrote. It’s obvious he did not like Jerry bug grudgingly admired parts of him. Of course to be fair, Jerry seemed like a pretty crappy husband and father.
I couldn’t wait to finish it and skimmed the last part, just way to many excruciating details.
It was weird the ways the author inserted himself into the book with the chapter at the end. I think he contact with Jerry impacted the way he wrote the book and what he wrote. It’s obvious he did not like Jerry bug grudgingly admired parts of him. Of course to be fair, Jerry seemed like a pretty crappy husband and father.
I couldn’t wait to finish it and skimmed the last part, just way to many excruciating details.
September 19, 2017
This is the third time I'm reading this book, it is so utterly enjoyable and fascinating.
Not that I am a huge fan of Jerry Lewis, either. It is because he is a fascinating person, and this biographer does full justice to an extraordinary subject. This is also a microcosm of American comedy history, and how is shaped Lewis' art and persona.
The amount of research that went into this book is incredible. The author explodes some myths about his subject, most of whom were created by Lewis himself, but then also gives him credit for film innovations I was not aware Lewis had created.
Think you know about this subject? Think again. A must for any student of popular culture.
Not that I am a huge fan of Jerry Lewis, either. It is because he is a fascinating person, and this biographer does full justice to an extraordinary subject. This is also a microcosm of American comedy history, and how is shaped Lewis' art and persona.
The amount of research that went into this book is incredible. The author explodes some myths about his subject, most of whom were created by Lewis himself, but then also gives him credit for film innovations I was not aware Lewis had created.
Think you know about this subject? Think again. A must for any student of popular culture.
September 2, 2022
The author starts off complimenting Jerry for his contributions to comedy and for his technical contributions to filmmaking. He is harsh (or just honest?) about Jerry's shortcomings. He does spend quite a bit of time on Jerry's early years which shaped him. They left him insecure and driven.
I ended up skimming some of the lengthy details about scripts and filming. I was more interested in him, Dean, and Jerry's wife and children. I saw his movies as a child, but was not a big fan. I read this book out of curiosity. He is a complex and strange man. I feel sorry for his sons. He was talented, but many times lacked discipline.
I ended up skimming some of the lengthy details about scripts and filming. I was more interested in him, Dean, and Jerry's wife and children. I saw his movies as a child, but was not a big fan. I read this book out of curiosity. He is a complex and strange man. I feel sorry for his sons. He was talented, but many times lacked discipline.
January 2, 2022
Very insightful bio of Jerry Lewis—-portrays his genius and his sometimes boorishness…I always thought that he was more talented than Dean Martin, but also more annoying. He was a true comedic pioneer who obviously influenced later comics like Jim Carrey. What was particularly interesting was Jerry’s tendency to lavish expensive gifts on the people who worked on his films—-maybe making up for his relentless perfectionism? The only drawback to this book is that it didn’t contain an epilogue, taking us up to when Jerry passed away in 2017.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2022
So Sad
As a youth I enjoyed Jerry Lewis’ movies during his solo career. I wasn’t old enough to much, if anything, of his time with Dean Martin.
You fall in love with a character on a big screen and when you learn who that person really is, a huge grinding sound like bolts being crushed in gears hits you.
But Jerry isn’t the only one.
How many times have we heard, a creative person’s art we love but you sure wouldn’t want to know them!
As a youth I enjoyed Jerry Lewis’ movies during his solo career. I wasn’t old enough to much, if anything, of his time with Dean Martin.
You fall in love with a character on a big screen and when you learn who that person really is, a huge grinding sound like bolts being crushed in gears hits you.
But Jerry isn’t the only one.
How many times have we heard, a creative person’s art we love but you sure wouldn’t want to know them!
March 10, 2025
This is a review of the audio book edition as read by Marty Ingels. Available on Audible and perhaps other platforms. It's a decent listen but unfortunately is a condensed version of the paperback. I know this because I own the hardback and compared it to the audio version. The audio book only runs a few hours and skips through Jerry's life at quite a pace. It's fine but I'm going back to the book for a comprehensive read.
March 2, 2017
The ups and downs in the life of one of the greatest comedians of all time. You can love him or hate him, but he was, without a doubt, one of the best. I prefer "Dean and me" (Wrote by Jerry himself) It´s warmer than this one and talks about , for me at least, the best Jerry Lewis era as a comedian: The Martin-Lewis era.
January 8, 2024
A look at fame from the peak and the view is often scary. Technical info, Insider stories and Personal revelations are abound to keep any enthralled. Maybe my favorite Bio ever written, Because it's done with obvious admiration that will not allow them to to lie for the subject, because that wouldn't be their story.
May 10, 2018
Gives The King His Due
Shawn Levy does a fine job of explaining Lewis’ formidable but complicated legacy. He captures the comic’s demons but also eloquently acknowledges why Lewis shouldn’t be forgotten.
Shawn Levy does a fine job of explaining Lewis’ formidable but complicated legacy. He captures the comic’s demons but also eloquently acknowledges why Lewis shouldn’t be forgotten.
October 4, 2017
Very good book. Held my interest. Gave incite into Lewis' s personality. The book was honest about both his good and bad traits. It left me wanting more.
February 10, 2019
Truly fascinating.
April 20, 2020
One of the best books I have read. Interesting from start to finish. If you are a Jerry Lewis fan, it is worth reading.
December 30, 2021
I generally enjoy Levy’s biographies/cultural overviews. This one has the added bonus of falling into one of my favourite sub-categories - ‘biographers who really seem to dislike their subjects’.
May 3, 2025
Good meat and potatoes biography of the mercurial comedian. Bear in mind that the book was published in 1996 so the last 20 or so years of Lewis's life are not covered.
May 19, 2016
3.5 stars
My fascination with Jerry Lewis is a long-standing puzzle, even to me, and would take more time and space to explain than I have here. Suffice to say, this is an exceptional biography that is an excellent read while pulling no punches. Not on the level of Nick Tosche's great book about Dean Martin (Titled "Dino" A masterpiece. Highly recommended.) but more than worthwhile.
My fascination with Jerry Lewis is a long-standing puzzle, even to me, and would take more time and space to explain than I have here. Suffice to say, this is an exceptional biography that is an excellent read while pulling no punches. Not on the level of Nick Tosche's great book about Dean Martin (Titled "Dino" A masterpiece. Highly recommended.) but more than worthwhile.
September 10, 2016
"Hey lady!!!"
April 6, 2015
Fascinating story, disappointing subject. But Jerry Lewis' personal shortcomings don't make the book less interesting; they just make the book a little depressing, as truth sometimes is.
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