90-year-old Jerry Lewis gives precisely zero fucks
December 20, 2016 11:46 AM   Subscribe

Watch the Most Painfully Awkward Interview of 2016: 7 Minutes With Jerry Lewis
posted by bologna on wry (106 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
If you agree to do an interview and then act like an ass....
posted by Cosine at 11:52 AM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


For one glorious moment I thought he was just going to answer every question with "WHY?"

Anyway, it's hard to fault a ninety year old for conserving his energy. Those are some of the dullest questions I've ever heard.
posted by selfnoise at 11:53 AM on December 20, 2016 [12 favorites]


This was probably going to be bad no matter what, but I think it would be less awkward if the interviewer had gotten off the questions that were just about being very old.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:55 AM on December 20, 2016 [9 favorites]


Yeah I think he was just offended or bored by being asked 1,000 questions that were a variation of 'You once were young, now you are old. What's up with that?'
posted by ian1977 at 11:56 AM on December 20, 2016 [34 favorites]


It was a bad interview on both ends. The interviewer was reading from a set of prepared questions, but when it becomes obvious the subject isn't interested in the questions, or refuses to answer them, you either move on, adjust the interview, or ask directly what's going on with the subject.

But Jerry Lewis was also being a dick. If you don't want to do an interview, go ahead and leave. And he has.
posted by maxsparber at 11:57 AM on December 20, 2016 [8 favorites]


This is how I see myself once I get old and gray enough to pull it off.
posted by Fezboy! at 11:57 AM on December 20, 2016


I've seen this around, and I just don't understand. What's the deal? Why is this good? He just seems like an asshole.

Now, granted, he can be an asshole if he wants to. He's a rich, old, famous person. Maybe not top-tier rich and famous, but he is probably doing ok. But I'm not sure why I'm supposed to applaud his assholism.
posted by The River Ivel at 11:58 AM on December 20, 2016 [12 favorites]


That laugh mocking thing Jerry did a few times. Charming. :/
posted by ian1977 at 11:59 AM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


I've been discussing this with people on Facebook and my take is this:

1. Jerry was clearly in a very bad mood, but
2. The interviewer was terrible. He kept asking yes-or-no questions and those questions which were more open-ended were phrased in a way that suggested he was looking for a certain answer. Dusty cow town? Really? Don't try and feed your interview subject specific phrases. Jerry is amazingly sharp and has probably been interviewed tens of thousands of times. Why should he suffer this amateur?
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:06 PM on December 20, 2016 [15 favorites]


This is like the Sideshow Bob Rake Gag of terrible interviews. It goes so far beyond uncomfortable that it comes out on the other side as amazing.
posted by bondcliff at 12:06 PM on December 20, 2016 [9 favorites]


I mean, it was specifically a feature on being old in Hollywood. Presumably he knew it going in. It's hard to fault the interviewer for talking about being old in Hollywood when that was the entire point of the interview.
posted by brainmouse at 12:07 PM on December 20, 2016 [7 favorites]


Wow if he was this pissed off, imagine what a dick he'd been if they'd sent a woman comedian?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:09 PM on December 20, 2016 [17 favorites]


This is pretty much textbook how not to do an interview. The reporter (Andy Lewis) is really, really terrible at handling even the most basic responses. It's like listening to a hamster with ADHD with a List that Must be Followed. Jerry Lewis was clearly exasperated with the really over-prepared, over-complicated questions. There's almost no follow-up and adaptation of questions to responses. This was not an interviewer that could adapt on the fly, give his respondent time to answer or ask him to expand on anything, it was all just rattle bump and on to the next.

Terrible.
posted by bonehead at 12:11 PM on December 20, 2016 [7 favorites]


Jerry Lewis was clearly exasperated with the really over-prepared, over-complicated questions.

From the article it sounds like he went into it pissed off after they filled his house with a photo crew and equipment.
posted by bondcliff at 12:13 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Most of the questions were banal but he did give Lewis some opportunities to talk about career heights or experiences (like Vegas) and Lewis just wouldn't expand on anything whatsoever. The interviewer was clearly shaken and never had any opportunities to digress and expand. Usually celebrities will expand a bit but Lewis was very antagonistic and wouldn't elaborate at all and was a like a stone wall. And laughing at him he came off like a massive dick.

If you're going to agree to an interview, presumably to promote an upcoming project then why wouldn't you talk about it? Sure the interviewer was green but Lewis was just a crotchety old dude. Of course he's going to get asked about a long career when he's 90.

I've seen lots of people get pissy in interviews for good reason, but that was over the top.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:15 PM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


This was not an interviewer that could adapt on the fly, give his respondent time to answer or ask him to expand on anything,

A little hard to do that when the interviewee is like "Nope, fuck off" to everything. He tried to get Lewis to expand and Lewis just wasn't having it at all.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:17 PM on December 20, 2016


The interviewer should have saved everyone time and only asked questions pertinent to reinvigorating interest in The King of Comedy
posted by beerperson at 12:17 PM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


Reminds me of this interview with Andy Warhol. If you ask a lot of yes-no questions loaded with presuppositions, you're really relying on the good will of your interviewee to take things somewhere interesting. If you also start off by antagonizing your interviewee with stereotypical assumptions about aging, it shouldn't be too surprising that they won't help the interview go anywhere.
posted by Wobbuffet at 12:18 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


Bleah. Lewis hated that interview as much as I hated watching it. I'm less than half his age and I felt my life wasting away.

Better to watch the delightful other celebs they highlighted. I'm watching the Cloris Leachman one and she's divine.
posted by mochapickle at 12:19 PM on December 20, 2016 [4 favorites]


This Jerry Lewis interview, in which the interviewer asks about death, went off better.
posted by clawsoon at 12:21 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


The interviewer seems like an automaton, continuing to chirpily voice leading questions without actually dealing with the person sitting across from him at all. Invading someone's space and wasting their time -- when they're ninety -- and then expecting them to do your work for you? I would be pretty hostile too.
posted by dmh at 12:22 PM on December 20, 2016 [4 favorites]


Jerry Lewis comes from a generation of performers who were entertainers. He's been entertaining for so long he's seen and done it all, said it all, so if you're going to interview him you'd better bring your A game.
Jerry gets a pass from me on being an A-hole because Jerry spent more years doing good for other people via his MDS work than most people spend doing anything. He didn't just MC his telethons, he worked year-long for DECADES cajoling A, B, C and D list celebs into helping him out. He created the mold for celebrity charity activism. He wasn't perfect but do a tenth of what he's tried to do and then talk to me.
Sure he's got a big ego, and sure he's a grumpy old man, but he's paid his dues and at the very least he probably deserved a do-over before having this posted online as "ha-ha see how the mighty have fallen" or whatever.
And if anyone thinks he's got fucks let to give then the laugh's on them.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:23 PM on December 20, 2016 [12 favorites]


And this Jerry Lewis interview, in which the interviewer is a woman and it goes very well.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:23 PM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


The interviewer seems like an automaton

I think he was just really shaken by Lewis's tough & rude demeanor. He clearly didn't expect the attitude Lewis showed from the start. He couldn't really do much with that other than to press on and ignore it. It was just painful for everyone, even Lewis once it started bad it went from there. There was no rescuing that interaction.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:24 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


Oh, and in the other set of profiles linked from the post, Dick Van Dyke does a soft-shoe shuffle while wearing a straw hat!
posted by mochapickle at 12:25 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Too bad Dean's not around to help him.
posted by jonmc at 12:25 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


And a glowing Betty White on a career of constantly getting work: "I keep asking myself a hundred times a week, how come they haven't caught on to me yet?"
posted by mochapickle at 12:30 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


He couldn't really do much with that other than to press on and ignore it.

Whether he'd pissed Lewis off with his chirpy obliviousness during the interview or before (or both), he didn't have the empathy or wit to pick up on it and compensate. Apologize for the disruption, clear the room of all the shit and the sound engineer and the producer and do something simple for text only, perhaps try again another day. Something else, becasue what he was doing was just making his subject less happy and cooperative by the minute. IDK, but blundering on from bad to worse is almost always the worst idea. And the only idea this reporter had.
posted by bonehead at 12:32 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


my French cousin le prix taureau huitpierre thinks this interview was genius
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:33 PM on December 20, 2016 [28 favorites]


This would have been REALLY funny if he just answered every question with "why?!"
posted by Matt Oneiros at 12:34 PM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


y2karl gives zero fucks about Jerry Lewis at any age.
posted by y2karl at 12:36 PM on December 20, 2016 [4 favorites]


One of the now-defunct Toronto alt-weeklies (either Eye or The Grid) published an interview with Ken Russell a few years back that went hilariously like this. Regrettably, I cannot find a link...
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:38 PM on December 20, 2016


Reminds me of this interview with Andy Warhol. If you ask a lot of yes-no questions loaded with presuppositions, you're really relying on the good will of your interviewee to take things somewhere interesting.

And also of this early Prince interview. But there's a big difference between giving one-word answers to confuse or confound an interviewer, and doing it to be outright hostile and just stop the interview.
posted by entropone at 12:39 PM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


I've seen Bowie, who was normally quite friendly, get pissed and just terminate the interview. I think that's probably the best solution. Just so so painful for all, what's the point of prolonging it?
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:41 PM on December 20, 2016


Pretty sure this couldn't have gone better for Mr. Lewis. The man knows how to work a bad situation straight to the funniest place.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 12:42 PM on December 20, 2016 [4 favorites]


I mean I definitely don't watch that and cringe at Mr. Lewis. I watch it and cringe at the interviewer, and laugh right along with Mr. Lewis' internal eye rolls.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 12:44 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


I will say that I too will give zero fucks when I'm 90
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 12:46 PM on December 20, 2016


When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. When you find yourself in a hole with Jerry Lewis, hand him the shovel.
posted by Floydd at 12:46 PM on December 20, 2016 [7 favorites]


Enh, still think there's plenty the interviewer could have and should have tried to do to turn it around and put his subject back at ease. It's a skill that a good interviewer should develop. He comes off like the sophomore editor of a high school newspaper. Yes, Lewis comes off as an old crank, but consider the cranky old source.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:49 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


I think they should have just kept those 20 seconds of fast clips at the beginning, and titled the video "Jerry Lewis Reacts to events in 2016."

–WHY?
–WHY?
–No.
–NO.
–Nope
–Not at all.
–What are you people doing?!
–What are you doing?!
– Oh yeah.. thank you
posted by Kabanos at 12:50 PM on December 20, 2016 [10 favorites]


The interviewer is terrible and Lewis has a right to respond accordingly. He doesn't show any sign of preparation other than having a baseline awareness that Jerry Lewis is old and has played Vegas for a long time. You can't go into an interview without having done your homework so you can ask specific questions that show an awareness of your subject and his or her body of work. It's basic professional respect--and more importantly it will result in a much stronger and more enlightening interview. "Do you have any favorite stories....?" is something you'd ask as a high-school paper reporter.
posted by bassomatic at 12:53 PM on December 20, 2016 [6 favorites]


Woof, what a trainwreck. Interviewing--and interviewing _well_--can be hard. Under ideal circumstances, it's an awkward way to have a conversation. When the subject of an interview is being purposefully combative or evasive or just weird, it's really easy to get thrown off your game. I can only imagine what it must feel like to have a 90 year old Hollywood legend barking "WHY" at you. It would be rattling, so you jump down to the next question on your paper hoping that'll work or at least get a response you can build on. It's no wonder the interviewer sounds like a robot--it's not just that he's reading from prepared list of questions, he's also being verbally punched in the chest while he's doing it.

That said, there are ways to make a situation like that work and to turn it around, and yeah, a lot of those questions were bad--I found myself trying to re-write them in my head as I was watching. But in the pressure of the moment, if your mouth goes dry and your wits ain't workin' for you, yeah, interview's gonna go into the turlet.
posted by Maaik at 12:55 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Jeez, I didn't think the interviewer was so bad. I read plenty of puffy interviews with celebrities and the questions are often a bit dull. If you're a celebrity and you agree to an interview, the expectation is that you'll be game and provide expansive responses to questions that won't necessarily be profound. It doesn't matter how stupid the questions are---one-word answers are rude and unprofessional. I mean, it's the fucking Hollywood Reporter, not The Paris Review. Jerry Lewis might not give any fucks, but I never gave any fucks about him and now I really don't.
posted by zeusianfog at 12:56 PM on December 20, 2016 [7 favorites]


As long as we're posting terrible interviews, there was this one with Sigur Ros for NPR's Bryant Park Project almost a decade ago that they actually did post-game on which is enlightening (Talk to the guy who wants to talk!)
posted by Maaik at 12:59 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


I thought Jerry Lewis behaved appropriately. It was pretty obvious the reporter had devoted no real imagination into his line of questioning, so what was the point? Sometimes a spanking is in order. And it's *Jerry Lewis*, for heaven's sakes. A national treasure!
posted by My Dad at 1:00 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't get the shade at the interviewer. It's specifically a piece about nonagenarians, so naturally the question "how have things changed in your long career" is the right question to start with. Shit, my grandmother is a nonagenarian, and I love to ask her this question, because SO MANY THINGS HAVE CHANGED and she was witness to it all. The moment Lewis throws out the "no" answer to "what has changed" the interview is dead, because that was the whole point of the interview.

I think I would've followed up with "how can you say that nothings changed" and just kept pressing him until he kicked me out of the room.
posted by dis_integration at 1:02 PM on December 20, 2016 [8 favorites]


I sometimes interview people for work, and it's really, really challenging. About half of the time interviewees try to "please the interviewer", so it sort of works out (although the answers they are giving aren't all that good). The other half of the time people get pissed off that you are wasting their time. Because, at the end of the day, the interviewee is doing the interviewer a favour. In an ideal world it would be a win-win, where the interviewer gets a good story, and the interviewee gets to tell their own story. But a lot of times the interviewee has their own personal agenda (getting paid, meeting a quota, self-promotion). And no interviewee likes to feel they are getting used.
posted by My Dad at 1:03 PM on December 20, 2016


I couldn't even focus on how awkward the interview was because (I think probably) they forgot to set the white balance on the cameras so every time they switched the shot his sweater changed color. Could be my display, I guess.
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 1:05 PM on December 20, 2016


I don't get the shade at the interviewer

Because he doesn't seem very good at what he's doing and Mr. Lewis deserves his respect, which he's barely giving.

I will give props to him in the accompanying article for recognizing and stating how funny and sharp Mr. Lewis is here, even though the interview did not, from his perspective, go well.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 1:06 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's specifically a piece about nonagenarians, so naturally the question "how have things changed in your long career" is the right question to start with.

For me, it was the opener about retirement that Jerry Lewis clearly thought was a bullshit question and instead of justifying it or moving on, the interviewer just repeated it. I'm someone who genuinely doesn't get the appeal of working until you're 90, and I'd retire right now if I could, but if the person you're talking to rejects the premise of your question, either engage with them or change topics. Jerry Lewis asked "why?" twice and the interviewer never answered that question.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:07 PM on December 20, 2016 [6 favorites]


Contrast with an interviewer who did meticulous research and could actually skillfully ask thoughtful and purposeful questions:
Brian Linehan starts with some blatant ass-kissing, but given that he's never met Jerry before the interview (as he admits), it paves the way for him to open Jerry up more and more, until they're discussing Jerry's mother and father, Jerry's fears, etc.
posted by Kabanos at 1:12 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


His manager comes over, at once apologetic and defiant. "I told you guys Jerry wouldn't like it, but The Hollywood Reporter wants to do it its way," he says. "Now you guys are leaving and I'm stuck with angry Jerry all day."

Ugh. Just wanted to point this out. Look, he may be a "legend"--and let's remember, he's The Nutty Professor, not Jonas Salk--but it also sounds like he's a giant shitty man baby. Wow, someone likes you enough to want to do a video interview, but the questions are sort of dumb? Some people have real problems. Christ, what an asshole.
posted by zeusianfog at 1:16 PM on December 20, 2016 [16 favorites]


some blatant ass-kissing,

Ha! That was some expert ass-kissing. It's almost like an SCTV spoof or something.
posted by My Dad at 1:16 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Seemed like Jerry Lewis resented the idea of a younger person who's not that well acquainted with his career asking overly-fascinated questions about just how old he is, and how interesting it is that he could be so old. Seen in the right uncharitable light, I get what might be insulting about that. Like he's some alien creature who's only salient feature is his antiquity.

Still, the polite thing to do is to take those questions in good humor and understand that the interviewer was making every effort to offer deference and amazement at his long career. Responding the way he did was an obnoxious thing to do, especially after the interviewer gave him about 50 outs to play it off and expand on his answers in a friendly way. Anybody who's saying that the interview was terrible or that he deserved that treatment is being ridiculous.
posted by Sebastos at 1:17 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Interviewer not good at what he is trying to do. Tip from 87-year-old guy: just let the guy babble about the past..We old folks love to wallow in yesteryear. Lenny Bruce noted once that Jerry Lewis actually invented MDS--just watch antics in films--and cased in on it once it became a serious disease.
posted by Postroad at 1:18 PM on December 20, 2016 [8 favorites]


I don't get the shade at the interviewer. It's specifically a piece about nonagenarians, so naturally the question "how have things changed in your long career" is the right question to start with.

It's not like I think the reporter's a bad person, or even a bad reporter, for this; he's probably new, reporting is hard, and anyone who's done the work has managed to set fire to an interview at least once. I hope he's able to learn from it.

BUT, that question is only the right question to start with if all old people become a distinct but identical species past a certain age. It's a question that could be asked of literally any old person, and to lead with it communicates that the interviewer a) doesn't know who Jerry Lewis is and b) doesn't care. Maybe he does and does, but give your subject any reason to think otherwise - and he should have known Lewis of all people would go out of his way to find a reason to think otherwise - and intentions don't matter. And when it becomes absolutely, painfully clear that his list of Prepared Questions For Miscellaneous Old Celebrities isn't going to work, he (understandably) panics then (incorrectly) doubles down by reading them faster, when he should have said, "This won't work, so I have nothing left to lose by going off book." Pointing this out isn't throwing shade; I've been (somewhere somewhat close to) there, and I'd like to think I'm laughing along with the reporter as he looks back at one to grow on.

Lewis was being a dick, but if you want to ask people questions for a living, be prepared for the possibility that they won't all be absolutely thrilled to see you, and that maybe they want something different out of the interview than you.
posted by Mike Smith at 1:22 PM on December 20, 2016 [4 favorites]


I kept waiting for the interviewer to ask, "So when are we going to see 'The Day the Clown Cried?'"
posted by AJaffe at 1:24 PM on December 20, 2016 [8 favorites]


Man, I never liked or found that old prick funny until now.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 1:27 PM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]




And then there was the Billy Bob Thornton interview.

And, in hindsight, Billy Bob Thornton is not the worst person in that interview.
posted by bondcliff at 1:37 PM on December 20, 2016 [10 favorites]


AJaffe, I was just coming here to make that comment, but I wanted to actually watch the interview first to make sure he didn't ask it! I have to say, at least his answers to the questions were short and to the point. I wish more people in my life knew how to answer questions with a simple "yes" or "no". The production values were distracting to me; Lewis sounded fine, but the interviewer sounded like he had his head in a bucket and I could barely hear his questions. And why was Lewis's sweater orange in the long shots and red in the closeups?
posted by TedW at 1:38 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


And, in hindsight, Billy Bob Thornton is not the worst person in that interview.

I don't know what you're talking about.
posted by Maaik at 1:45 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Why should he suffer this amateur?

Common courtesy and a sense of professionalism.

The platinum (sorry) standard for interface with the public, either in person or in interviews, must be Dolly Parton.
posted by IndigoJones at 1:55 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


That Billy Bob Thornton interview...man...its like he found 3 separate Billy Bob Thorntons from alternate universes and formed a band.

Actually....I think Billy Bob was being classy and trying to not hog the limelight from his bandmates.
posted by ian1977 at 1:56 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


The interviewer was terrible. He kept asking yes-or-no questions and those questions which were more open-ended were phrased in a way that suggested he was looking for a certain answer.

This is pretty much textbook how not to do an interview. The reporter (Andy Lewis) is really, really terrible at handling even the most basic responses. It's like listening to a hamster with ADHD with a List that Must be Followed. Jerry Lewis was clearly exasperated with the really over-prepared, over-complicated questions. There's almost no follow-up and adaptation of questions to responses. This was not an interviewer that could adapt on the fly,...

Why should he suffer this amateur?


This is about 80% of the reason why I never went into journalism.
posted by Melismata at 1:59 PM on December 20, 2016


That was some Marshawn Lynch level of interviewing.

"Biscuits and gravy."

For me, it was the opener about retirement that Jerry Lewis clearly thought was a bullshit question and instead of justifying it or moving on, the interviewer just repeated it.

"Why?"

"Because most of the world thinks of work as a soul-sucking slog and can't wait until retirement. I honestly barely have the energy at half your age. I remember this one point in your career when it seemed like you were stepping back. Now you are as active as ever and it's remarkable given that you could be doing anything in the world that you choose to tour. People would be interested in your reflections on that."

Interviewer got totally owned, especially if JLL already had a reputation.

Apparently, the difference between performing at 90 and performing at 20 is that you don't need to do jack shit in the name of publicity and self promotion. Hell, that would have been an interesting line of questions. "Do you really want people coming to see you based on their knowledge of past work or do you think they expect new things from you."

Also, "I can show you some examples of that" should have been "Hell yeah, let's order some corned beef sandwiches and watch some old sketches with Dean-o, that would be great fun."

This was like, I have 20 more minutes to get my story in and I need a couple quotes for this piece that's mostly not about you.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:05 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


I couldn't watch more than 90 seconds of this because the interviewer was so terrible. Jerry answered his first boring yes-or-no question, "Have you ever thought about retiring," with a question of his own, "Why?," a creative response that gives the reporter a chance to check himself and try a little harder. The reporter doesn't engage, he just asks the same boring question again but takes longer to do it. Jerry gives him another chance. The reporter says, in so many words, "well, because you're so old?" At this point not half a minute in I'm insulted on Jerry's behalf. Then boy genius just starts dropping names of other famous old guys, asking Jerry if he compares himself to them and Jerry's like, "No." subtext: 'I thought this interview was about me, you really don't want to try harder?' sub-subtext 'do you even know anything about me, other than the fact that I'm old?'

Then he asks a decent question, a not-yes-or-no question, and gets a pretty great answer. Then it's back to the same old so uh what's it like being old? shit and I had to stop there.
posted by STFUDonnie at 2:07 PM on December 20, 2016 [11 favorites]


...but when it becomes obvious the subject isn't interested in the questions, or refuses to answer them, you either move on, adjust the interview, or ask directly what's going on with the subject.

Unless, of course, the questions were vetted ahead of time by Lewis (or his people) and the interviewer was instructed to stick to the approved questions. This goes on all the time with interviews. It wouldn't surprise me one bit that those were the only questions authorized to be asked. If Lewis is going to be an asshole (which, apparently, he is well known to be) and the interviewer is stuck with asking only what's been approved, you get a dumpster fire like this.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:08 PM on December 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


Tip from 87-year-old guy: just let the guy babble about the past..We old folks love to wallow in yesteryear.
I was really surprised he didn't do that; the interviewer, as bumbly as he was, was trying to get him to do that. And regarding age, when you're famous and 90 people are going to comment on the longevity of your career, the changes you've seen etc. I think one of the reasons people, like that woman interviewer, are so fawning is specifically because he's very old and in show business that's when you become A Legend, even if you were considered a has-been in the past. Generally, Hollywood doesn't care about you in middle age unless you're outstanding and even then...I remember about 30 years ago, Lewis was the butt of derision and jokes, like 'Why do the French love him so much? There's no accounting for taste, etc" Here's what Roger Ebert had to say about his 1980 film "Hardly Working", which was pretty much hated in general.

"Hardly Working" is one of the great non-experiences of my moviegoing life. I was absolutely stunned by the vast stupidity of this film. It was a test of patience and tolerance that a saint might not have passed--but I didn't walk out. I remained for every single last dismal wretched awful moment. I was keeping a pledge to myself.

So Lewis is now getting respect and love mostly because he is 90, when he was middle aged no one really gave a shit. He was in King of Comedy to play himself, not for his brand of comedy which had totally fallen out of favor.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 2:08 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't know what you're talking about.

Context
posted by Think_Long at 2:16 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't know what you're talking about.

Context
posted by Think_Long at 5:16 PM on December 20 [+] [!]


Holy crap. I did not know that. I never would have posted that interview if I did. My apologies.
posted by 4ster at 2:21 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Unless, of course, the questions were vetted ahead of time by Lewis (or his people) and the interviewer was instructed to stick to the approved questions.

A fine theory for which, currently, no evidence exists.

This discussion is interesting, because it feels like lots of people have this pre-existing opinion that Jerry is an asshole and therefore it isn't the interviewer's fault that the interview went bad - to the point that unsubstantiated theories are already popping up to support that POV. I would probably have the same sort of bias if it were Fred Armisen, admittedly, but it is eye-opening to see this kind of perception-coloring at work from the outside, since I don't have strong opinions about either participant in the interview.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:23 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


If I interviewed Jerry, I would ask about The Day the Clown Cried film that he made but has never been shown. It will probably soon be made public, since the Library of Congres now owns the one known copy of the Lewis film ...is it a truly bad film? Or did it get caught up in litigation and thus not shown? What, Jerry, can you tell us about your feelings when you made this film and how you regard it now.
posted by Postroad at 2:33 PM on December 20, 2016


I want to know why THR published this turd. I mean, I know why, but even still. The interviewer was clearly inept and unprepared, the subject was irked by that and the result is garbage. The other interviews in this feature were all muuuuch better so they could have just cut this one.
posted by chavenet at 2:39 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Unless, of course, the questions were vetted ahead of time by Lewis (or his people) and the interviewer was instructed to stick to the approved questions.

I've been interviewing people for 25 years and never ever have had a publicist impose conditions on my interview. That really only happens when a person is in a public scandal or has their own private publicist trying to run interference for them.

If you're experienced enough with the press, you don't even need that. I interviewed Neil Sedaka once and he barely let me speak. He was going to tell me whatever the hell he thought I should put into the article and wasn't going to waste time on anything else.
posted by maxsparber at 2:41 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Marc Maron interviewed Lewis a few months back, planned to shelf it because it didn't go as well as his normal interviews go, and was convinced to release it a couple weeks ago. And it is, by far, a more interesting, not even hostile, back-and-forth conversation. The only awkward moment was when Lewis decides to terminate the interview. And only slightly awkward because he's not a jerk about it, and Maron has the good sense not to try pushing it.

The Hollywood Reporter clearly displays the amateur moment here.
posted by 2N2222 at 2:47 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


There is a phrase I hear from comedians where someone is "funny in their bones," meaning that some people can't help but be funny all the time. I will give Jerry Lewis his due. He deserved a better interviewer, and his history in the business should command some basic respect of the subject. But Jerry Lewis is not funny in his bones. I wish he were the kind of person who could have fun with the absurdity of the interview rather than focus on his indignity, because what's funny about that?
posted by krinklyfig at 2:49 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


While acknowledging the interviewer didn't do a stellar job with the overly generic questions and lack of spontaneity , the reaction here is a surprising to me. Lewis comes off like a total asshole, bad questions notwithstanding. I don't think being old gives someone a free pass to be a jerk.
posted by The Gooch at 3:35 PM on December 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


I haven't done, like, Kliph Nesterhoff levels of research into this, but I have the definite impression that Jerry Lewis has always been an asshole.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:23 PM on December 20, 2016 [7 favorites]


The Maron interview was a thing of beauty. Taken to a typical WTF 90 minutes and it would have been a tastefully competent definitive autobiography.
posted by MattD at 4:57 PM on December 20, 2016


Where's Jerry Lewis when no one gives a damn?
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 5:18 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


One of my favorite "Hollywood bloggers", Mark Evanier, is not much of a fan of Jerry Lewis. From that perspective: Part 1, Part 2.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Jerry never had much to offer as an entertainer. He did know how to hang around with the right people.

Ever notice how there was never any rock music on decades of that Telethon? Wonder why that whole generation of music was ignored by that show? One guess.
posted by Twang at 7:14 PM on December 20, 2016


Why on earth would you not ask him questions about his 65 years in the business? Like Who was fun to work with? What do you consider a high point? What else would you have done ? Is it possible this is an incurious journalist? What a hellish life!
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 7:23 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


All I can say is that I now have more respect for Jerry Lewis. He seems to be busy, has future plans, and why should he be wasting his time with this idiot of an interviewer? I mean, how do you physically write your screenplays? Why not ask what kind of stories do you want to tell? I can't say I have ever had any high opinions of Jerry Lewis, but watching this made me at least gain some respect for a guy still doing what he wants to do. And yes at ninety. May we all live so long and productively.
posted by njohnson23 at 7:36 PM on December 20, 2016


For bad interviews, nobody beats Nathan Thurm! No they don't! Yes they do! I know that! That's just what you say!
posted by lagomorphius at 8:55 PM on December 20, 2016


this guy should have tracked down Mel Brooks, he would have cooked him dinner
posted by any major dude at 9:07 PM on December 20, 2016


He was just channeling Lou Reed
posted by beukeboom at 9:36 PM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


File under "No Comment"...Lewis :
-Practically invented the Ching-Ching Chinaman joke(at 3:27)
-Pissed off disability advocates for portraying people with MD as feeble and pathetic
-Joked on the MDA telethon, of all places, that a guest was an "illiterate fag"
-Now he's supporting Trump and says Syrian refugees are "not part of the human condition.

I don't see him as a timeless icon, more of a retrograde creep who belongs in another era.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 10:07 PM on December 20, 2016 [11 favorites]


This is my favourite awful interview (also featuring Lou Reed).
posted by h00py at 2:36 AM on December 21, 2016


should have asked about Professor Frink
posted by thelonius at 3:16 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


I know some people in comedy, and at least in their circles Jerry Lewis is famously just a complete and total prick. There was an article a while back about Shecky Greene that mentioned how Greene, this nice old comedian, was doing a show. After a bunch of stale jokes, he says "I'm told Jerry Lewis is in the audience" and starts talking about how shitty JL has been to him over the years. Then he says "I've just got two words to say to you, Jerry: Fuck you. Fuck. You." In front of 1000 people.

I was all surprised when I read about it and mentioned it to someone who had worked with him, who just said "I'm surprised it wasn't worse."

I don't care what his reputation is, or if the questions aren't great. He's being a dick in this interview.
posted by teponaztli at 4:42 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


Most of what I recall about Jerry Lewis, aside from the movies and telethons, is that an anecdote about Jerry Lewis being an asshole could be expected in the requisite "living monsters of the industry" chapter in gossipy books about Hollywood published in the 70s and 80s.
posted by ardgedee at 5:12 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


Years ago my parents were on a return flight from Las Vegas where they'd attended a convention. They were tired and enjoying some rest after a noisy week. Suddenly a loud voice cut through the engine noise and they beheld Jerry Lewis, who had, after a few drinks, decided to emerge from first class to honor coach with an impromptu routine.

My parents were horrified and offended as the obviously drunken comic lurched up and down the aisles telling racist and sexist jokes, most of them blue. This went on until Lewis decided the response wasn't enthusiastic enough, at which point he belligerently reminded everyone of just how lucky they were to be getting a free set from Jerry Lewis. He finally exited to golf claps and some boos.

After that incident any mention of Jerry Lewis would cause both of my parents to cringe and declare the man "completely disgusting."

Nothing bad that I've heard about this guy surprises me. Nice to know he hasn't changed.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:14 AM on December 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


I did a bad interview early in my career* with a celeb and that celeb ever so graciously took each stupid question, answered it, asked herself the question I should have, or segued, and answered that one instead. I learned a lot, especially what grace is. Obviously this isn't a requirement but a bad interview doesn't have to go this way; it can be a collaboration.

*i was a last-minute replacement talking fashion without any expertise.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:21 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


Another great interview, it's in German but that doesn't matter...
(That's Norbert Grupe, the guy who played Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II.)
posted by ojemine at 5:46 AM on December 21, 2016


The interviewer is unskilled. Jerry Lewis is being an asshole.
posted by josher71 at 6:36 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


The interviewer is unskilled. Jerry Lewis is being an asshole.

Being an asshole is an old habit of Jerry Lewis'. A classic number from one of GospelOfWesleyWillis's links:
1986: Jerry responds to critics. When a female writer for the Montreal Gazette described his performance as “hyperactive, dated slapstick,” Jerry tells the press, “When they get a period, it’s really difficult for them to function as normal human beings.”
posted by dis_integration at 6:46 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]




I recently wrote a play about an invented character who sort of floats around on the margins of Yiddish performance for much of her life, performing in a vegetarian communist Yiddish play called No Chicken in the Soup (which is the subject of protests), appearing on a Yiddish radio soap about pickle millionaires called Who Thinks They're Hoity Toity Now, reading dirty Yiddish books onto audiotape for blind audiences (sample title: That Ritual Bath Does Not Have Rabbinic Approval).

In the second act, she gets her big break, writing and appearing in a fictional Yiddish-language version of Jerry Lewis' The Day the Clown Cried. Addicted to speed and left entirely without supervision, she basically accidentally turns it into a gay porn film.

Knowing what I do about Lewis, I am TERRIFIED he might find out this play exists, although I tried to be fair to him. And by fair, I mean the actress impersonating him must do her dialogue in a constant stream of Oh MY GOODNESS LADIES FFNAGNs.

Although she does repeatedly apologize for how bad the impression is.

Terrified.
posted by maxsparber at 7:02 AM on December 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


Are people under the impression that the interviewer just walked into Lewis's house, sat down, and started being awkward? The text with the video makes it pretty clear that THR set up a photo shoot and video interview and when the crew had the temerity to come into Lewis's home with lights and cameras, he got salty.

I don't understand how you would expect the interviewer not to be awkward and stiff when faced down with a legend of entertainment who has just spent the last hour or so making it clear how much he fucking hates him.

Sure, the questions are not awesome. And maybe the interviewer did something else equivalently gauche upon arrival or during the setup for the piece, that fully justifies Lewis's hate.

But I think we shouldn't out the possibility that there is just so much assholery going on here that we can't sort it out from the short clip. And we definitely shouldn't discount the possibility that both men are just dickheads.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:20 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm under the impression that he got cranky because they took time to set up cameras and lights, and, considering that he directed 13 movies and invented video assist, makes him even more obnoxious.

I was a professional extra for a year and even from the holding pen I could see that 90 percent of making a movie was setting up lights and camera.
posted by maxsparber at 8:12 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't think being old gives someone a free pass to be a jerk.

All of the "old" people I have ever known have seemed to be mercurial in temperament.
posted by My Dad at 8:17 AM on December 21, 2016


It makes me think of this really awkward and horrible interview with Henry Rollins back in the 80s.
posted by symbioid at 9:32 AM on December 21, 2016


I'm not saying Jerry Lewis ain't an asshole. I'm not saying he deserves kid-glove treatment. I'm just saying that if this kid goes in to interview Jerry Lewis without being prepared to interview an asshole, it's like taking the pan out of the oven without putting the mitts on, or poking the beehive with your bare foot.

For example, "When my partner was alive." He didn't say, "When I was working with my partner," he said, "When my partner was alive." Kid, you just got the bloody corpse of Dean Martin dropped in your lap, and you just keep skipping along like the boy tenor in a college Revue.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


This discussion is interesting, because it feels like lots of people have this pre-existing opinion that Jerry is an asshole

I wonder if it's because of his behavior over the years. Past assholery is a good predictor of future dickanery. His reputation as an asshole goes back years; look at the comments above, especially Josher's link.

I wouldn't be surprised if THR sent a newbie because no one else wanted to deal with him. Also, seriously, no one has given two shits about him for years and the main reason they're probably doing these interviews is because they suspect he'll die soon and they want that Exclusive Final Interview for when he finally does kick the bucket.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 6:16 PM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


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