In Conversations with Jerry Lewis, Hollywood’s legendary, beloved, and polarizing comedian talks extensively about his life and work with comedian and actor Richard Belzer, best known for his roles on TV’s Law & Order and Homicide.
This extraordinary book includes a preface by Lewis himself, as well as dozens of his own personal photographs and memorabilia. The eighty-six-year-old icon discusses his life and career, the current generation of comics (We’ve got some marvelous people out there. But then we have a breed of young comic that I wanna smack in the mouth”); the craft of comedy (We’re supposed to be nuts, and we better be”); Dean Martin (The greatest straight man that ever lived”); the genesis of his muscular dystrophy telethon; and his many technical achievements in film (including the invention of the digital assist camera, which became an industry standard); all with the humor, earnestness, and unfiltered wisdom that audiences have grown to expect from one of the all-time masters of entertainment.
Through his personal relationship with Lewis, Belzer is able to deliver the definitive almanac of the man behind the icon. The book is a must-read for fans of Jerry Lewis, of comedy, and of the history of film.
