On the WTF podcast, Marc Maron recently played an interview with Jerry Lewis which was going well, and then halfway through the allotted hour Jerry basically said “OK, we’re done”, which threw Maron for a loop…he suspected he was overbooked for the day, and just decided he had had enough of talking about himself.
Marc mentioned that he had asked Jerry’s “people” to make sure WTF was his only interview that day. When Marc showed up USA Today was just wrapping up an interview and he apparently had other interviews before that. Perhaps this trainwreck was one of them? He (Jerry) was pretty good and open during the short interview though. Marc’s a pretty good interviewer though, especially when he really likes the person he’s talking to.
Not necessarily a counter-argument. Doing something like this because of a personal interest or assumed obligation doesn’t mean his being a dick elsewhere is inexplicable.
I have to say that he looks better than any 90-year old has a right to look. The last time I saw him was when he was all bloated up from the meds he was on.
He’s always been cranky and prone to moods, and now he’s 90, and the interviewer was a kid asking rookie questions that imply he has no idea who Jerry Lewis is other than maybe reading a Wiki entry and watching a YouTube clip. It was too perfect storm to have ended well.
My great-aunt who lived with me when I was a teenager was ordinarily the sweetest person on Earth, but she could get peeved in her 90s. Once was at a social worker- a 20 something fresh out of school condescending one of the type who might now be called a Social Justice Warrior- who came to check on her well being due to some anonymous report from someone who had never been in our house. Carrie (my aunt) heard this woman was from “the welfare”, and as a survivor of the Depression who had seen next to no good come from “the welfare” she had no use for her. It was a similar interview (and again, usually Carrie was the sweetest of people and loved company):
[Quote=Carrie and Social Worker]
Me: Carrie, this is Ms. [Surname], and she would like to talk to you.
Social Worker (to me): So, you just call her Carrie? You don’t call her Aunt Carrie? Why is that…
Me: Because… it’s what I’ve called her since I was a baby. She’s my father’s aunt, we know how we’re related.
Social Worker (to Carrie): Well you know, I all the older people in my family aunt, and uncle. That’s respectful, don’t you think, Aunt Carrie?
Carrie: Who’s your mama.
SW: Um, her name is Bernice [surname]…
Carrie: And your daddy?
SW: His name is Jeff [surname]…
Carrie: How are me and you related?
SW: Oh, me and you aren’t blood related, but…
Carrie: Then I don’t reckon you should call me aunt anything.
SW: Well, I think that maybe he should…
Carrie: Are you gonna help me get into bed tonight?
SW: Uh… ma’am?
Carrie: Are you gonna help me get into my bed tonight?
SW: Oh, no ma’am, I’m not a nurse. I’m just here for a visit…
Carrie: Well he is [indicating me]. I reckon he can call me what he likes.
subject moves to age
SW: I hear you’re 97. That’s wonderful!
Carrie: No it’s not.
SW: Well, don’t you like being 97?
Carrie: No. I’m ready to go and be Mam and Papa and my sisters.
SW: But we need you here! We want you to live to be at least a hundred!
Carrie: Why?
[pause- pretty good question, really]
SW: Because… just think of all the things you remember. Like… I’ll bet you remember horses and wagons don’t you?
Carrie: Yes.
SW: Tell me about them!
Carrie: The horse pulled the wagon.
[pause]
Can I die now?
[/QUOTE]
I’m 50 and I don’t suffer fools as easily as I used to. I think he’s somebody who wasn’t nice when he was young and now has a near inability to, and at 90 it’s not like he needs publicity or career help. He’s going to sell out because he’s Jerry Lewis, nobody’s going to boycott one of his shows because of this, and if his shows tank he’s not going to miss any meals or mortgage payments. If he has any fecks left to give they’re for his family. (His sons who have discussed him pretty pretty much all say he’s a major league prick but I think he’s close to the daughter he adopted in his 60s.)
He was a hard core prescription opiate addict for decades, which was probably one reason he was such an A-hole. The steroids that turned him into Baron Harkonnen got him off those, but then he was successfully treated with electronic pain relief that allowed him to get off the steroids. He said in an interview in his 80s that as an old man he was pain free for the first time since he was in his 30s.
I watched a minute of that miserable video. Prick, totally. If the reason for the prick attitude was that the interviewer somehow pissed Lewis off prior to tape rolling, I can only imagine it must have been something like: Interviewer walks into room and punches Lewis in the face so hard he drops him. Interviewer shouts “Get up old man, I aint done with you yet!” Lewis gets up on one knee saing “WTF?” Interviewer punches him in the face again and again drops Lewis. Lewis tells interviewer to leave, and interviewer kicks him in the gut, curling Lewis into a ball on the floor. Interviewer says “I’m not leaving till you answer my interview questions!” Lewis says “If I do your interview, you’ll leave? Ask your questions.” Roll tape.
Didn’t read whole thread. The title caught my eye, so I dropped in to say:
I NEVER liked the man. NEVER thought he was funny in anything. I think he has always has a vaguely creepy air about him.
Other then one weekend a year when his name brings in money for charity he hasn’t been relevant OR funny since the 60s. Him and his ego should pack it in and spend his final years in solitude. He surely don’t need the money.
If I was the interviewer I would have had to stop myself from punching Lewis in the mouth.
mmm
They do if they’re trying to shed their dickish reputation.
It’s not even that. People are just complicated creatures. They can be both assholes and generous, simultaneously.
My dad’s theory was that he had been shamed by someone with muscular dystrophy about his “spastic” act when he was younger and been made to feel guilty enough to try to atone.
Note to interviewer: When you’re interviewing an old person, don’t make every goddamn question about how old he is. Don’t ask him to compare himself to other people … all of whom are long-dead. Don’t come off as someone who never even heard of the guy before, but looked him up on Wiki just prior to the interview. Don’t treat an old guy as just an old guy, as if the only thing you know about him is that he’s 90 years old. I admire Jerry Lewis for letting the interview continue as long as it did.
I am completely lacking in opinion about Jerry Lewis, but I really love the sound of Sampiro’s Great Aunt Carrie. She doesn’t do much in the “suffering fools gladly” department. 
This cannot be overstated enough.
In the UK one of the most notorious criminals of recent times is radio DJ amd TV presenter Sir Jimmy Savile who during his life raised tens of millions for charity. One of his most well known stunts was to run marathons while aged into his sixties and seventies.
Yet he was also an incredibly industrious sex offender for sixty years or more raping and molesting young boys and girls, adults, old people, possibly even corpses in locations such as his home, in TV studios, prisons and especially hospitals attacking staff and patients.
No doubt one factor in doing the charity work was to provide him with a cover and bolster his ‘untouchable’ status. He was never bought to account in his long lifetime. But the truth is he had easier options than physically running marathons. The fact is he DID put a lot of effort into fund raising.
TCMF-2L
Agreed! She sounds like a very neat lady.
Reminded me of a similar fictional episode, in Sanford and Son.
Redd’s been hospitalised for some reason, and a social worker comes to interview him to see if he’s losing it.
She asks him: " Who is your president, Mr Sandford?"
He replies: “Franklin Roosevelt.”
She makes an “oh-oh” noise and some notes on her file, then says: “Franklin Roosevelt? Are you sure, Mr Sandford?”
Reds: “Yes. All the rest since then, you can have. FDR was my President!”
I’m torn. The interview was apparently part of a series with over-90 Hollywood types, with the thesis of the set being “Even though you are almost dead, why haven’t you retired?”
I have to confess I’d probably give an interview like this under those circumstances.
On one hand, it WAS a pretty lame set of questions.
Still, Jerry acted like a jerk, and there was no need for that.
If he’s just reached an age and a point in his life at which he doesn’t want to do interviews any more, fine! He has the right to turn down all interview requests, and be left alone.
But if you DO accept an interview request, there’s no excuse for being a dick.
Just cancel the interview if you’re that pissed off. There is no reason, other than you’re a egotistical prick, to treat other people like that.
Why do old people get a pass for being dicks? The entire premise of the interview, the reason why they were there, was to interview people who were still working at 90+, so of course there are going to be questions about how old he is. If Lewis didn’t want to answer those kinds of questions, which, again was the very subject of the interview, he shouldn’t agree to the interview.