Jerry Lewis…
The world lost 2 pioneering legends of comedy over the weekend: Jerry Lewis and Dick Gregory.
DICK GREGORY
Many will remember Dick Gregory as a wise and witty social activist. However, true fans in the know will remember him as a trailblazing stand-up comedian who paved the way for such funny men as Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, and others.
Born Richard Claxton Gregory in 1932, Gregory was a relative unknown until 1961, when Chicago’s prestigious Playboy Club asked him to fill in for comedian Irwin Corey one night. That evening, a star was born and the Playboy Club turned him into a headline performer by offering him a 3-year contract. Gregory went on to become a satirist of segregation and racial injustice in his acts, frequently on hand with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and even being arrested several times in the 1960s for his participation in the civil rights rallies.
Gregory continued to perform his social satire right up to the very end, until a brief illness dimmed his light.
Dick Gregory was 84.
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JERRY LEWIS
Best known as the original “Nutty Professor,” one-half of the comedic film duo of Martin and Lewis, and a longtime champion of Muscular Dystrophy through decades of hosting and sponsoring Labor Day’s annual Jerry Lewis Telethon, this slapstick comedic icon was a pop-culture sensation.
Born Joseph Levitch in 1926, Lewis’ star rose over years of him playing the fool to Dean Martin’s straight man. They went on to make some of the silver screen’s most memorable moments, until a personal falling out stopped the 2 men from speaking to each other.
After breaking from Dean Martin, Lewis made a series of popular films, including “The Geisha Boy,” “The Bellboy,” and Martin Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy,” among others. He left the screen behind in the late ’60s and became more active in philanthropic projects. As Lewis’ style of slapstick comedy fell out of favor with a changing American public, he remained a huge star in France. He continued to perform in Las Vegas, where he first debuted his comedy routine back in 1949 and maintained a residence.
Jerry Lewis died Sunday at his Las Vegas home. He was 91.
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Great post DJ. Thank you.
Two of the greatest. Each man blessed with incredible talent. Each having his own mission, his own calling, in life. Each man rose and remained true to that calling.
Both will be missed.
May they Rest in Peace.