Editing Jerry Lewis (section)

=== Comedic style ===
Lewis "single-handedly created a style of humor that was half anarchy, half excruciation. Even comics who never took a pratfall in their careers owe something to the self-deprecation Jerry introduced into American show business."<ref name="Mclellen">{{cite news|last=Mclellen|first=Dennis|date=August 20, 2017|title=The Slapstick, The Telethons, The Laaady!|newspaper=LA Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jerry-lewis-20170820-story.html|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=April 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417153318/https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-jerry-lewis-20170820-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> {{quote box|
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| quote = Jerry Lewis was the most profoundly creative comedian of his generation and arguably one of the two or three most influential comedians born anywhere in this century.
| source = ''The King of Comedy'', 1996
}} His comedy style was physically uninhibited, expressive, and potentially volatile. He was known especially for his distinctive voice, facial expressions, pratfalls, and physical stunts. His [[improvisation]]s and ad-libbing, especially in nightclubs and early television were revolutionary among performers. It was "marked by a raw, edgy energy that would distinguish him within the comedy landscape."<ref>{{cite web|last=Romano|first=Aja|date=August 20, 2017|title=Jerry Lewis, Legendary Standup, Actor-Director, and comedy Misanthrope, is Dead at 91|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/20/16176098/jerry-lewis-comedian-filmmaker-obituary|publisher=vox.com|access-date=February 21, 2018|archive-date=February 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221161446/https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/20/16176098/jerry-lewis-comedian-filmmaker-obituary|url-status=live}}</ref> Will Sloan, of ''[[Flavorwire]]'' wrote, "In the late '40s and early '50s, nobody had ever seen a comedian as wild as Jerry Lewis."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Sloan|first=Will|date=March 1, 2016|title=Pure Unfiltered Id Reappraising Jerry Lewis|url=http://flavorwire.com/563565/pure-unfiltered-id-reappraising-jerry-lewis-brutally-unfunny-comedy|magazine=Flavorwire|access-date=February 6, 2018|archive-date=February 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206190328/http://flavorwire.com/563565/pure-unfiltered-id-reappraising-jerry-lewis-brutally-unfunny-comedy|url-status=live}}</ref> Placed in the context of the conservative era, his antics were radical and liberating, paving the way for future comedians [[Steve Martin]], [[Richard Pryor]], [[Andy Kaufman]], [[Paul Reubens]], and [[Jim Carrey]]. Carrey wrote: "Through his comedy, Jerry would stretch the boundaries of reality so far that it was an act of anarchy ... I learned from Jerry",<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Carrey|first=Jim|date=August 23, 2017|title=He Is Part of My Makeup. Jim Carrey on What He Learned From Jerry Lewis|url=https://time.com/4912006/jim-carrey-jerry-lewis-comedy/|magazine=Time|access-date=February 5, 2018|archive-date=December 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227070602/http://time.com/4912006/jim-carrey-jerry-lewis-comedy/|url-status=live}}</ref> and "I am because he was."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Kreps|first=Daniel|date=August 20, 2017 |title=Jerry Lewis: Martin Scorsese, Jim Carrey, More Remember Comedy Legend |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jerry-lewis-jim-carrey-deana-martin-more-remember-legend-w498595|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=February 5, 2018 |archive-date=February 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206073505/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jerry-lewis-jim-carrey-deana-martin-more-remember-legend-w498595|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Acting the bumbling [[everyman]], Lewis used tightly choreographed, sophisticated sight gags, physical routines, verbal [[double-talk]] and [[malapropism]]s. "You cannot help but notice Lewis's incredible sense of control in regards to performing—they may have looked at times like the ravings of a madman but his best work had a genuine grace and finesse behind it that would put most comedic performers of any era to shame."<ref>{{cite web|last=Sobczynski|first=Peter|date=August 22, 2017|title=An American Original The RogerEbert.com Staff Remembers Jerry Lewis|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/an-american-original-the-rogerebertcom-staff-remembers-jerry-lewis|publisher=rogerebert.com|access-date=February 10, 2018|archive-date=February 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211072201/https://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/an-american-original-the-rogerebertcom-staff-remembers-jerry-lewis|url-status=live}}</ref> They are "choreographed as exactly as any ballet, each movement and gesture coming on natural beats and conforming to the overall rhythmic form which is headed to a spectacular finale: absolute catastrophe."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Finney|first=Alan|date=April 1070|title=Deconstruction Jerry: Lewis as Director: Some Basic Characteristics of the Fool |magazine=Melbourne Film Bulletin |number=12 |url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2016/jerry-lewis/jerry-lewis-the-fool/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221222444/http://sensesofcinema.com/2016/jerry-lewis/jerry-lewis-the-fool/|archive-date=February 21, 2018|access-date=February 21, 2018 |via=Senses of Cinema}}</ref>

Although Lewis made it no secret that he was Jewish, he was criticized for hiding his Jewish heritage. In several of his films—both with Martin and solo—Lewis's [[Jewish identity]] is hinted at in passing, and was never made a defining characteristic of his onscreen persona. Aside from the 1959 television movie ''The Jazz Singer'' and the unreleased 1972 film ''The Day the Clown Cried'', Lewis never appeared in a film or film role that had any ties to his Jewish heritage.<ref name="heritage1">{{Cite book|jstor=10.5749/j.cttts86x|title=Comedy is a Man in Trouble |last1=Dale |first1=Alan |year=2000 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=9780816636570 }}</ref> When asked about this lack of Jewish portrayal in a 1984 interview, Lewis stated, "I never hid it, but I wouldn't announce it and I wouldn't exploit it. Plus the fact it had no room in the visual direction I was taking in my work."<ref name="heritage2">{{Cite web|title=My 1984 interview with Jerry Lewis – The Bad and the Beautiful|url=http://www.lumenick.com/my-1984-interview-with-jerry-lewis/|access-date=June 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629140418/https://www.lumenick.com/my-1984-interview-with-jerry-lewis/|archive-date=June 29, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Lewis's physical movements in films received some criticism because he was perceived as imitating or mocking those with a physical disability.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shearer|first=Harry|date=1979 |title=Midsection: Telethon |journal=Film Comment|volume=15|issue=3|pages=33–48|jstor=26747107 |issn=0015-119X}}</ref>&nbsp;Through the years, the disability that has been attached to his comedic persona has not been physical, but mental. Neuroticism and schizophrenia have been a part of Lewis's persona since his partnership with Dean Martin; however, it was in his solo career that these disabilities became important to the plots of his films and the characters. In films such as ''The Ladies Man'' (1961), ''The Disorderly Orderly'' (1964), ''The Patsy'' (1964) and ''Cracking Up'' (1983), there is either neuroticism, schizophrenia, or both that drive the plot. Lewis was able to explore and dissect the psychological side of his persona, which provided a depth to the character and the films that was not present in his previous efforts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pomerance|first=Murray|author-link=Murray Pomerance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YKbrIsFaPvsC&q=jerry+lewis+neuroticism+comedy&pg=PA135 |title=Enfant Terrible!: Jerry Lewis in American Film|date=2002–2011|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-6706-1}}</ref>