I will state categorically that Jerry Lewis (1926–2017) was a top-notch physical comedian, skilled and often very funny, and I’ve already written about him in four previous posts (see below). Comedy is to some degree a matter of taste, and Lewis sure had his supporters and detractors. He was a megastar, who by 1959 had signed the highest-paying Hollywood contract ever, and one with unprecedented artistic control. But as the years passed he was dismissed by many as being corny, abrasive, over-the-top and, well, tasteless. Not funny!
But NOT in France. There he was considered a film pioneer and a comedy genius, and was awarded the Legion of Honor. So it was especially interesting when, in 1980, French film director Jean-Luc Godard did an hour-long interview on the Dick Cavett Show.
Some quick background:
Dick Cavett (born 1936) was justly celebrated for being one of the few tv talk show hosts to interview leading cultural figures, and to do so intelligently and at length. In his younger days, he had been a magician, gymnast, actor, joke writer and stand-up comedian. He was friends with many comedians, notably Stan Laurel, Groucho Marx, and Woody Allen.
Jean-Luc Godard (1930–2022) was one of the founding fathers of the French nouvelle vague (new wave) film movement that also included François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Claude Chabrol, and Éric Rohmer. Godard’s first movie, the 1960 A Bout de Souffle (Breathless), was considered revolutionary and its making is the subject of last year’s acclaimed Richard Linklater film, Nouvelle Vague. Godard’s dozens of films were primarily social and political critiques, not without a sense of humor, but not what you would called “comedies.”
Although Cavett had even worked in 1963 as a writer for a short-lived Jerry Lewis tv talk show, he clearly did not include Lewis in his personal Pantheon of comedy greats and could not quite understand what was wrong with the French. I think he expected Godard to support his opinion. Instead the following exchange ensued:
Touché.
