After a period of relative scarcity, the New York Times seems to be getting back up to speed with its Jerry Lewis references. For today's Jerry reference, "click" here. Curiously, this is the second NYT Jerry reference in a row to spotlight the comedian Richard Belzer's affection for Lewis. In today's paper we learn of Belzer's "strong friendship" with his "mentor" Jerry. It occurs to me that Belzer used to work with "blog" acquaintance David Simon on the TV series HOMICIDE. Could this be my "in" with Jerry? Could this be how I become an important part of Jerry's life? Ha ha ha! Just kidding! I am not a stalker! Ha ha ha ha! Uh... Ha ha ha! Back when Mr. Ward and I worked in television together, we sent someone to Los Angeles to interview various celebrities about Don Knotts. Don't worry about why. It's the kind of thing we used to do! And I must say that I recall Mr. Belzer being the most versed and articulate of all the celebrities on the subject of Don Knotts. In fact, he made our freelance interviewer's lack of comedic education glaringly apparent. As Knotts aficionados, we cringed as we watched the footage, Mr. Ward and I did, embarrassed by our Knotts-ignorant surrogate. A comedy historian, this Belzer. That's one nice thing about comedians. They seem interested in their predecessors. Speaking of which, in today's NYT article, we also learn that the comedian Richard Lewis has a friendship with Jonathan Winters. Somehow we have mentioned Jonathan Winters only once in all our years of "blogging." Why? It isn't right. Even Barry Hannah has cited him as an influence. He is great. And now I will go to the youtube and try to find you some proof. Okay, here he is with Johnny. And this concludes today's consideration of things that no one cares about but me - and maybe Richard Belzer and Richard Lewis, who are in their 60s and probably spend precious little time looking at "blogs." You know who doesn't care about these things? People who read "blogs"! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything. And now I crawl back in my hole.
