Jerry Lewis gives a painfully awkward interview to THR



Jerry Lewis is a tough interview. Everybody in the industry knows that. I remember a few years ago jumping on the opportunity to interview Lewis, who was directing a musical theatre version of The Nutty Professor at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, and my then editor quickly shutting down the idea by saying "trust me, you don't want to do that." He ended up going to interview Lewis, whom I heard quickly turns on you if you're a young journalist being sent to interview him. I've never seen a Lewis interview go well with a Journalist in his 30s or, even, 40s. He likes these old-school journalists that have been around and know his repertoire front to back and, even then, he can still turn on you if he doesn't like the questions. Anyway, The Hollywood Reporter's Andy Lewis found that out the hard way.