The Jerry Lewis Show as host on "The Colgate Comedy Hour", with vocalist Dean Martin as the duo of "Martin and Lewis", first formed in July 1946. In 1956, after 17 films, a radio series , 29 Colgate shows and many night club appearances, they parted ways bitterly. Both Martin and Lewis continued as successful, but separate superstars. Between 1957 and 1962, Lewis headlined several well received solo specials for the NBC and ABC networks. "The Jerry Lewis Show" was the comedian's first foray into weekly television. Lewis had been a substitute host of "The Tonight Show" for two weeks after Jack Paar quit
Jerry Lewis nobody had ever seen a comedian as wild as Jerry Lewis." Placed in the context of the conservative era, his antics were radical and liberating, paving the way for future comedians Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, 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", and "I am because he was". Acting the bumbling and stammering 'everyman', Lewis used tightly choreographed, sophisticated sight gags, physical routines, verbal double-talk and malapropisms. "You cannot help but notice Lewis' incredible