Martin and Lewis Martin and Lewis Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis. They met in 1945 and debuted at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 25, 1946; the team lasted ten years to the day. Dean Martin is the stage name of Dino Paul Crocetti, born June 7, 1917, in Steubenville, Ohio, while Jerry Lewis is the stage name of Joseph Levitch, born March 16, 1926, in Newark, New Jersey. Martin died on December 25, 1995, and then Lewis died on August 20, 2017. Before they teamed up, Martin was a nightclub singer,
Jerry Lewis boxing bout for MDA's fund drive, with Martin as referee. He then began hosting New York area telethons to benefit the organization from 1952 to 1959, leading up to the live annual Labor Day event of "The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon" (also referred to as "Jerry Lewis Extra Special Special", "Jerry Lewis Super Show" and "Jerry Lewis Stars Across America"), which ran from 1966 to 2010. In 1977, Lewis was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. By 1990, popular culture had shifted its view of the differently-abled and