Jerry Lewis the following summer, and the audience was so enthusiastic that Kaye became Lewis' manager and guardian for Borscht Belt appearances. During World War II, he was rejected for military service because of a heart murmur. Lewis initially gained attention as part of a double act with singer Dean Martin, who served as straight man to Lewis' zany antics as the Martin and Lewis comedy team. They were different from other duo acts of the time because they played to each other and had ad-libbed improvisational segments within their planned routines. After forming in 1946, they quickly rose to national prominence,
Jerry Lewis Bacon plays the Lewis character in the 2005 film "Where The Truth Lies," based on a fictionalized version of Martin and Lewis. In the satiric novel, "Funny Men", about singer/wild comic double act, the character Sigmund "Ziggy" Blissman, is based on Lewis. John Saleeby, writer for "National Lampoon" has a humor piece "Ten Things You Should Know About Jerry Lewis". In the animated cartoon "Popeye's 20th Anniversary", Martin and Lewis are portrayed on the dais. The animated series "Animaniacs" satirized Lewis in several episodes. In 1998, The MTV animated show "Celebrity Deathmatch" had a clay-animated fight to the death between