Lewis debacle leads to one-man show

One of the biggest comedy debacles of last year is to be made into a one-man show.

The High On Laughter benefit gig hit the headlines when its star headliner, comic icon Jerry Lewis, pictured, collapsed before going onto the London Palladium stage.

Yet even before that dramatic moment, the show had all the makings of an expensive flop.

Organiser Steven Allen Green flew a handful of comics - plus an entire orchestra to back Lewis - from the States to perform at the gig, an outlay that looked poor value for money when the vast theatre sold fewer than half its tickets.

Now Green is salvaging something from the fiasco, by writing a one-man show based on the experience.

The hour-long performance takes a backstage look at the run-up to the event, and describes "how meeting and dealing with comedy legend Jerry Lewis tested Green's own sense of identity as a comedian".

Green is working on the show, directed by John Dowie, at a number of previews at London's Canal Cafe Theatre this month.

Chortle's review of the original gig

Published: 10 Mar 2003