Watch the agony as grumpy comic clams up

Jerry Lewis has a reputation for being awkward and grumpy… and a new car-crash of an interview will do nothing to dispel that.

In a seven-minute conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, he offered only one-syllable answers, painful silences and an angry stare.

The obstinate comedian claims nothing has changed in Vegas over the decades he’d been working there, with his response to almost every question being a terse: ‘No.’

Lewis was being profiled as part of a feature about ten entertainers still working in their 90s. Journalist Andy Lewis wrote: ‘Nine of the interviews went great. One was a trainwreck.’

He said that from the moment he arrived at the veteran comic’s home ‘he looked angry’ – adding that he constantly complained throughout the photoshoot about the way it was going and the amount of equipment used.

So when it came to the interview, the reporter said: ‘It seemed like he was punishing The Hollywood Reporter by doing the interview but being as uncooperative as possible.’

The agonising exchange came to an end after a few minutes with a publicist intervening to say: ‘I think we’re done here.’

Cringe through the awkwardness in all its glory here:

Published: 20 Dec 2016