Jerry Lewis isn’t impressed by female comics who cross the line into vulgarity. He simply doesn’t find them funny. The 88-year-old comedian and actor was once criticized for expressing what many believed was his distaste for female comics altogether. He clarified his comments, however, on Saturday when he was honored following the placing of his hands and feet in cement outside of Hollywood’s Chinese Theater.

“Seeing a woman project the kind of aggression that you have to project as a comic just rubs me wrong. And they’re funny — I mean you got some very, very funny people that do beautiful work — but I have a problem with the lady up there that’s going to give birth to a child — which is a miracle,” Lewis said. “But when you have women like Carol Burnett, that’s the greatest female entrepreneur of comedy. I just saw Carol at the Smith Center at home in Vegas, and I was stunned by how brilliant she is and how brilliantly she brings the audience right up to her.”

Lewis said Lucille Ball “went to the lowest level of the barrel, and she was brilliant because of it.”

Jerry Lewis’s wife and daughter accompanied him to the ceremony. It apparently was a first for his daughter. He even asked her to take a bow. Hopefully Lewis didn’t temper his comments about comediennes because his daughter was present.

“This is an incredible time for me,” he said. “I have never, ever had an experience like this and had my daughter present. And this is the first time I’ve ever asked her to join me.”

Danielle Sara Lewis is the youngest of Jerry Lewis’s 7 children. She is his only daughter.

Just imagine what Lewis must be thinking about female comics like Kathy Griffin or Lisa Lampanelli. Vulgarity flows from their mouths like water from the kitchen faucet. It might be interesting to hear what the comic legend would say about their performances.

Jerry Lewis appeared frail at the event celebrating his success as an actor and a comedian. At one point he required some help standing when his legs appeared to fail him.

Do you agree with Jerry Lewis’s reaction to female comics? Does this generation have a potential Lucille Ball or a Carol Burnett–or have female comics all sunk to the lows Lewis detests?

Image via Wikimedia Commons