Las Vegas Weekly

September 1, 2008 · 4:31 PM

Jerry Lewis smashes all-time record yet again

By Robin Leach

Jerry Lewis

Photo: MDA

Congratulations to hometown hero, veteran showman Jerry Lewis, on raising a staggering $65 million this afternoon at the 43rd annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon fundraiser from South Point. The 21-hour live broadcast on 180 North American television stations and worldwide on the Internet beat last year’s record of $63.8 million by $1.2 million to earn the new record total.

"Each year I tell myself, 'this has got to be it. There's no way we can do better.' Then, the following year, I'm astounded to see that generosity driven by love and compassion has a greater capacity than I thought possible," the 82-year-old entertainer said. "I am awed and humbled by this response. I was quite prepared because of the sluggish economy and the Hurricane Gustav problems that we would not beat last year’s record.”

Among the stars on hand were Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron, Nancy O’Dell from Access Hollywood, Jann Carl of Entertainment Tonight with co-hosts Tony Orlando in New York and Ed McMahon here in Vegas. Many of our Strip entertainers appeared, including Flamingo headliner George Wallace and former Caesars Palace headliner Celine Dion via satellite from Canada. Jerry’s online auction of stars' gifts and memorabilia continues through Thursday night at www.mda.org/auctions.

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