Since Labor Day (and the unofficial end of summer, yes yes yes) has just passed, I thought I’d share with you some nuggets from a very, very rich vein of gold on YouTube — clips of the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.

There are so many moments, my heavens, truly a motherlode. I’m going to wade in and just feature one especially batshit crazy year from many batshit crazy years: 1976.

Hey, want to see Cher with an afro, performing “Dancing Machine” with the Jackson 5? Okay!

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How about the reunion (supposedly the first in 20 years) between Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin?

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As my friend Curtis said: “wow, you can practically smell the smoke, scotch and sweat (not to mention all the homoerotic/homophobic man smooching).” So true. And I am fascinated by Frank Sinatra’s complete inability not to dominate the spotlight. Such a natural bully. It’s also interesting to see Lewis, who was apparently truly surprised, process the ambush and figure out how he’s supposed to react.

And this one? Well, this one just makes me (continue to) hate our Monsieur Lewis. Even when I was little, I remember filling with rage when watching his movies — so stupid, that stupid man-boy! Now, I suppose I can lighten up, since he’s one of the last weird ones standing from that weird mid-century era of American show business. But GOD, what a dope.

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And I can’t, I cannot, I just can’t stop watching these. More next year!