Jerry Lewis Tried to Get Eddie Murphy to Cut ‘The Nutty Professor’s Fart Jokes
Jerry Lewis wasn’t exactly the easiest person to please, as evidenced by *gestures to the countless stories of him being a raging infantile d-bag for no reason*. So remaking one of Lewis’ classic movies while he was still alive must have been a little like kicking a nest full of petty, misogynistic hornets.
The Nutty Professor was one of Lewis’ most famous comedies, telling the story of an incel scientist who concocts a serum that turns him into a handsome psychopath. Judging from the original trailer, this basic premise was considered a big twist back in 1963. Lewis even urged audiences to “not reveal the middle of this picture.”
The 1996 Eddie Murphy-starring version of The Nutty Professor originated with producer Brian Grazer. As Grazer recently told a classroom full of children during the “Story Corner” segment of John Mulaney’s Everybody’s in L.A., in order to land the rights to the film, he had to meet with Lewis first. When Lewis went to the bathroom during the meeting, Grazer had to field questions from an associate like, “How much do you like Jerry?” and “Will you really let him consult?”
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Grazer spoke well of Lewis, which is a good thing, because the comedian was secretly recording the whole exchange via a device in his briefcase — a strategy colloquially known as “The Jerry Lewis Trick” (as seen on Seinfeld).
So Lewis served as an executive producer on Murphy’s Nutty Professor, but later expressed his distaste for the film. Did he object to the rampant fatphobia? Nope, he had a problem with the fart jokes.
In 2011, Lewis told Entertainment Weekly that he was a big fan of Murphy’s, hailing him as “one of the five funniest men in the world.” But he didn’t think so highly of the remake. “When he had to do fart jokes, he lost me.”
Lewis even tried to use his influence as executive producer to have the fart jokes cut altogether. “As a matter of fact, I told his editor, If he wants any more from me on a creative level, tell him to pull the whole sequence,” Lewis revealed.
Obviously this never happened. The filmmakers didn’t take Lewis’ notes, despite what Grazer had claimed on Lewis’ briefcase tapes, and left the fart jokes intact. And for the sequel, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, they doubled down on the fart-based humor, going so far as to include a scene where Papa Klump’s flatulence hits a birthday candle lighting a restaurant on fire.
Lewis said that Murphy’s movie basically put him off the idea of remakes altogether. “What I did was perfect. And all you’re going to do is diminish that perfection by letting someone else do it. I won’t go through it again,” Lewis stated.
The originally Nutty Professor certainly has its fans, but “perfection” feels like a strong word for a movie about a guy with a magic fuckboy potion.
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