I used to watch it as a child and my folks used to let me stay up late for that, I guess because of the good vibes from it. When I became a man, I looked forward to it every year and one year I stayed up with Jerry all 20 hours. Once I saw my name crawl across the bottom of the screen. After I turned 21, I went to Vegas Labor Day weekend and went to the Sahara about 2 in the morning, when I speculated there would be a short line. There was and they were bringing crowds in there for an hour and then emptied the studio for the next crowd. I got in there and lucky enough to file into the front row. There they were, Jerry and Ed, right in front of me. A great experience, which I repeated the following year. Two epilogues to this story. When the Sahara closed and opened their doors to buyers of everything not nailed down, I spotted a framed picture of Jerry in front of the Sahara marquee advertising the telethon. Think it was $150, and someone picked it up just as I was walking toward it. I asked if he was really going to buy it, because if not, I was. He took it. The final chapter was when I flew into Vegas one time and walking from the gate passed right past a skycap pushing the great Jerry Lewis the other way in a wheelchair. We made eye contact and less than a year later, Jerry passed away.