Here’s a six minute reel of outtakes from ‘The Disorderly Orderly’, a 1964 Jerry Lewis vehicle written and directed by Frank Tashlin. Some of them–most of them?–are self-imposed goofs, things Jerry does on purpose to make the crew and other cast members laugh. Why would he waste time doing this? In a Peter Sellers biography the same behavior was ascribed to Sellers. The books author, Roger Lewis, posited that Sellars needed to get into a silly/unpredictable mood which would put the other players on edge as well as make the crew laugh. This made him loosen up and ‘feel’ funny so that he could go about his business in the good takes with confidence. Comedians are so screwed up, aren’t they? I pity the no-doubt patient Mr. Tashlin who had to sit through eight, nine, ten takes of these goofs, waiting to finally be able to print a good one and move on. Jerry, who could be hard on directors and boss them around, apparently had great respect for Tashlin–he was correct to since Tashlin was one of the best mid-century comic minds in movies. But perhaps the respect had as much to do with Tashlin’s patience as anything else…