Various reports, including the AP, noted that Lewis first jokingly offered two men as his answer. Then he added: "I cannot sit and watch a lady diminish her qualities to the lowest common denominator. I just can't do that."

Stop for a moment and examine his answer.

Lewis, 87, didn't say women are not or were not ever funny. He said then and says now he's bothered by the notion of a woman stooping to the level of a man by playing the buffoon onstage. Never he mind that Lucille Ball was TV's comedic superstar during the same decade that Lewis was goofing around on the big screen. He apparently couldn't be comfortable with a funny woman in the 1950s, and he still cannot in 2013. Never he mind, also, that just a month ago at the Friars Club Roast of Jack Black, Lewis sat next to the dais podium and visibly and audibly laughed when Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer raked him and others over the coals.

To borrow a popular proverb from where his legacy remains most popular...

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

In fact, the comedy world seems just as inhospitable -- if not more so -- for women now than it did a generation or two ago.

GQ's "Comedy Issue" this month may have flipped the script by having comedian/actress Ellie Kemper write an essay asking: "Can Men Be Funny?"

But it's hard to keep your tongue in cheek when men are heckling female comedians from the audience and affecting their future bookings there, or when the men are onstage as the stand-ups and making light of rape and domestic violence.

So.

What gives?

In the first case, a Canadian comedian (Christina Walkinshaw) found her upcoming gigs at Casino Niagra cancelled because when she middled there last September, a group of hecklers sexually harassed Walkinshaw, chanting: "Show us your tits!" And later: "Show us your bush!" The club didn't kick out the audience members in question nor even confront them to quiet them.

As Walkinshaw recounted last week on her own blog, this happened on the Thursday night show. "I went back on Friday and Saturday. I thought about cancelling, but I needed the money. I know I was treated poorly, but at the end of the day, a comic needs money. So what if I got sexually harassed? It’s not as embarrassing as not having rent, right? When I got a gig sheet to return back to the club, I was relieved. I knew that weekend was awkward, but I wasn’t going to make a big deal about it, so I’m glad they didn’t. Or so I thought…"

She earned $500 as the feature act that weekend. The casino decided to nix her return gig this July.

As she noted on her blog and again today on xoJane: "I’ve been lucky enough to make (half) a living off my dream. I’ve had my own half hour comedy special, and toured as a comic for over 10 years. Oh, but I’m Canadian. So you’ve never heard of me." That said, Walkinshaw also acknowledged: "I’m not a perfect comic. I don’t know if I dealt with the situation in the right way back in September, and I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing now. But I will tell you this: For the first time in my life, I’m standing up for myself."

Perhaps she feels a bit more emboldened to stand up for herself offstage and online after recent debates within the comedy community -- prompted by a blogging inquisition -- as comedians and bloggers butted heads over the right for men in stand-up comedy to joke freely about rape.

Cameron Esposito, who hosts the "Put Your Hands Together" podcast and live show at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles, found a way to address both sides in that debate while also expanding it beyond the narrow focus of "rape jokes." As she wrote: "IN THE END: tell the jokes you want to tell. But know that it makes you a better comic to have to either ignore criticism or defend yourself. This is the rest of all of our careers: success balanced with ignoring criticism or self-defense."

If you cannot defend your jokes, write better jokes.

But what about your attitude toward other comedians in the game of show business?

I spoke with several women in comedy over the past couple of weeks who also wanted to weigh in, wanted to stand up for themselves as well as the men in comedy and the right to make any kind of jokes, but who also wanted to point out the gross misogyny that continues to exist in comedy. That's prevalent more in stand-up than in improv and sketch, but exists nonetheless.

And it is gross, the misogyny that pervades and perverts comedy.

Which is all the more surprising considering how the comedy industry and community no longer functions an exclusive "boys club." Women hold key decision-making roles in casting agencies, talent management and even at Comedy Central.

And yet.

When slots are doled out for stand-up comedians on the late-night shows or the cable showcases (whether it's five-minute sets, half-hours or hours), women are left behind or overlooked, relegated as if they're filling a quota. Or worse, they're set off to the side on another channel or stage as The Women of Comedy, or introduced by the emcee at a live show by their gender. "Are you ready for your first lady of the evening?" "Please welcome the lovely and talented..."

You don't need to ask the audience if they're ready for a female comedian or describe their looks. And women in comedy shouldn't feel as though they need to take off their clothes for the laddie mags and online slideshows to feel validated as comedians and performers. That they do says a lot about how little our society has changed, and how much still needs to change about it.

We all need to stand up for ourselves, not just as performers but as people.

This isn't about hand-holding nor is it about creating an environment where nobody is offended by a joke.

This is about putting a stop to bullying. Because bullying is never funny. Not in a schoolyard. Not on a social network. And not in a comedy club.

A comedian asks us to laugh with him or her. Sometimes at him or her. And hopefully speaks some truth to power, instead of from power.

So when Jerry Lewis worries about seeing a lady "diminish her qualities to the lowest common denominator," perhaps instead of arguing with him or agreeing with him, we should try to raise our game above that level. Raise our game. We can be better than this. Because we are better than this. We most certainly are better than this.

Roll the clip!

Burnett, 80, is the 16th recipient of the annual prize.

She'll receive her honor in Washington, D.C., in October.

Known best for The Carol Burnett Show, her sketch comedy show that ran for 11 years on CBS from 1967-1978, Burnett already has won eight Golden Globes, six Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, induction into the Television Hall of Fame, as well as previously becoming a Kennedy Center Honoree.

Born in San Antonio but raised in Hollywood, Burnett attended UCLA before breaking into show business in New York City. Aspiring comedians and actors today will take note: Burnett first had to stage her own musical revues in NYC with her fellow unemployed roommates and colleagues. She eventually found work and landed a double hit in 1959 -- parts in the original Broadway musical production of Once Upon a Mattress, and the cast of TV's The Garry Moore Show.

After two years of honoring Generation X'ers in their primes in Tina Fey (2010) and Will Ferrell (2011), then a Baby Boomer last year in daytime TV queen Ellen DeGeneres (2012), the prize has reverted back (at least this year) to recognizing a performer with a full lifetime of achievement.

The Washington Post offered some insight into how The Kennedy Center awards its annual Mark Twain Prize.

"Now, if it were up to us, we'd just put up a bunch of Bob & Ray clips and call it a day," Asner said. "But, apparently, that's not good enough!"

Just wait until they find out what really sells on the Internet, and what it takes to sell anything online...

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How do you add your headshot to that wall?

Tig Notaro found out in this segment she produced for last night's episode of Conan. It takes her and her bodyguards to a copy shop, a diner, and a furniture store -- the last of which finds her questioning whether her friend, Sarah Silverman, actually ever visited that store.

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In related news, if you'd like to help make Tig Notaro more famous, you can listen to and/or buy some new tracks of hers...

She's releasing an expanded version of her album, "LIVE," on July 16, with the bonus disc, "Live at the Moth," which features her 15-minute story of how her mom's death redefined Notaro's relationship with her stepfather.

But you probably didn't get much of a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the hows, wheres, whens and whys for Louis or Jerry. Amy, however, fills us all in, in this episode of her companion webseries, "Behind Amy Schumer." You'll see her do sound-check and live stand-up at Joe's Pub in NYC, as well as shots of her at Gotham Comedy Club and on the road from near (Levity Live) and far (Las Vegas).

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New episodes of Inside Amy Schumer premiere on Tuesday nights on Comedy Central.

His band consisted not only of fellow cast members Bill Hader (also his SNL finale), Taran Killam and Jason Sudeikis (still here?), but also Armisen's Portlandia co-star and cohort Carrie Brownstein, Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, Aimee Mann and Michael Penn.

"It's been alright. I've had a lovely night with you."

Sing it with him!

You're cordially invited to the nuptials of Seth and Stefon Meyers, from a very special Weekend Update on the season finale of Saturday Night Live, and the final episode for cast member Bill Hader. Featuring host Ben Affleck, Amy Poehler, Anderson Cooper, Alf, Smurfs, a Gremlin, DJ Bobby Bok Choy, Urkel and more.

This wedding has everything.

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Roll the clip!

No spoilers about Thursday night's finale here.

Unless you count this little ditty: "All The Faces," an original song by Creed Bratton. Which his TV alter-ego, Creed, sang in the finale as the employees gathered in the office together one last time.

You can enjoy it in a few different versions here. Such as the video yearbook version:

Creed performed "All The Faces" solo acoustic live earlier this month at Primary Wave Music in New York City:

And if you want to download it from iTunes, you can have your very own copy of Creed Bratton's "All The Faces," the single!