He is known for his participation in a variety of projects in the arts and entertainment worlds including his work as the co-creator and co-producer of the Secret Policeman's Balls benefit shows for Amnesty International[1] (a series he created with Monty Python alumnus John Cleese and Amnesty fund-raising officer Peter Walker) and as a comedic performer and writer on American TV.
[2] Described by L.A. Weekly as "a true Renaissance Man",[3] Lewis' career has encompassed work in music, comedy, TV, radio, film, theatre, books and politics.
[6][7][8] Arguably his most notable work has been co-creating and producing[9] the Secret Policeman's Ball series of benefits for Amnesty International (initially held 1976–1981) that brought together comedic talents (including Monty Python, Beyond The Fringe, Rowan Atkinson and Billy Connolly) and rock musicians (including Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, Tom Robinson, Donovan and Bob Geldof.)
The film of the fourth show of the series, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, was a box office success in the UK and US in 1982 and also inspired a book co-edited by Lewis.
[10] A series of live, acoustic performances by rock musicians Pete Townshend, Sting, Phil Collins, Tom Robinson, Donovan and Bob Geldof that Lewis conceived and produced for the 1979 and 1981 Secret Policeman's shows are widely regarded as being one of the inspirations for the "Unplugged" format that was introduced by MTV in 1989.
[17][18] In 1995, Lewis produced a reunion of the Rutles, the comedic ensemble created by Monty Python alumni Eric Idle and Neil Innes in 1977 to lampoon the Beatles.
For this, Lewis conceived an animated sequence featuring the characters from South Park and he produced this tribute with series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
was selected for inclusion in the 9th Annual Toyota Comedy Festival (June 2001) in New York and was the debut production at the Steven Spielberg Theatre in Los Angeles in July 1999.
[47][48][49][50][51] He has written speeches, commercials and material for many entertainers including members of Monty Python as well as Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jennifer Aniston, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elliott Gould, Teri Hatcher, Anjelica Huston, Quincy Jones, Patrick Macnee, Roger Moore, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sally Jessy Raphael and Susan Sarandon.
[45] Lewis wrote the extensive "companion narrative" for the 1998 re-publication of Beatles manager Brian Epstein's 1964 autobiography A Cellarful of Noise (Pocket Books, 1998).
Lewis re-commenced his journalistic career in 2000 when he was invited to become a Special Correspondent for TIME.com,[53] for which he covered the 2000 United States presidential election and various cultural events in 2001.
Lewis writes columns for various online publications including Salon.com, the Huffington Post[54] (for which he is a regular contributor) and his own Agent Provocateur literary website.
"[57][full citation needed] Early in his career, Lewis had been a protégé of former Beatles publicist Derek Taylor[27][58] - then working for the UK division of Warner/Elektra/Atlantic Records.
[71][72] Lewis has served as Chairman of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Los Angeles), sitting on its board of directors for six years.
He produced and hosted multiple film events for BAFTA/LA including co-presentations with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Directors Guild of America.
The festival was subsequently presented in Washington DC in December 2009 at the American Film Institute coinciding with International Human Rights Day.
[61] He was a consultant for Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 2000 VH1 television film, Two of Us, a fictionalized account of the last-ever encounter between John Lennon and Paul McCartney (in New York in 1976).
[79][80] In 2008, Lewis proposed to NASA that the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" be transmitted towards the North Star, Polaris, via the Deep Space Network antenna.
The event was attended by Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Martin Short, Mel Brooks, Matthew Broderick, Carol Burnett, Jon Stewart, Jack Black, Edward Norton, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, Sting, Trudie Styler, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Laura Dern, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Bob Balaban, Joe Mantegna, Bill Irwin, Richard Kind, Florence Henderson, Roger Bart, Gary Beach, Shuler Hensley, Cory English, Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland and opera singer Grace Bumbry.