I'll certainly grant you that the man is both talented and a legend, but none of his performances (and most of them were performances) really seemed Oscar-worthy. Nevertheless, the great philanthropic work he's done in his lifetime for causes like Muscular Dystrophy awareness and his other fundraising efforts for the Salvation Army and American Red Cross have earned him some well-deserved respect from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who will bestow the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Lewis at the 81st annual ceremony in February.

Past winners of the award include Quincy Jones, Paul Newman and Charlton Heston, and it's not an annual award -- they only hand one out when they think someone is truly deserving, so it's WAY past time Jerry Lewis got one, considering he started his work with the MDA in the 1950s. That, and it's a lot more fun to watch someone go up there and accept something joyfully rather than watch a family member accept something for them posthumously, while you're feeling badly the whole time that the person didn't win it when they were alive. And Lewis should enjoy it -- the Hersholt award is an actual Oscar statuette, and not that lame bronze head they hand out for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Realistically, he could flounce it around in front of people who didn't watch the telecast and convince them it's a creative award. I would.