Jerry Lewis, who has hosted the MDA Labor Day telethon since 1966, has been relieved of his hosting duties. He will not be present at this year's event.

Let's be honest here: yes, the telethon is a great event that has raised billions for the fight against muscular dystrophy – but, those are a lot of hours to fill every year and most of those hours are filled with, well, filler. But! Over the course of the last 45 years, there have been many, many memorable moments. Look: John Lennon! KISS! The Jackson 5! Joan Crawford and her daughter – a daughter who would in the future write 'Mommie Dearest.'

So, to commemorate Mr. Lewis's contribution to society (and popular culture), here are five memorable moments from his telethon.

Stephen Colbert was euphoric on Monday when he learned that John Lennon may have been a conservative during his final years. On 'The Colbert Report' (Mon., 11:30PM ET on Comedy Central), he relied on the most "rock solid" evidence.

"[The claim] comes from a guy who worked for Lennon for over a year based on a single conversation with Lennon 31 years ago where Lennon said he might vote for Reagan instead of Carter," Colbert revealed.

Kind of blows your mind, doesn't it? Or maybe that's just Colbert.

He then started looking for the hidden conservative messages in Lennon's music. 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' is an obvious coded message supporting supply-side economics. "Sooner or later Lucy's sky diamonds would trickle down."

Just about every angle concerning the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death has been covered exhaustively, but ESPN found a new one that 'Access Hollywood Live' (Weekdays, Syndicated on NBC) picked up on today -- the debate inside the 'Monday Night Football' broadcast booth about whether to announce the news that Lennon had been shot.

ESPN's 'Outside the Lines' discovered the previously un-aired conversation between sportscasters Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford, in which Cosell, ever focused on the game, wondering during a commercial break whether to break the news when the New England Patriots were setting up for a crucial field goal against the Miami Dolphins.

Gifford was the one who convinced him to do it, even insisting on it, saying, "You've got to do it," and adding, "It's a tragic moment and this is going to shake up the world."

Cosell did wind up announcing the news, and did so eloquently, telling fans to remember that this "is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses," and calling Lennon's assassination "an unspeakable tragedy."

Pretty boys don't do it for me. Long, flowing locks aren't what generally draws me to a guy. As a result, I was never particularly drawn to 'American Idol' contestant, Casey James. Of course I understood the attraction on an intellectual level -- I do have eyes after all, and he is a very pretty man. But throughout the first half of this season of 'Idol,' he remained little more than a background player to me.

Casey was talented enough, but he never knocked my socks off. I figured that he'd stick around for a while because he's good-looking and he doesn't stink up the stage with his performances, but that after a while, he'd be swept up in a cloud of blond hair and sparkling teeth and he'd become nothing but a distant, blue-eyed memory. That all changed this week, however, when he performed 'Jealous Guy.' All the sudden, I was sitting in front of my TV and a random thought struck me: "I kind of want to make out with him."

From G.I. Joe's arch-nemesis to immortal rock star, Christopher Eccleston certainly has an eclectic resume.

Now, Variety is reporting that the British actor, fresh off his turn as arms dealer Destro in 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,' will play John Lennon in 'Naked Lennon,' a biography film commissioned by BBC Four.

'Naked Lennon' will focus on Lennon's life from 1967-1971, the period during which Lennon first met Yoko Ono and The Beatles were going through a rather turbulent disintegration. Variety is also reporting that Naoko Mori ('Torchwood') will play Yoko Ono, while Rory Kinnear ('Quantum of Solace') has been tapped to play Beatles manager Brian Epstein; Irish actor Andrew Scott ('Saving Private Ryan') will play Paul McCartney.

Former Doctor Who lead Christopher Eccleston will be playing John Lennon in an upcoming British television drama commissioned by BBC Four about the life of John Lennon between 1967 and 1971. To further the Doctor Who connection, former Torchwood star Naoko Mori (who played Tosh on the show) will be playing Yoko Ono.

There is a lot of crossover between Doctor Who fans and Beatles fans, so there is sure to be some interest in the series. The roles I know Eccleston best for are those of the Doctor and Destro from G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra, so the question is if he can pull off a Liverpudlian accent. Since in the aforementioned roles he's done a Northern British accent (I believe his natural one) and a Scottish accent, he's likely capable of it.

So what do you think? Is Eccleston a good choice for the role of John Lennon?

It's hard to believe but last night was the first time that Paul McCartney was on The Late Show with David Letterman.

As Letterman says in the clip below, they had been trying to get him for 15 years with no success. McCartney had been in the studio before, of course, as a member of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 (and once for MTV), but this was his first time on Dave's show. He talks about coming to America back then and what the other band members were like.

(Here's video of the performance from McCartney and his band.)

I don't pretend to understand the motivation of the American Idol voters, but after watching last night's performances by the Final Four, I'm convinced that Kris Allen is going to be the odd man/singer out tonight. It's not that Kris was the poorest performance; I agree with Kona that Danny's "Dream On" was a bit of a nightmare. No, Kris will be done in because he chose the wrong Beatle song.

Rock night on American Idol, with Guns 'n Roses' Slash of all artists as a mentor, was bound to fall on the hard end of the rock spectrum. That did not suit Kris's mellow music man vibe at all. If he wanted to impress the judges -- and win over the fans -- he would have been better off going against the grain and not trying to compete with the heavy duty rock star wannabes on the show.

More ammo for the "Larry King should retire" crowd.

On last night's show, King was interviewing Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and during the interview, during a segment where they talked about what they were doing when John Lennon was killed, he turned to Starr and asked "George, where were you?" McCartney didn't want to let the matter drop, but Ringo just laughed it off. Harrison, of course, is dead.

Did you watch the Pay-Per-view seance last night to contact the spirit of John Lennon? Me neither. A psychic and an expert in paranormal activity claim that Lennon made contact with them through an EVP, an Electronic Voice Phenomenon. It happened at the La Fortuna restaurant in New York City, where Lennon liked to eat.

Here's how it went down (according to reports): Filming of the seance at the La Fortuna restaurant stopped because something weird was happening. Then a mysterious voice was heard on the psychic's recorder. An "expert" confirmed it was Lennon and he was asking for Peace.

What's it called when you produce the sequel to a show that was called a 'new low' in television? I don't know, either.

In 2003, it was The Spirit of Diana, a televised seance to contact the dearly departed Princess Diana. It cost $15 to watch and drew about 500,000 American viewers. This time around, the same geniuses behind the Diana seance are now attempting to contact John Lennon. On April 24, it'll cost a mere $10 to watch psychics visit different locations of importance to the former Beatle, including the New York apartment building where he was shot and killed. It's called... wait for it... The Spirit of John Lennon. And, no, Yoko Ono is not involved.

The producer of the program, Paul Sharratt, said that the Diana seance didn't make him a believer in psychics but he thinks there are "many, many millions of people around the world who think it's possible." Classy.