Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo, comprised of singer Dean Martin (as the "straight man") and comedian Jerry Lewis (as his stooge). The pair worked together in nightclubs, on radio and television, and in film from 1946 until 1956, when their personal and professional relationship was acrimoniously severed. Apart from a surprise appearance by Martin on one of Lewis's annual telethons for muscular dystrophy in 1976 (orchestrated by mutual friend Frank Sinatra), they never performed together again, although they reconciled privately in the later years of Martin's life.