The Cher Show

Cher kicks off the show with a high-energy medley of “I Feel a Song Coming On” and “Sing,” dazzling in a pink ruffled cape that she throws off to reveal a gorgeous lace halter dress. In her monologue, she jokes about being approached for TV commercials, listing stars who have already done them, ironically foreshadowing her own future in advertising. Jerry Lewis interrupts her Q&A segment with rapid-fire nonsense questions and offbeat physical comedy, setting the tone for the evening’s unpredictable humor. In a slapstick-heavy sketch, Lewis struggles through an immersive “feel-around” movie theater experience, getting doused with rain, pelted with hail, and drenched by ocean waves, only for the film to break down just before a romantic scene. Later, Cher and David Essex deliver a sultry duet of “The Long and Winding Road,” with Cher exuding flirtatious energy in a feather-trimmed white pantsuit and matching headwrap. Revisiting her “Trashy Ladies” persona, Cher introduces a series of comedic sketches, including a bumbling Tarzan and Jane bit, a slap-heavy Ma Barker gangster parody, and a playful reimagining of Samson and Delilah, with Lewis’ Samson requesting a “blowout and a tease.” In a Western spoof, Cher, in her iconic “Half-Breed” outfit, plays an Indian princess caught between Lewis’ Yiddish-speaking sheriff and Essex’s English outlaw in a duel of cultural stereotypes. Essex performs “Hold Me Close” before Cher delivers one of the show’s standout moments—a mesmerizing rendition of “Rhinestone Cowboy” in a dazzling silver pantsuit, rhinestone microphone in hand, against a neon-lit backdrop of honky-tonk signs. The cowboy hat only adds to the perfection. The episode concludes with a poignant silent sketch allegedly written by Lewis, where he and Cher play two lost souls meeting in a park. They engage in a wordless, Chaplin-esque pantomime, filled with bittersweet humor and unexpected tenderness. As the credits roll, Cher closes the show alongside Essex and Lewis, the latter seeming unimpressed by Essex’s popstar charm, much like his real-life attitude toward contemporary music.