Comedian Lewis leaves hospital

Comedian Jerry Lewis, looking more like his old self after shedding 50 pounds gained from steroid treatments, has returned home from a three-month hospital stay, a spokeswoman says.

Lewis, 77, had checked into the rehabilitation center of an undisclosed Las Vegas hospital in mid-October to undergo a managed withdrawal from prednisone, which he had been taking for the chronic lung ailment pulmonary fibrosis.

He was discharged from the facility on Jan. 16 and plans to make a return engagement March 3 at Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where he had been a regular performer before his health worsened nearly three years ago, said publicist Candi Cazau.

Lewis’ weight had ballooned to as much as 242 pounds as a side effect of the steroid, which he began taking in 2001.