LOS ANGELES, US - COMEDIAN Jerry Lewis was detained by police in Las Vegas late last week when airport screeners found an unloaded gun in his baggage, authorities said on Tuesday.

Lewis, 82, had a small .22-calibre handgun when he arrived at the security screening area on Friday at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, said Officer Ramon Denby, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The comedian was briefly detained and the gun was seized.

Lewis was cited for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, Mr Denby said.

Lewis, half of a wildly successful comedic duo with singer Dean Martin in the 1950s, was travelling to Mount Pleasant, Michigan, to perform a one-man show, a source close to the comedian said.

A spokesman for Lewis, the star of the 1963 movie The Nutty Professor and the 1982 movie The King of Comedy, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The weapon was registered to Lewis and he will need to attend a court hearing to get it back, Mr Denby said.

Since 1966, Lewis has hosted an annual telethon to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Last year, the telethon raised US$63.8 million (S$87.2 million). -- REUTERS