Richard Lewis, one of America’s most beloved and revered stand-up comics who also played a fictionalized version of himself on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, died Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack. He was 76.
His death was confirmed by his publicist Jeff Abraham. Lewis had been living with Parkinson’sdisease, a diagnosis he revealed in April 2023.
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“His wife, Joyce Lapinsky, thanks everyone for all the love, friendship and support and asks for privacy at this time,” Abraham said.
Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
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Born Richard Philip Lewis on June 29, 1947, in Brooklyn and raised in Englewood, NJ, Lewis — after a childhood he would describe as difficult — graduated from Ohio State University before landing in the New York and Los Angeles comedy scenes of the 1970s. There, he took his place along such soon-to-be-stars as Andy Kaufman, Richard Belzer and Elayne Boosler, and quickly became a favorite of late-night shows including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
He soon developed a singular stage persona nearly as dark as the all-black clothes he favored. His stand-up performances could best be described as straddling comedy and therapy. Lewis’ website prominently features a quote from comedy great Mel Brooks: “Richard Lewis may just be the Franz Kafka of modern-day comedy.”
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Self-deprecating, razor-sharp and brutally honest about his addictions and neuroses, Lewis was the rare comic who could rival the curmudgeonly but highly relatable outlook on life honed by his longtime pal and Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Larry David.
Making his acting debut in the 1979 NBC special Diary of a Young Comic, a 90-minute film that aired in the Saturday Night Live slot, Lewis’ national profile grew significantly during the next two decades as his edgy observations were welcomed and celebrated by talk hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno and, on radio, Howard Stern.
TV comedy specials followed, his first Showtime special, pointedly titled I’m In Pain, aired in 1985. He became one of the premier presences on HBO with comedy specials in 1988, 1990 and 1997.
Although his humor was hardly an easy fit for sitcoms of the era, he co-starred for several seasons in the late ’80s/early ’90s with Jamie Lee Curtis on Anything but Love and with Don Rickles on 1993’s Daddy Dearest. In 1998 he co-starred with Kevin Nealon in the sitcom Hiller and Diller.
Film credits included 1993’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights, in which he played Prince John, and 1995’s Drunks. He also appeared that year in Leaving Las Vegas.
Lewis began what arguably would be his signature role — based, fittingly enough, on himself — in 2000 when he was cast by his childhood friend Larry David on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. The two New Yorkers had met at summer camp when they were 12 and re-established their friendship on the New York comedy circuit a decade later.
In a statement Wednesday, HBO said: “We are heartbroken to learn that Richard Lewis has passed away. His comedic brilliance, wit and talent were unmatched. Richard will always be a cherished member of the HBO and Curb Your Enthusiasm families, our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, friends and all the fans who could count on Richard to brighten their days with laughter.”
Although he largely retired from performing following his Parkinson’s diagnosis, he returned to Curb periodically, most recently during the show’s current (and final) season.
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In addition to his many years of playing the nation’s comedy clubs — he titled his seemingly never-ending jaunt the Tracks of My Fears Tour — Lewis wrote two memoirs: The Other Great Depression (2000) and, with co-author Carl Nicholas Titolo, Reflections From Hell: Richard Lewis’ Guide on How Not to Live (2015).
He released a two-DVD box set titled A Bundle of Nerves that documented his career over the span of 40 years and a DVD box set called Concerts from Hell that collected three of his early HBO and Showtime specials.
Lewis’ comedy was unremittingly confessional and probing, touching on a lifelong struggle with anxiety and a hard-won sobriety after decades of alcoholism and drug addiction. He embraced, with both humor and self-awareness, a nickname that came early in his career: The Prince of Pain.
