Richard Lewis

I was way more comfortable in front of strangers than I was in front of relatives. So when they would laugh at my dysfunctions or my anxiety, I felt less alone, and I still do it for the same reason.

-Richard Lewis

Richard Philip Lewis

June 29, 1947 – February 27, 2024

Richard Lewis first tried stand-up at an open-mic in Greenwich Village in 1971.He began writing and regularly performing stand-up comedy in 1972, while working as a copywriter for an advertising agency by day. He was discovered by comedian David Brenner while performing in Greenwich Village. Brenner helped Lewis's career by introducing him to the comedy clubs in Los Angeles and getting Lewis his first appearance on The Tonight Show. By the mid-1970s, Lewis had appeared on The  Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and publications, such as the New York Daily News and New York Magazine, were naming him one of the "new breed" or "class" of comedians; this list containing names such as Robert Klein, Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Andy Kaufman,  Richard Belzer, and Elayne Boosler. His influences were Richard Pryor, Buster Keaton, Woody Allen, and Lenny Bruce.

Lewis was known for dark comedy, self-deprecation, and for frank discussions regarding his many neuroses, as well as his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction. He was noted for wearing all-black attire and for pacing and gesticulating wildly during his stand-up act. In his early days, he was also known for bringing taped-together sheets from a legal pad to his performances; he would lay them across the floor in front of him to remind him of joke premises and topics he wished to cover during his performance.

Lewis made his screen acting debut in Diary of a Young Comic, a 90-minute film that aired on NBC in 1979 in the timeslot normally reserved for episodes of Saturday Night Live. A satirical look at the Hollywood scene, Lewis stars in the film as Billy Gondola (born Gondolstein), a young Jewish comedian who leaves New York City to find fame in Los Angeles. The film's script was co-written by Lewis and Bennett Tramer, and was adapted from a story written by Gary Weis, who also served as the film's director. The film features Bill Macy as Billy's father, Michael Lerner as his agent, and Stacy Keach as a landlord. Performers George Jessel, Dom DeLuise, Nina van Pallandt, and Gary Mule Deer make appearances in the film as themselves.

Lewis gained much wider exposure in the 1980s and 1990s with numerous appearances on talk shows such as The Tonight Show, both Late Night and the Late Show with David Letterman, and The Howard Stern Show. He also produced the comedy special I'm in Pain, which aired on Showtime in 1985, followed by the specials I'm Exhausted, I'm Doomed, and Richard Lewis: The Magical Misery Tour, all of which aired on HBO in 1988, 1990, and 1997 respectively. From 1989 to 1992, he co-starred with Jamie Lee Curtis on the sitcom Anything but Love. He also starred on the short-lived sitcoms Daddy Dearest with Don Rickles in 1993, and Hiller and Diller with Kevin Nealon in 1998. He played Prince John in the 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and starred as a struggling alcoholic and drug addict in the 1995 drama film Drunks. The latter film featured performances from Faye Dunaway, George Martin, Parker Posey, Howard Rollins, Spalding Gray, and Dianne Wiest, and was based on Gary Lennon's play Blackout. Lewis also appeared in the 1995 drama film Leaving Las Vegas, and the 1997 romantic comedy Hugo Pool.

Into the 2000s, Lewis had recurring roles as a B movie producer on the sitcom Rude Awakening, and as Rabbi Richard Glass on the family drama series 7th Heaven. He also had a recurring role on the sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm as a semi-autobiographical version of himself. Lewis first met the show's star and creator, Larry David, at summer camp in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, when they were 12 years old – the former claimed that at the time, they hated each other. The two comedians also happened to be born three days apart in the same hospital. The pair met again over a decade later while performing stand-up in New York and became friends.

GQ magazine included Lewis on their list of "The 20th Century's Most Influential Humorists", and Lewis was ranked No. 45 on Comedy Central's list of "100 Greatest Standups of All Time" released in 2004.

In 2006, The Yale Book of Quotations included an entry for the expression "the ______ from hell" (as in "the night from hell", "the date from hell". etc.,) that was attributed to Lewis. Lewis also petitioned the editors of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations to include the idiom, which was also worked into the plot of Curb Your Enthusiasm during the episode "The Nanny from Hell." His lawyer sent some video tapes to Bartlett's general editor Justin Kaplan showing Lewis using the phrase. Bartlett's declined, stating that the expression had predated Lewis's first taped broadcast. In response, Lewis told Entertainment Weekly that he traces popular usage of the line back to his early days on David Letterman's show.

Lewis met Joyce Lapinsky in 1998 at a Ringo Starr album release party, while Lapinsky was working in music publishing. The pair were engaged in 2004 and married the following year.

Discussions of Lewis's battles with anxiety and depression, and his multiple therapy sessions, were a fixture of his comedy. He also stated in interviews that he suffered from an eating disorder due to body dysmorphia.

Lewis was open about his recovery from alcohol and drug abuse, having been a user of both cocaine and crystal meth. His addictions worsened into the 1990s, prompting Lewis to stop performing stand-up from 1991 to 1994. In a 1995 interview with the Santa Maria Times, Lewis discussed how John Candy's death the year prior had caused him to reflect upon his own life and career. The two starred together in Candy's last film, the Western-themed comedy film Wagons East. In later interviews, Lewis stated that he got sober in 1994 after winding up in a hospital emergency room due to a cocaine overdose.

Lewis published his memoir in 2000, titled The Other Great Depression. The book was reissued in 2008 with an added afterword where Lewis reflected further on his continued struggles with addiction. In 2015, he released the book Reflections From Hell: Richard Lewis' Guide on How Not to Live; it contains his commentary and observations in the form of one-liners and other comedic premises, interspersed with images created by artist Carl Nicholas Titolo.

Good Night Richard.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me.
It helped. 

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa