https://deadline.com/2024/02/richard-lewis-dead-1235841064/
Richard Lewis Dies: Beloved Comic, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Actor Was 76
By Greg Evans

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 last 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’s disease, a diagnosis he revealed in April,
2023.

“His wife, Joyce Lapinsky, thanks everyone for all the love,
friendship and support and asks for privacy at this time,” Abraham
said.

Lewis, who got his start in the New York and Los Angeles comedy scenes
of the 1970s along with comics such as Andy Kaufman, Richard Belzer
and Elayne Boosler and quickly became a favorite of late night shows
including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, developed a
singular stage persona nearly as dark as the all-black clothes he
favored.

Self-deprecating, razor-sharp and brutally honest about his addictions
and neurosis, 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.

The late Lewis's stand-up routine established him as absolutely the most entertaining Jewish funnyman since Rodney Dangerfield. Actually, in my view, considerably MORE witty, and thus even funnier!

Plus, Lewis was a extremely deft (i.e., subtle) comic actor, to boot, in the mere handful of films in which he was cast.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

I enjoyed Richard Lewis, playing opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1989-1992 sitcom "Anything But Love".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anything_but_Love

In article <812ad9b124cc81be0e81d192f921e45e@www.novabbs.com>,
Jason <jsnsmith565@gmail.com> wrote:
>I enjoyed Richard Lewis, playing opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1989-1992
>sitcom "Anything But Love".
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anything_but_Love

Yes. That was an absolutely great show. Glad you mentioned it.

I was surprised/disappointed that the obit did not mention it.

--
Watching ConservaLoons playing with statistics and facts is like watching a
newborn play with a computer. Endlessly amusing, but totally unproductive.

In the previous article, Bryan_Styble <radioactiveseattle@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> The late Lewis's stand-up routine established him as absolutely the
> most entertaining Jewish funnyman since Rodney Dangerfield.
> Actually, in my view, considerably MORE witty, and thus even
> funnier!

Definitely more sophisticated than Dangerfield, and his comic
instincts were just as sharp.

Whenever I used to see Richard Jeni, he struck me (for some reason) as
a "Jewish comic." If he were, I'd say he is a counter-example to your
claim about Lewis. But Jeni was Italian-Catholic. Clearly influenced
heavily by Jewish comics, but not of that tradition per se.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / baldwin@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
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