Richard Lewis (comedian)

Richard Philip Lewis (June 29, 1947 – February 27, 2024) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer.

Lewis was born on June 29, 1947, in Brooklyn.

He was raised in Englewood, New Jersey.

He was born into a Jewish family, but was not especially religious.

His father's catering business kept him very busy, and his siblings had both left home by the 1960s, leaving Lewis at home alone with his mother, with whom there was friction.

He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1965 and attended Ohio State University where he attained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Marketing four years later in 1969.

He was the recipient of the Fisher College of Business Alumni Achievement Award in November 2023.

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.

His father, Bill (d. 1971), was co-owner of Ambassador Caterers in nearby Teaneck, New Jersey, and his mother, Blanche, was an actress in community theatre.

Lewis was the youngest of three siblings – his sister was older by 9 years, and his brother by 6.

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.

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 came to prominence in the 1980s and became known for his dark, neurotic, and self-deprecating humor.

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.

As an actor, he was known for starring in the ABC sitcom Anything but Love from 1989 to 1992, and for playing the role of Prince John in the 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

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.

Lewis also had a recurring role as a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2000 to 2024.

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.

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.

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 told The Washington Post in 2014 that he suspected that his birth had been a mistake.

Lewis was known for being the class clown and causing trouble in school.