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Richard Lewis RIP


Gil Bang

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I started to watch Curb for the first time a few months ago. Was shocked at how old he looked. Then to go back and see the aging from earlier seasons was rough. Fuck time, you scary.

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Occasionally, Lewis will need to take a break from staring at his own dysfunctions and addictions to bury himself in the phobias and pain of others—writer Richard Yates, for instance, whose new collection of short stories Lewis keeps beside him. “He’s very dark, an alcoholic,” he says of the dead author, whose writings are thick with gloom. Or maybe Lewis will pop into his portable CD player a disc by the late confessional folkie Tim Hardin, who wrote so viscerally of his anguish you could taste blood and tears on every track. “Heartbreaking shit.” The comedian offers his highest praise.

By the way, Richard Lewis swears he’s never been happier.

 

Long cat interview with Wilonsky from 2001

https://www.thepitchkc.com/hope-sinks/

 

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Richard Lewis, a stand-up comedian who first achieved fame in the 1980s with his trademark acerbic, dark sense of humor, and who later parlayed that quality into an acting career that included movies like “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and a recurring role as himself on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 76.

His publicist, Jeff Abraham, said the cause was a heart attack. Mr. Lewis announced last year that he had Parkinson’s disease.

Mr. Lewis was among the best-known names in a generation of comedians who came of age during the 1970s and ’80s, marked by a world-weary, sarcastic wit that mapped well onto the urban malaise in which many of them plied their trade.

He became a regular on late-night talk shows, favored as much for his tight act as for his casual, open affability as an interviewee. And he was at the forefront of the boom in stand-up comedy that came with the expansion of cable television in the late 1980s.

Mr. Lewis later moved into acting. He starred on the sitcom “Anything but Love,” opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, from 1989 to 1992. Beginning in 1999, he had a regular, semi-fictionalized role on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” playing a good friend and golf buddy of Larry David, the show’s star and creator.

He did not appear in every episode, but he appeared regularly, including in the current season, the show’s last.

A full obituary will appear soon.

From the NYT

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A bit before my time. I remember thinking he was the coolest guy on the planet for being on the cover of Penthouse. 
 

I didn’t love Men in Tights, but Lewis was a bright spot. I didn’t really follow his career until I started watching Curb. He was terrific playing off of Larry. Their lunches were always hilarious. 
 

He didn’t look good in the latest golf episode of Curb. I don’t think they filmed any scenes with him standing. That was a red flag for me. Parkinson’s is an awful disease. RIP Richard Lewis. 

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2 hours ago, mdmost said:

It wasn't the best Mel Brooks movie but I always enjoyed Richard Lewis in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. 

It's a good change. It's a GOOD change. 

RIP

I have a MOLE?

RIP

Edited by Rimbo
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6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Been a long time since I saw him in it, but he was great as Belzer in Homicide: Life on the Streets. 

RIP. 

i think you have your Richards/character names confused... Richard Belzer was in Homicide. and L&O. and was also a comedian. and also died recently (well, one year ago).

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3 hours ago, mchookem said:

i think you have your Richards/character names confused... Richard Belzer was in Homicide. and L&O. and was also a comedian. and also died recently (well, one year ago).

Oh shit, you are right. I have a bad cold or the flu or something so not thinking straight, geez.  Also longish dark hair. 

Edited by TwiceHorn
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