Richard Lewis (comedian)

Richard Lewis
Lewis in 2013
Birth name	Richard Philip Lewis
Born	(1947-06-29) June 29, 1947 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1977–present
Genres	Black comedy, surreal humor
Subject(s)	Self-deprecation, neuroticism, psychotherapy, hypochondria, paranoia, depression, human sexuality, Jewish culture, pop culture, family, eating disorders
Spouse	Joyce Lapinsky (January 2005 – present)
Notable works and roles	Marty Gold in Anything but Love Himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm

Richard Philip Lewis (born June 29, 1947) is an American stand-up comedian and actor.

He came to prominence in the 1980s as a comedian specializing in self-deprecating humor before turning to acting. He is known for co-starring in the comedy series Anything but Love (1989-92) and for his recurring and semi-autobiographical role in Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-present).

Early life

Lewis was born in Brooklyn, New York and was raised in Englewood, New Jersey. His father worked as a caterer and his mother was an actress. Lewis is Jewish.^[1][2] He later attended Ohio State University.

Career

Lewis began performing stand-up comedy in the 1970s. He worked as a copywriter for an ad agency by day, while honing his stand-up act at night. The ad agency was named Contemporary Graphics (now defunct) and was located above Lovey's pizzeria in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Lewis gained popularity in the 1980s with numerous appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and his own television specials on HBO. He co-starred with Jamie Lee Curtis on Anything but Love, which ran for four seasons, and with Don Rickles on Daddy Dearest. He had a recurring role in Rude Awakening, as Rabbi Richard Glass in 7th Heaven, and appeared in the Tales from the Crypt episode "Whirlpool." Lewis has written comic articles for magazines such as Playboy, and endorsed the popular early-1990s beverage Boku, as well as Snapple and Certs breath mints. In 2007, he made a cameo appearance as Phillip in George Lopez. Recently, he also made cameos in Everybody Hates Chris as an old man in the hospital bed next to Chris Rock and as Charlie Sheen's accountant in Two and a Half Men.

Lewis has also achieved moderate success in films, appearing as Prince John in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, as a frontier doctor in Wagons East!, as an unemployed actor in Once Upon A Crime and as himself in The Wrong Guys. He played the lead role of Jimmy Epstein in Drunks and in Game Day. Lewis also appeared in the dramatic pictures Leaving Las Vegas, Hugo Pool, and The Maze. He made his acting debut in Diary of a Young Comic.

On January 9, 2001, Lewis visited The Howard Stern Show to promote his book The Other Great Depression, which described his recovery from alcoholism. Lewis has been sober since August 4, 1994.

He had a frequent recurring role as a character based on himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David and Lewis met at summer camp in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York when they were 13.^[3]

He is #45 on Comedy Central's list of "100 Greatest Standups of All Time."^[4]

"The ______ from hell"

Lewis claims to be the originator of the phrase "The ______ from hell" as in "the night from hell", "the date from hell" or "the roommate from hell". This theory is expounded in the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "The Nanny from Hell." Lewis has petitioned the editors of Bartlett's to be given credit for the coinage, but the editors claim that the phrase was a common idiom prior to Lewis's use of it.^[5] For example, during World War I, kilted Scottish soldiers were given the nickname "The Ladies from Hell" (translation of German "Die Damen aus der Hölle") by German troops. However, the Yale Book of Quotations does attribute the phrase to Lewis.^[6][7]

Fashion style

Lewis is noted for always wearing an all-black outfit.^[8]

Filmography

References

External links

• Official site
• Richard Lewis on IMDb
• Richard Lewis Naked DVD Documentary
• Richard Lewis appearance at 92nd St. Y