{"id":406309,"date":"2024-03-01T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=406309"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Humorously-morose-comedian-Richard-Lewis-dies-at-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Humorously-morose-comedian-Richard-Lewis-dies-at-76\/","title":{"rendered":"Humorously morose comedian Richard Lewis dies at 76"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK<\/strong> (AP)\u2014Richard Lewis, an acclaimed comedian known for exploring his neuroses in frantic, stream-of-consciousness diatribes while dressed in all-black, leading to his nickname \u201cThe Prince of Pain,\u201d has died. He was 76.<\/p>\n

Lewis, who revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease in 2023, died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday night after suffering a heart attack, according to his publicist Jeff Abraham.<\/p>\n

A regular performer in clubs and on late-night TV for decades, Lewis also played Marty Gold, the romantic co-lead opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, in the ABC series \u201cAnything But Love\u201d and the reliably neurotic Prince John in \u201cMel Brooks\u2019 Robin Hood: Men In Tights.\u201d He re-introduced himself to a new generation opposite Larry David in HBO\u2019s \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm,\u201d kvetching regularly.<\/p>\n

\u201cRichard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he\u2019s been like a brother to me,\u201d David said in a statement. \u201cHe had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I\u2019ll never forgive him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comedy Central named Lewis one of the top 50 stand-up comedians of all time and he earned a berth in GQ magazine\u2019s list of the \u201c20th Century\u2019s Most Influential Humorists.\u201d He lent his humor for charity causes, including Comic Relief and Comedy Gives Back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching his stand-up is like sitting in on a very funny and often dark therapy session,\u201d the Los Angeles Times said in 2014. The Philadelphia\u2019s City Paper called him \u201cthe Jimi Hendrix of monologists.\u201d Mel Brooks once said he \u201cmay just be the Franz Kafka of modern-day comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comedians took to social media Wednesday to share their thoughts, including Albert Books who called Lewis \u201ca brilliantly funny man who will missed by all. The world needed him now more than ever\u201d on X, formerly Twitter. Other tributes came from Bette Midler, Michael McKean and Paul Feig, who called Lewis \u201cone of the funniest people on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his graduation from The Ohio State University in 1969, the New York-born Lewis began a stand-up career, honing his craft on the circuit with other contemporaries also just starting out like Jay Leno, Freddie Prinze and Billy Crystal.<\/p>\n

He recalled Rodney Dangerfield hiring him for $75 to fill in at his New York club, Dangerfield\u2019s. \u201cI had a lot of great friends early on who believed in me, and I met pretty iconic people who really helped me, told me to keep working on my material. And I never looked back,\u201d he told The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m paranoid about everything in my life. Even at home. On my stationary bike, I have a rear-view mirror, which I\u2019m not thrilled about,\u201d he once joked onstage. To Jimmy Kimmel he said: \u201cThis morning, I tried to go to bed. I couldn\u2019t sleep. I counted sheep but I only had six of them and they all had hip replacements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike contemporary Robin Williams, Lewis allowed audiences into his world and melancholy, pouring his torment and pain onto the stage. Fans favorably compared him to the ground-breaking comedian Lenny Bruce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take great pains not to be mean-spirited,\u201d Lewis told The Palm Beach Post in 2007. \u201cI don\u2019t like to take real handicaps that people have to overcome with no hope in sight. I steer clear of that. That\u2019s not funny to me. Tragedy is funny to other humorists, but it\u2019s not to me, unless you can make a point that\u2019s helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singer Billy Joel has said he was referring to Lewis when he sang in \u201cMy Life\u201d of an old friend who \u201cbought a ticket to the West Coast\/Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1989 at Carnegie Hall, he appeared with six feet of yellow legal sheets filled with material and taped together for a 2\u00bd-hour set that led to two standing ovations. The night was \u201cthe highlight of my career,\u201d he told The Washington Post in 2020.<\/p>\n

Lewis told GQ his signature look came incidentally, saying his obsession with dressing in black came from watching the television Western \u201cHave Gun \u2013 Will Travel,\u201d with a cowboy in all-black, when he was a kid. He also popularized the term \u201cfrom hell\u201d\u2014as in \u201cthe date from hell\u201d or \u201cthe job from hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat just came out of my brain one day and I kept repeating it a lot for some reason. Same thing with the black clothes. I just felt really comfortable from the early \u201880s on and I never wore anything else. I never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n

After getting sober from drugs and alcohol in 1994, Lewis put out his 2008 memoir, \u201cThe Other Great Depression\u201d\u2014a collection of fearless, essay style riffs on his life\u2014and \u201cReflections from Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis was the youngest of three siblings\u2014his brother was older than him by six years, and his sister by nine. His father died young and his mother had emotional problems. \u201cShe didn\u2019t get me at all. I owe my career to my mother. I should have given her my agent\u2019s commission,\u201d he told The Washington Post in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back on it now, as a full-blown, middle-aged, functioning anxiety collector, I can admit without cringing that my parents had their fair share of tremendous qualities, yet, being human much of the day, had more than just a handful of flaws as well,\u201d he wrote in his memoir.<\/p>\n

Lewis quickly found a new family performing at New York\u2019s Improv. \u201cI was 23, and all sorts of people were coming in and out and watching me, like Steve Allen and Bette Midler. David Brenner certainly took me under his wing. To drive home to my little dump in New Jersey often knowing that Steve Allen said, \u2018You got it,\u2019 that validation kept me going in a big, big way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had a cameo in \u201cLeaving Las Vegas,\u201d which led to his first major dramatic role as Jimmy Epstein, an addict fighting for his life in the indie film, \u201cDrunks.\u201d He played Don Rickles\u2019 son on one season of \u201cDaddy Dearest\u201d and a rabbi on \u201c7th Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis\u2019 recurring role on \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm\u201d can be credited directly to his friendship with fellow comedian, producer and series star Larry David. Both native Brooklynites\u2014born in the same Brooklyn hospital\u2014they first met and became friends as rivals while attending the same summer camp at age 13. He was cast from the beginning, bickering with David on unpaid bills and common courtesies.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his wife, Joyce Lapinsky.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Richard Lewis\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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