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.
Making his acting debut in the 1979 NBC special Diary of a Young Comic, a 90 minute film aired in the Saturday Night Live slot, Lewis’ national profile grew significantly over the next two decades as his edgy observations were welcomed and celebrated by talk hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno and, on radio, Howard Stern.
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