Acerbic Comedian and Character Actor Richard Lewis Passes Away at 76
He became well-known for his stand-up routine and started appearing frequently in TV shows and films, most recently “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
The stand-up comedian Richard Lewis passed away on Tuesday at his Los Angeles home. He rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s with his trademark dark and acerbic sense of humor, which he later used to launch an acting career that spanned films such as “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and an HBO recurring role as himself. He was seventy-six.
According to his spokesman Jeff Abraham, a heart attack was the reason. Mr. Lewis disclosed his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis last year.
Mr. Lewis was one of the most well-known figures of a generation of comedians that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, characterized by a sardonic, world-weary humor that resonated strongly with the urban misery in which many of them worked.
He started appearing on late-night talk shows after becoming successful as a comedian in New York nightclubs. He was liked for both his tight routine and his easygoing, approachable demeanor when doing interviews. He made 48 appearances on “Late Night With David Letterman.”
Additionally, he led the surge in stand-up comedy that coincided with cable television’s growth in the late 1980s.
Mr. Lewis was a neurotic and self-deprecating man who usually wore all black. He would pace the stages of comedy clubs while drooping his head and tugging at his shock of black hair and riffing on his problems with love and life in general. Both he and his hordes of admirers referred to themselves as the “Prince of Pain.”
His several 1980s comedy specials include names like “I’m in pain,” “I’m exhausted,” and “I’m doomed,” which pretty much sum it all up.
He based part of his anecdotal material on the notion of the devilish rendition of a common person the doctor from hell, the waiter from hell. He was recognized in 2006 with an entry for “the _ from hell” that was attributed to him in The Yale Book of Quotations.
His painting was a natural gift to him; he didn’t pretend to be unhappy. It also resulted from his keen observation of the mundane yet anxiety-inducing things of life.
He admitted to being a crazy person and being completely engrossed in the show to The New York Observer in 2007. “My experience on stage has just wired me so much that my head is racing with pictures. It’s thrilling as well as terrifying. I will always operate in this manner.
It wasn’t an act, though. Mr. Lewis’s willingness to examine his personal scars, pulling from his terrible upbringing, unhappy romantic life, and many episodes of glaring self-doubt, was a contributing factor in his popularity.