Richard Lewis (comedian)
 |
| Richard Lewis | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Richard Philip Lewis |
| Born | June 29, 1947 Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States |
| Medium | stand-up, television, film |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1971 - present |
| Genres | Black comedy, Surreal humor |
| Subject(s) | self-deprecation, neuroticism, psychotherapy, hypochondria, paranoia, depression, human sexuality, Jewish culture, pop culture, family |
| Spouse | Joyce Lapinsky (January 2005 - present) |
| Notable works and roles | Marty Gold in Anything But Love Himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm |
| Website | richardlewisonline.com |
Richard Philip Lewis (born June 29 1947) is an American comedian and actor.
Biography
Early life
Lewis was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Ashkenazi Jewish family and was raised in Englewood, New Jersey, the son of Blanche, an actress, and William Lewis, a caterer.[2] He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School and received a degree from Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. As a teenager, Lewis appeared on the Candid Camera television show.
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 (no longer exists) 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 has starred in the ABC sitcom Anything But Love which ran for four seasons. He co-starred with Don Rickles on the short-lived Daddy Dearest. He had a recurring role on Showtime series Rude Awakening and as a rabbi on the dramatic series 7th Heaven. Lewis has written comic articles for magazines such as Playboy, and endorsed the popular early-1990s beverage, Boku, as well as Snapple.
He currently has a frequent recurring role as himself on Larry David's critically acclaimed Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. Lewis and David met at summer camp in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York when they were twelve.
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!. He had the lead role of Jimmy Epstein in the dramatic film Drunks and appeared in Leaving Las Vegas. He made his acting debut in the 1977 TV movie mockumentary Diary of a Young Comic.
Miscellaneous
| This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (January 2009) |
Lewis claims to be the originator of the expression "the ______ from hell" as in "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' use of it.[3] However, the Yale Book of Quotations does attribute the phrase to Lewis.[4][5]
On January 9, 2001, Lewis visited the Howard Stern Show to promote his book The Other Great Depression, which described his recovery from alcoholism.
Although born into a Jewish family, he commonly refers to himself as a Spiritual Agnostic[6]
References
- ^ Interview with Bill Zehme, Richard Lewis: Concerts from Hell: The Vintage Years, Image Entertainment, Released 2005-09-13
- ^ Richard Lewis Biography (1947?-)
- ^ Flamm, Matthew. Between the Lines. 60 Minutes. 11-01-2002. Retrieved on December 28, 2006
- ^ Yale Press Log: Yale Gives Richard Lewis Hell, 2006-10-11. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ Zwicky, Arnold. Language Log: Yet Another Snowclone Omnibus, 2007-08-11. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUczh4rZoPs Richard Lewis refers to himself as a "Spiritual Agnostic" on Countdown
External links
- Articles needing cleanup from January 2009
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from January 2009
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from January 2009
- Articles with trivia sections from January 2009
- 1947 births
- American comedians
- American film actors
- American Jews
- American stand-up comedians
- American television actors
- Jewish actors
- Jewish comedians
- Living people
- Ohio State University alumni
- People from Brooklyn
- People from Englewood, New Jersey