The actor and writer Bob Einstein who played Larry David’s old friend Marty Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm is dead at 76, according to Deadline. He had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Einstein had a long career in Hollywood, starting primarily as a writer on variety shows like The Sonny and Cher Show, Van Dyke and Company, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (he earned Emmys for work on the latter two shows). Einstein went on to create the character of Super Dave Osborne, an addled but enthusiastic stuntman he first played on The John Byner Comedy Hour and brought to numerous variety shows before starring in Super Dave from 1987 to 1991 on Showtime and returning to the character in 2009 on Spike’s Super Dave’s Spike Tacular. More recently, Einstein took memorable roles on Arrested Development, playing George Sr.’s surrogate Larry Middleman, and Curb, where he played Marty in more than 20 episodes, and returned for the recent revival. Einstein’s brother Albert Brooks shared a brief tribute to him on Twitter, writing “R.I.P. My dear brother Bob Einstein. A great brother, father and husband. A brilliantly funny man. You will be missed forever.â€