Richard Lewis, the pioneering comedian known for mining the depths of his neuroses in his stand-up and for his recurring role as a fictionalized version of himself on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, died of a heart attack in his Los Angeles home on February 27, Vulture has confirmed. He was 76.
Born in Brooklyn in 1947, Lewis began his career as a stand-up comedian in the 1970s and quickly gained a reputation as a comedian who pushed the boundaries of the form by talking openly about his struggles with mental health and addiction onstage. He made his first appearance as an actor in the 1979 made-for-TV NBC movie Diary of a Young Comic and became a fixture on the late-night talk-show circuit in the 1980s and 1990s, appearing frequently on The Tonight Show and Late Night With David Letterman. Lewis released four acclaimed stand-up specials: Showtime’s I’m in Pain (1985) and I’m Exhausted (1988), I’m Doomed (1990), and The Magical Misery Tour (1997) all on HBO. His accomplished acting career was headlined by his appearance as Prince John in 1993’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights, his starring role in the sitcom Anything But Love alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, and, of course, his scene-stealing appearances on Curb, which is currently airing its 12th and final season on HBO.
In April 2023, Lewis posted an update on social media in which he announced that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and that, in 2019, he’d retired from stand-up after almost 50 years to focus on his health, writing, and acting. That same year, he launched a podcast titled Richard Lewis: Alive and Unwell, the last episode of which was posted in December 2023 and featured a guided tour of his home. Lewis is survived by his remarkable body of work and his wife, Joyce Lapinsky.
This post has been updated.