Richard Lewis (comedian)
This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (May 2016) |
Richard Lewis | |
---|---|
Birth name | Richard Philip Lewis |
Born | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | June 29, 1947
Medium | Stand-up, television, film |
Years active | 1977–present |
Genres | Dark comedy, surreal humor |
Subject(s) | Self-deprecation, neuroticism, psychotherapy, hypochondria, paranoia, depression, human sexuality, Jewish culture, pop culture, family, eating disorders |
Spouse | Joyce Lapinsky (m. 2005) |
Notable works and roles | Marty Gold in Anything but Love Himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm |
Richard Philip Lewis (born June 29, 1947) is an American stand-up comedian and actor.
He came to prominence in the 1980s as a comedian specializing in self-deprecating humor before turning to acting. He is also known for co-starring in the comedy series Anything but Love (1989–1992) and for his recurring and semi-autobiographical role in HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–present).
Early life[]
Richard Lewis was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, where he graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1965.[1] His father worked as a caterer and his mother was an actress. The Lewises are Jewish[2] but not especially religious.[3] Lewis recalls teachers sometimes reacted badly to his antics as a class clown.[3]
Lewis attended Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Eta chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
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 (now defunct) and was 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 is noted for always wearing an all-black outfit.[4]
Lewis made his screen acting debut in Diary of a Young Comic. He co-starred with Jamie Lee Curtis on the TV sitcom Anything but Love, which ran for four seasons, and with Don Rickles on Daddy Dearest. Lewis had a recurring role on Rude Awakening and as Rabbi Richard Glass on 7th Heaven. He appears in the Tales from the Crypt episode "Whirlpool". In 2007, he made a cameo appearance as Phillip on George Lopez. He also made cameos on Everybody Hates Chris as an old man in the hospital bed next to Chris Rock and as Charlie Sheen's accountant on Two and a Half Men.
Lewis has written comic articles for magazines such as Playboy and endorsed the popular early-1990s beverage Boku, as well as Snapple and Certs breath mints.
Lewis has achieved moderate success in films, appearing as Prince John in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, as a frontier doctor in Wagons East, as an unemployed actor in Once Upon A Crime and as himself in The Wrong Guys. He plays the lead role of Jimmy Epstein in Drunks and in . Most of his performances are in comedy, but Lewis also appears in the dramatic films Leaving Las Vegas, Hugo Pool, and .
On January 9, 2001, Lewis did The Howard Stern Show to promote his book The Other Great Depression, about his recovery from alcoholism. He has been sober since August 4, 1994.
Lewis has a recurring role as a character based on himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David and Lewis met at summer camp in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York when they were 13.[5]
Lewis was ranked #45 on Comedy Central's list of "100 Greatest Standups of All Time".[6]
Lewis claims to be the originator of the phrase 'the ______ from hell' as in 'the night from hell', '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 Familiar Quotations for credit for the coinage, but the editors claim the phrase was a common idiom before Lewis used it.[7] (For example, during World War I, German troops nicknamed kilted Scottish soldiers "Ladies from Hell" (Damen aus der Hölle), and John Russell Fearn's short story "The Man from Hell" was published in Fantastic Adventures in 1939.) However, The Yale Book of Quotations attributes the phrase to Lewis.[8][9]
Filmography[]
Film[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | The Wrong Guys | Himself | |
1989 | That's Adequate | Pimples Lapedes | |
1992 | Once Upon a Crime | Julian Peters | |
1993 | Robin Hood: Men in Tights | Prince John | |
1994 | Wagons East | Phil Taylor | |
1995 | Drunks | Jim | |
Leaving Las Vegas | Peter | ||
1996 | The Elevator | Phil Milowski | |
1997 | Hugo Pool | Chick Chicalini | |
The Maze | Markov | ||
1999 | Game Day | Steve Adler | |
2005 | Sledge: The Untold Story | Himself | Mockumentary |
2012 | Vamps | Danny Horowitz | |
2014 | She's Funny That Way | Al Patterson | |
2017 | Sandy Wexler | Testimonial | |
2018 | The Great Buster | Himself | Documentary |
Television[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1974–92 | The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson | Himself – Guest | 22 episodes |
1977 | Diary of a Young Comic | Billy Goldstein | Television movie |
1980 | House Calls | Dr. Leon Prometheus | Episode: "The Phantom of Kensington" |
1982–93 | Late Night with David Letterman | Himself – Guest | 44 episodes |
1985 | Temporary Insanity | Performer | Television movie |
1986 | Riptide | Andrew Fitzsimmons Carlton III | Episode: "The Wedding Bell Blues" |
1987 | Harry | Richard Breskin | 7 episodes |
CBS Summer Playhouse | Joey | Episode: "King of the Building" | |
1988 | Tattingers | Longo | Episode : "Death and Taxis" |
1989–92 | Anything But Love | Marty Gold | 56 episodes |
1992 | The Danger of Love | Edward Sanders | Television movie |
1993 | Daddy Dearest | Steven Mitchell | 13 episodes |
TriBeCa | Joseph | Episode: "Stepping Back" | |
The Larry Sanders Show | Himself | Episode: "Life Behind Larry" | |
1993–2008 | Late Show with David Letterman | Himself – Guest | 9 episodes |
1994 | Tales from the Crypt | Vern | Episode: "Whirlpool" |
1995–2008 | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Himself – Guest | 12 episodes |
1995 | A.J.'s Time Travelers | Edgar Allan Poe | Episode: "Edgar Allan Poe" |
1996 | A Weekend in the Country | Bobby Stein | Television movie |
Nichols and May: Take Two | Himself | Documentary Special, PBS | |
1996–2015 | The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Himself | 16 episodes |
1997 | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Old Beggar (voice) | Episode: "The Golden Goose" |
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist | Richard (voice) | Episode: "Undercover" | |
1997–98 | Hiller and Diller | Neil Diller | 13 episodes |
1998 | Rude Awakening | Harve Schwartz | 6 episodes |
1999 | Hercules | Neurosis (voice) | Episode: "Hercules and the Tiff on Olympus" |
V.I.P. | Ronald Zane | Episode: "Big Top Val" | |
Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm | Himself | Television movie - Pilot | |
2000–present | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Himself | 39 episodes |
2002 | Presidio Med | Francis Weinod | Episode: "Once Upon a Family" |
2002–04 | 7th Heaven | Rabbi Richard Glass | 9 episodes |
2003 | Alias | Mitchell Yaeger | Episode: "A Dark Turn" |
2004 | Two and a Half Men | Stan | Episode: "I Can't Afford Hyenas" |
The Dead Zone | Jack Jericho | Episode: "The Cold Hard Truth" | |
2005 | Las Vegas | Stan | Episode: "Fake the Money and Run" |
George Lopez | Phillip Nickleson | Episode: "George Finds Therapy Benny-ficial" | |
2006 | The Simpsons | Golem (voice) | Episode: "Treehouse of Horror XVII" |
Everybody Hates Chris | Kris | Episode: "Everybody Hates Kris" | |
2007 | Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project | Himself | Documentary, PBS |
2008 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Sportsman Larry (voice) | Episode: "Closet" |
2009 | The Cleaner | Henry | Episode: "Trick Candles" |
2010 | Funny or Die Presents | Shades (voice) | Episode: #1.10 |
'Til Death | Miles Tunnicliff | 3 episodes | |
2011 | Lewis on Film: The Oscar Edition | Performer | Short |
Pound Puppies | Buddy (voice) | Episode: "Rebel Without a Collar" | |
2013 | Mel Brooks: Make Some Noise | Himself | Documentary Special, PBS |
2015 | Blunt Talk | Dr. Weiss | 6 episodes |
2016 | Code Black | Stewart Gough | Episode: "Hero Complex" |
2018 | BoJack Horseman | Ziggy Abler (voice) | Episode: "Head in the Clouds" |
Awards and nominations[]
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | CableACE Award | Writing a Comedy Special | The I'm Exhausted Concert | Nominated | [10] |
1991 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Actor - Quality Comedy Series | Anything but Love | Nominated | |
2006 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Nominated |
References[]
- ^ Condran, Ed. "Richard Lewis: All Grown Up; Veteran comedian Richard Lewis insists he wasn't raised in New Jersey, he was, 'lowered in New Jersey.'", New Jersey Monthly, October 20, 2015. Accessed August 27, 2018. "Richard Lewis came of age in Englewood, but the veteran comic insists he wasn’t raised. in New Jersey. Rather, he quips, 'I was lowered in New Jersey.' Still, the 68-year-old actor/comedian, a 1965 graduate of Dwight Morrow High School, has a soft spot for the town of his youth."
- ^ Firestone, Jay (2008-03-13). "Richard Lewis, comedian from heaven". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
But his sense of disconnect could just as easily be attributed to his Jewish upbringing in New Jersey.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Sher, Cindy (October 4, 2012). "Veteran comics Susie Essman and Richard Lewis to bring the laughs to JUF's Vanguard Nov. 5". juf.org. Jewish United Fund. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ Fine, Marshall (February 25, 2007). "Richard Lewis: The Metamorphosis". The New York Observer.
- ^ Curb Your Enthusiasm: Larry David On Richard Lewis (Paley Center, 2002). YouTube. 10 December 2008.
- ^ "Comedy Central 100 Greatest Standups of all Time". listology.com.
- ^ Flamm, Matthew (November 1, 2002). "Between the Lines". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ Yale Press Log: Yale Gives Richard Lewis Hell Archived 2008-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, 2006-10-11. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ Zwicky, Arnold. Language Log: Yet Another Snowclone Omnibus, 2007-08-11. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507659/awards
External links[]
- Official site
- Richard Lewis at IMDb
- Richard Lewis Naked DVD Documentary at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-02-20)
- Richard Lewis appearance at 92nd St. Y
- 1947 births
- Living people
- American male film actors
- American stand-up comedians
- American male television actors
- Dwight Morrow High School alumni
- Jewish American male actors
- Male actors from New Jersey
- Male actors from New York City
- Ohio State University alumni
- People from Englewood, New Jersey
- 20th-century American comedians
- 21st-century American comedians
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Comedians from New York City
- Jewish American male comedians