If you can somehow find it, I would recommend that you watch THE KING OF COMEDY with Lewis and Robert DeNiro. As I understand it, the director told Lewis just to ‘be himself’ so he improvised many of his lines. In it and in his interviews, I can see a young man who found early success that poisoned his ego - making him an arrogant prick at times. But, he’s a bigger philanthropist than I’ll ever be! Hope he’s well.
Yup. That he was. Not many comedians are happy go-lucky people at heart. That's where their comedy comes from, either anxiety or anger.