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Richard Lewis, who mined life and neuroses for dark comedy, dies at 76
Washington Post ^ | 12/28/2024 | Harrison Smith

Posted on 02/28/2024 1:42:16 PM PST by Miami Rebel

Richard Lewis, the darkly funny, perennially black-clad comedian and actor known for playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” died Feb. 27 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 76.

His publicist, Jeff Abraham, said Mr. Lewis died after a heart attack. Mr. Lewis announced in April that he was retiring from stand-up comedy after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease about two years earlier and dealing with four surgeries for his back, shoulder and hip.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: comedy
I had the pleasure of seeing him live on stage maybe 20 years ago, and just last week I read a profile of him in Vanity Fair. I don't think there was air between the performer and the man. The piece went into some length regarding his battle with Parkinson's, a malady that's stricken a couple friends of mine.
1 posted on 02/28/2024 1:42:16 PM PST by Miami Rebel
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To: Miami Rebel

More here:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4220703/posts


2 posted on 02/28/2024 1:44:51 PM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: Miami Rebel

The name sounds familiar, but I’m not seeing the face that goes with it. A paywall wouldn’t let me access the article.

Maybe I’m thinking of David Brenner.


3 posted on 02/28/2024 1:45:00 PM PST by fwdude (.When unarmed Americans are locked up for protesting a stolen election, you know it was stolen.)
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To: Miami Rebel

He was an interesting character (maybe his real self) on Curb your Enthusiasm. This was years ago when I saw his episodes and he didn’t particularly look well then. RIP Richard.


4 posted on 02/28/2024 1:47:53 PM PST by plain talk
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To: fwdude

He was funny.......RIP Richard


5 posted on 02/28/2024 1:47:56 PM PST by Dawgreg
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To: Miami Rebel
Posted here: ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Star and Comedy Legend Richard Lewis Dead at 76
6 posted on 02/28/2024 1:47:58 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

He played King Richard’s evil brother John in Robin Hood - Men in Tights. Funny guy


7 posted on 02/28/2024 1:50:59 PM PST by RatRipper
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To: Miami Rebel

I’ve only seen him in a few things, but the first was in the early 80s, right after I’d moved to LA, Diary of a Young Comic. It is about him moving to LA, living on nothing, and bombing at open mike nights.

In on scene he has totally lost it, and is venting to his friend for about ten minutes, and then his friend tells him that his venting was funnier than anything he’d been doing in front of an audience, and he ought to go with it - which he did, and it worked.

What else I remembered was it was the first thing I’d seen that mentioned an obscure, but real, location in LA — the Rent-a-Wreck on the corner of Bundy Drive and Wilshire Blvd.

I had considered renting a car there, but didn’t. A couple of years later my girlfriend lived off San Vincente, and I’d drive up Bundy to get there. Eight years after that, Bundy Drive, and in particular that eight or ten block stretch, became famous in the OJ trial.


8 posted on 02/28/2024 1:56:35 PM PST by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: fwdude
Maybe I’m thinking of David Brenner.

David Brenner passed away a number of years ago.

9 posted on 02/28/2024 2:02:22 PM PST by GreenHornet
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To: All

10 posted on 02/28/2024 2:07:41 PM PST by Liz (Political correctness is tyranny with manners. Charlton Heston.)
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To: Miami Rebel

Funny guy. He was leftish, like most people in show business, but he will be missed.


11 posted on 02/28/2024 2:07:54 PM PST by x
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To: Miami Rebel

I recall him. Sort of a “Greek Chorus” -Hypochondia mixed with bitter humor, in other words, a real funny guy.
Anytime you need 3 or 4 back surgeries done, you’re in trouble. Ive only had one, and while it cured my major issue of Spinal Stenosis, it also left me with a tendency to bend forward as I walk. Even in year 2024, back surgery is not an exact science.


12 posted on 02/28/2024 2:09:15 PM PST by lee martell
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To: Flash Bazbeaux

Lived on Barrington in Brentwood for 20 years.


13 posted on 02/28/2024 2:15:00 PM PST by peggybac (My will is what I wanted. God's will is what I got.)
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To: peggybac

The girlfriend was staying with her sister who had an apartment on Montana two buildings east of Barrington, near what was then the Westward Ho market, now it’s a Whole Foods. Their building would have been back to back with the one Ron Goldman later lived in on Goreham, or one over.


14 posted on 02/28/2024 4:21:00 PM PST by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: Flash Bazbeaux

Know where it is. It was crazy during that time. I was working in NoHo, and Sunset was blocked off from the 405 making the Wilshire exit almost impossible to get on. The streets were packed for days.


15 posted on 02/28/2024 4:59:53 PM PST by peggybac (My will is what I wanted. God's will is what I got.)
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