Richard Philip Lewis was born on June 29th, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York to William and Blanche Lewis. He was raised in Englewood, New Jersey where he graduated from Dwight Morrow High School, the same high school John Travolta attended. In 1969, Lewis earned a degree from The Ohio State University in marketing and communications. Today he is known his stream of consciousness improv style comedy shows. On-stage, he energetically overanalyses the most personal aspects of his life and wallows in self-pity until the audience shows their approval with sympathetic laughter. The New York Post once said; "Richard Lewis has built the strongest stand-up comedy career on a blazing trail of neuroses since Woody Allen."
His first TV appearance was relatively early in his life, on the Candid Camera when he was 17. In that episode, a bogus guidance counselor advised Lewis he was best suited for work as a laborer and/or shepherd. After his college graduation, Lewis wrote ad copy while simultaneously writing jokes for comedians such as Morty Gunty. In 1971, he debuted as a stand-up at the New York Improv and Pips Comedy Club in New York's Greenwich Village. His first appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show would be three years later, in 1974. After that appearance, Lewis continued to hone his act with the help of friends like David Brenner and Robert Klein. At the time, he also toured with Sonny and Cher and made several appearances on their then popular TV variety program. Meanwhile, he wrote comic articles for Playboy often using the pen name Aunt Dawn, especially those that were simply cooking recipes.
As Lewis continued to tour as a stand-up comedy he earned the nickname, The Prince of Pain. In 1982, he made his first appearance on Late Night With David Letterman. From there he embarked upon a three-year cross-country tour. As a result, he gained incredible popularity in the early 1980s that would be capped off with over 100 appearances on Carson, Letterman, Leno and Conan O'Brien. He would also star in three of his own stand-up comedy specials for HBO. Meanwhile, he made his film debut was in the mockumentary Diary of a Young Comic which aired on Saturday Night Live in 1977.
His first HBO special was I'm in Pain released in 1986. His second special, I'm Exhausted Concert, earned him a nomination for a Cable ACE Award in 1988. Two years later, his third special, I'm Doomed, also nominated for a Cable ACE Award. He and Jamie Lee Curtis co-stared starred in the popular ABC sitcom Anything but Love from 1989 to 1992. The series, which was a critical favorite but struggled to find an audience, showed that Lewis had potential to play a leading man. Volume one was recently was released on DVD. In 1987 he played supporting role of Richard on short-lived ABC sitcom, Harry. In 1988, he co-starred in slapstick comedy feature film, Wrong Guys opposite Louie Anderson and Richard Belzer In December 1989, Lewis he achieved a highly personal goal when he performed at Carnegie Hall to a standing room only audience. In 1993 he portrayed Prince John in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Lewis starred in a short-lived sitcom, Daddy Dearest also in 1993, but he would not again appear in any television series until he and comic Kevin Nealon co-starred in Hiller and Diller in 1997. In July 1995 Lewis performed live stand-up comedy for the first time in over two years with his Magical Misery Tour. Shot at New York's historic Bottom Line, HBO aired the one-hour special in December 1996, making it the comic's fourth full hour-long cable special.
In 1995, he also had his first dramatic roll playing the part of Jim in the Peter Cohn film, Drunks. At the beginning of the film Jim seems particularly troubled. His sponsor encourages him to talk that night, the first time in seven months, so he does - and leaves the meeting right after. As Jim wanders the night, searching for some solace in his old stomping grounds, bars and parks where he bought drugs. Perhaps there was a personal connection. According to an online article in addPop, Lewis battled alcohol and drug addictions. And after 13 years of sobriety is convinced that if he didn't get so personal on stage, his career would have ended before it started. "That's why I got on stage to begin with. When they laughed at my pain, I felt like I'm not alone... I felt that I could be Richard Lewis and feel good about myself."
In 2000, Lewis released autobiographical, The OTHER Great Depression. The book is a collection of essay style riffs that incorporated his dark stream-of-consciousness personal observations. In 2002, Lewis starred on the popular family drama 7th Heaven as the rabbi father-in-law to Barry Watson's character. Also, in 2005, he married Joyce Lapinsky, to whom he is still married today. He recently wrapped up work on the sixth season of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which he was nominated for a SAG Award. He incidentally met David at a summer sports camp when Lewis was only 12. Ironically, Lewis described David at the time as a gangly, obnoxious, annoying athlete. In an interview with Jam Showbiz Online he added, "We were arch rivals. He hated me as much as I hated him, no doubt." The pair must have gotten over their qualms because Lewis will return for his seventh season in the series next year.
Lewis is currently developing his on his Misery Loves Company Stand-Up Comedy Tour. He is also preparing to release a boxed set of his Concerts from Hell containing all three of his early HBO specials including: I'm Exhausted, I'm Doomed, and I'm In Pain. He will also be releasing two books. The first is a nonfiction look at the world of stand-up comedy entitled, I'm Dying Up Here, which will chronicle the lives of the comedians who defined American humor during the past three decades including: David Letterman, Jay Leno, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, and Garry Shandling. The second book will be a behind the scenes look at the making of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
According to Lewis, he never knows what he's going to say once he gets onstage. He simply looks over thousands of new lines before the show and hopes they come out when he's on stage. For this reason, every show will be slightly different. That's how he lives on the edge continues to live on the edge after the drugs, sex and alcohol addictions are gone. Lewis is still actively involved with HBO's annual Comic Relief benefits, a star-studded comedy series in which all proceeds go toward helping the homeless. Comedy Central has ranked Lewis the 45th greatest stand-up comic of all time. Lewis has also been named by Gentlemen's Quarterly Magazine as one of the most influential comics of the last century.
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