Richard Lewis (comedian)
Encyclopedia
Early life
Lewis was born in Brooklyn, New York City and was raised in Englewood, New JerseyEnglewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...
. His father worked as a caterer and his mother was an actress. Lewis is Jewish. He later attended Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
and was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...
Fraternity.
Career
Lewis began performing stand-up comedyStand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
in the 1970s. He worked as a copywriter
Copywriting
Copywriting is the use of words and ideas to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. Although the word copy may be applied to any content intended for printing , the term copywriter is generally limited to promotional situations, regardless of the medium...
for an ad agency by day, while honing his stand-up act at night. The ad agency was named Contemporary Graphics (no longer exists) and was located above Lovey's pizzeria in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Lewis gained popularity in the 1980s with numerous appearances on Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
and his own television specials on HBO. He has starred in the ABC
ABC Network
ABC Network may refer to any of the following:*American Broadcasting Company, a private television network in the United States.*Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, regional radio and television broadcaster in Japan....
sitcom Anything But Love
Anything but Love
Anything But Love was an American television sitcom, which aired on ABC from March 7, 1989 to June 3, 1992, spanning four seasons and 56 episodes. The show starred Richard Lewis as Marty Gold and Jamie Lee Curtis as Hannah Miller, coworkers at a Chicago magazine with a mutual romantic attraction to...
which ran for four seasons. He co-starred with Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
on the short-lived Daddy Dearest
Daddy Dearest
Daddy Dearest was an American television sitcom that aired on Fox, on Sunday nights from September 5, 1993 to November 7, 1993.-Synopsis:...
He had a recurring role on Showtime series Rude Awakening
Rude Awakening (TV series)
Rude Awakening is a TV series created by Claudia Lonow, aired by Showtime on 55 22-min episodes for 3 seasons .-Story:Rude Awakening tells the story of Billie Frank, an out of work alcoholic ex-soap opera actress. She tries to go sober and become a writer but continues to struggle with her...
and as a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
on the dramatic series
Dramatic programming
Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...
7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...
, and appeared on the Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...
episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
"Whirlpool". Lewis has written comic articles for magazines such as Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, and endorsed the popular early-1990s beverage, Boku
Boku (juice)
BoKu was a fruit juice brand released in the United States from 1990 to 2003 by McCain Citrus, Inc. It was sold in a box, much like competitors such as Minute Maid....
, as well as Snapple
Snapple
Snapple is a brand of tea and juice drinks which is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group and based in Plano, Texas. The brand was founded in 1972. The brand achieved some notoriety due to various pop-culture references including television shows.-History:...
and Certs
Certs
Certs is a breath mint manufactured by Cadbury Adams, formerly the American Chicle Company.Long one of America’s most popular mints, Certs was the first breath mint to be nationally marketed in the United States, and has been a fixture at American drug stores and convenience stores since its debut...
breath mints. In 2007 he made a cameo appearance as Phillip, the school counselor of Max's school, in the T.V Series George Lopez
George Lopez (TV series)
"The George Lopez Show" redirects here. For the late-night program hosted by the same comedian, see Lopez Tonight.George Lopez is an American sitcom starring comedian George Lopez...
. Recently he also made cameos in Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris is an African American television period sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock , while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York . The show is set from 1982 to 1987; however, Rock himself was a teenager during years...
as an old man in the hospital bed next to Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
and as Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
's accountant in Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
.
Lewis has also achieved moderate success in films, appearing as Prince John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
in Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 French-American adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut...
, as a frontier doctor in Wagons East!, as an unemployed actor in Once Upon A Crime
Once Upon A Crime
Once Upon a Crime is a 1992 ensemble comedy film starring, among others; Richard Lewis, John Candy, James Belushi, Cybill Shepherd, Sean Young and Ornella Muti. The film was directed by Eugene Levy.- Plot :...
and as himself in the film The Wrong Guys
The Wrong Guys
The Wrong Guys is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Danny Bilson.-Plot:Thirty years ago Louie Anderson was the leader of a group of Cub Scouts, Den 7: "The Owl Patrol", consisting of himself, neurotic Richard, ladies man Belz, smooth talking Franklin and surfer dude Tim...
. He played the lead role of Jimmy Epstein in the dramatic film Drunks and in the 1999 comedy Game Day. He also appeared in the dramatic pictures Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film directed and written by Mike Figgis, based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas...
, Hugo Pool
Hugo Pool
Hugo Pool is a 1997 American comedy-drama film starring Alyssa Milano and Patrick Dempsey and directed by Robert Downey, Sr.-Plot:...
and The Maze. He made his acting debut in the 1977 TV movie mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
Diary of a Young Comic.
On January 9, 2001, Lewis visited The Howard Stern Show to promote his book The Other Great Depression, which described his recovery from alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
.
He currently has a frequent recurring role as a character based on himself on Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
's critically acclaimed Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
on HBO. Lewis and David met at summer camp
Summer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....
in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York when they were thirteen.
Super Bowl XLV commercial
On February 6, 2011, Lewis was in a commercial for SnickersSnickers
Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It consists of peanut nougat topped with roasted peanuts and caramel, enrobed in milk chocolate. Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion....
with Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Cherrie Barr is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer and director. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy at clubs before gaining fame for her role in the sitcom Roseanne. The show was a hit and lasted nine seasons, from 1988 to 1997...
, portraying a logger who refused to work. Upon eating a Snickers bar, Lewis transforms into the real logger, "Tony", and he and his coworker watch another worker (Barr) complain about back pain before being hit with a log on a cable.
"The ______ from hell"
Lewis claims to be the originator of the phrase "The ______ from hell" as in "the date from hell" or "the roommate from hell". This theory is expounded in the Curb Your EnthusiasmCurb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
episode "The Nanny from Hell". Lewis has petitioned the editors of Bartlett's
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, often simply called Bartlett's, is an American reference work that is the longest-lived and most widely distributed collection of quotations...
to be given credit for the coinage, but the editors claim that the phrase was a common idiom prior to Lewis' use of it. However, the Yale Book of Quotations does attribute the phrase to Lewis. Google Ngram Viewer offers an insight into tracking down the lineage. There are many common and expected uses of "the BLANK from hell", such as "the ladies from hell" group back in the 1940's. The oldest documented "the date from hell" phrase can be found in a 1988 book, which may in fact have been influenced by Mr. Lewis. There is also a mention of "the taxes from hell", in 1959, when Richard Lewis was only twelve years old.
Also note the Frank Zappa album Jazz from Hell
Jazz from Hell
Jazz from Hell is a Grammy Award–winning instrumental album from Frank Zappa. It was released in 1986 by Barking Pumpkin Records and by Rykodisc .-Album information:...
released in the mid 80s.