Ray Richmond: Why the death of Richard Lewis is such a tremendous loss

Ray Richmond
·6 min read
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I wrote up an obituary for Richard Lewis, who succumbed to a heart attack Tuesday night at 76, and was left feeling surprisingly bereft. I wondered why his death was hitting me so hard. I was a longtime fan, but I’d never met the man. I respected his comedy, but I didn’t necessarily think of him as one of the all-time greats – just a solid, uniquely neurotic, funny man who seemed to have a brilliantly manic way about him. When I think of him now, he’s bent over, stalking the stage, right hand on forehead, gesturing like a crazy man, looking like someone whose brain is about to burst out of his head.

Yes, he was unfailingly hilarious every time he showed up on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” significantly mellower than in his younger years but still carrying plenty of sharp wit and irony whenever the camera was on him. My favorite moments of his on “Curb” came during the show’s fifth season in 2005, when it was discovered his character (also not so coincidentally named Richard Lewis) needed a kidney transplant. Larry (Larry David) and Jeff (Jeff Garlin) were positive matches, but neither would donate one of theirs. It doesn’t sound particularly hilarious, yet of course it was.

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Still, once again, I didn’t have any kind of personal tie to the man, so I wasn’t sure where this sense of grief was coming from.

Then I started peering at my Facebook feed and peered at the recollections of some of those who knew Lewis best, and my emptiness started to make a little more sense. I sensed a kindred Jewish spirit in the world of neurosis. I am basically Lewis, minus the comedic brilliance. We even shared a past of drug and alcohol abuse that we’d overcome.

SEERichard Lewis dead at 76: Revered comedian, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ actor suffered from Parkinson’s disease

It was clear from my social media feed that Lewis was more than just a comic genius. He was also an incredibly genuine and special man who his friends and anyone who crossed his path adored. Anyone who had interacted with him related stories that spoke to his humanity. I wanted to share here three such recollections that will make clear just what a lovely dude Richard Lewis was, culled from their Facebook posts today.

First, my friend Dan Pasternack is a comedy historian and producer who was most recently a host and producer of the podcast Obsessive Comedy Disorder with comedian Paul Provenza. Here is what Pasternack had to say today about Lewis:

“Richard Lewis was a brilliant comic. A Jewish jazz cat cut from the cloth woven by his hero Lenny Bruce, traveling the trails blazed by our pal Jonathan Winters and following the bright light of the generational comedy beacon Robert Klein. But although that’s how I came to know him, that’s not why he was so important to me. For all of his kvetching, both on stage and in real life, Richard Lewis radiated pure love. You could all see it, right? I mean, it was kind of impossible to miss. But for those of you who didn’t have the great privilege of knowing him, I promise you, he was every bit as lovely and lovable as you imagined. I will miss our frequent calls and the text chain that seemed like one continuous conversation over many years that was full of laughs and punctuated by countless declarations of mutual love and respect. So long pal. I need to crash. Because today has been the day from hell.”

Then there is this from my friend Stephen Randall, a onetime writer and editor for Playboy magazine.

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“Back in the 1990s, ace publicist Michelle Mourges Marx arranged for me to have lunch at the St. James Club with Richard Lewis. It was a great lunch. We made fun of Ringo Starr, who was poolside in a speedo and agreed that Richard should do an article for Playboy, my employer. It turned out to be the first of many articles—he was even a columnist for a while. His neurosis was genuine, as was his brilliance. He’d try to make changes to his copy long after deadline, even making frantic suggestions when we were already on the newsstand. He became a wonderful friend, advising me with authority on every aspect of my life, from marriage (even though he was then single) to parenthood (the way childless people always do). He’d recommend doctors and handymen. Even after I left Playboy, he stayed in touch, by phone last month and by email ten days ago.

“Last month he sent out this joke: ‘When I die, I want to die like my grandfather, who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.’ He was one of a kind.”

And finally, there is this from the now-retired publicist Randall mentioned above, Michelle Mourges Marx.

“Heartbroken over Richard Lewis’s passing. I started out as a fan at comedy clubs and went on to represent Richard for most of his career over 30 or more years until I finally retired. It feels like we grew up together because in a lot of ways we did. Once you knew him, you could not help but love him. His genuine kindness and caring lived alongside of his well documented neurosis.  He was a quietly generous friend to so many.

“Our journey through the years was deep and shaped both our lives. He called us soul brother/sister. Never to be forgotten. I will miss my soul brother and be grateful for all the life-changing time we had together.”

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