Curb Your Enthusiasm star Richard Lewis dies aged 76

Humorist and Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Richard Lewis has died aged 76.

He died peacefully in his house in Los Angeles Tuesday night time after struggling a coronary heart assault, his publicist, Jeff Abraham, mentioned in a press release.

Lewis introduced final April that he had been identified with Parkinson’s illness and would retire from stand-up comedy.

Identified for his self-deprecating humour, Lewis rose to prominence within the Nineteen Eighties.

For years, the actor and author starred alongside Larry David in his HBO present, Curb Your Enthusiasm, the place he performed a semi-fictionalized model of himself.

He had most lately appeared in Season 12 of the present, which is presently airing on HBO. The community mentioned it was “heartbroken” to study he had handed.

“His comedic brilliance, wit and expertise have been unmatched,” a spokesperson informed US retailers.

In a press release shared by Lewis’ publicist, his spouse, Joyce Lapinsky, mentioned she “thanks everybody for all of the love, friendship and assist and asks for privateness presently”.

His co-star, Larry David, praised his pal in a press release HBO shared with US media.

“Richard and I have been born three days aside in the identical hospital and for many of my life he is been like a brother to me,” he mentioned. “He had that uncommon mixture of being the funniest particular person and in addition the sweetest. However in the present day he made me sob and for that I am going to by no means forgive him.”

Born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey, Lewis made a reputation for himself within the Seventies performing in golf equipment in New York Metropolis and on late-night TV.

Nicknamed “The Prince of Ache”, Lewis was recognized for poking enjoyable at his personal neuroses and hypochondria throughout his comedy routines. Dressed almost at all times all in black, he as soon as joked he was the “Descartes of hysteria; I panic, subsequently I’m”.

Lewis was additionally open about his struggles with dependancy and melancholy and had been sober for many years. His edgy act discovered favour amongst speak present hosts, and Lewis grew to become a agency favorite of late-night legends David Letterman and Jay Leno.

Comedy Central had known as him one of many high 50 stand-up comedians of all time and GQ Journal included him in its record of the twentieth Century’s Most Influential Humourists.

In 1979, he made his performing debut within the NBC particular Diary of a Younger Comedian. The movie adopted the satirical journey of a younger comic searching for to make it in Los Angeles.

All through the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, he starred in a bunch of TV reveals, together with the sitcom Something however Love, the place he performed reverse Jamie Lee Curtis from 1989 to 1992.

But it surely on Curb Your Enthusiasm the place Lewis discovered his signature function. Premiering in 2000, his stint enjoying a fictionalised model of himself gained plaudits.

Lewis needed to take a break from starring in Season 11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm as a consequence of a sequence of surgical procedures.

“I’ve had type of a rocky time,” he mentioned final yr saying the information of his prognosis.

He added that he had undergone again surgical procedure, shoulder surgical procedure, shoulder alternative surgical procedure and hip alternative surgical procedure. “I had 4 surgical procedures, again to again to again… It was dangerous luck, nevertheless it’s life.”

Information of his dying prompted a stream of tributes from a bunch of well-known faces, together with Each day Present host Jon Stewart, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines.

In a submit on Instagram, Curtis known as her former co-star “deep and so freaking humorous”.

“He is also the explanation I’m sober. He helped me. I’m without end grateful for him for that act of grace alone,” she mentioned.

In a submit on X, previously generally known as Twitter, fellow comic Invoice Burr known as Lewis a”true unique”.

“A fully fearless comic who did and mentioned what he wished”, Burr wrote.