Richard Lewis has never been anything less than an open book. To watch the self-proclaimed “Prince of Pain” onstage was to feel as if you were trapped inside his brain and being exposed to every last one of his neuroses. From his struggles with depression and anxiety to his eating disorder to being a recovered alcoholic and addict, we got to know the man very well.
After nearly 50 years, Lewis hung up the mic on January 20, 2018, at Zanies in Chicago. I met him the night before his swan song, thanks to a mutual friend, the late author and journalist Bill Zehme. We spent half an hour backstage, Lewis wearing sunglasses and lying on the couch with his head tilted back, as though we’d come to analyze him. Thanks to the sunglasses, we never knew if his eyes were opened or closed.
For the following conversation, we met via Zoom. Once again Lewis was hiding behind the shades, though he wasn’t being pretentious, he was just protecting himself from the California sun beaming through his window. Behind him, there were framed photographs featuring some of his heroes—Lenny Bruce, Muhammad Ali, and Jimi Hendrix. Those greats all come up in casual conversation with Lewis, but perhaps nobody comes up more frequently than Larry David.
Larry David and Richard Lewis on Curb Your Enthusiasm.John P. Johnson/HBO.
Their paths were destined to cross. They were born three days apart at the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital in 1947. They attended the same summer camp, then met again in their 20s as comedians in New York. Since then, they’ve been fixtures in each other’s lives, which is why David asked him to be part of Curb Your Enthusiasm nearly 25 years ago. “I can’t tell you how loving he is—the best friend you could ever imagine,” Lewis told me. “The show gives me another vehicle to express my feelings to Larry, because we are the oldest of friends.”
Lewis and I met to talk about the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but the conversation went far and wide. The past few years have been difficult for him, because of a series of surgeries and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Despite it all, he struck me as vibrant, sharp—and hilarious—as ever.
Vanity Fair: Your first appearance this season has you and Larry in a golf cart. You tell him you’re going to leave him money in your will, and he dismisses the notion, saying he doesn’t need it. Does that kind of sum up your relationship with him? You offer up a nice gesture and it turns into a whole thing?
Richard Lewis: It’s almost like lunch. On many episodes, I would beat him to the host at the restaurant and say “It’s on me.” So when this scene came up, I jumped on this thing. This would be the ultimate thank you: I’m leaving him money, even though he wouldn’t need it. And he goes on to say he doesn’t, but I don’t care. Then it provokes a fight. He goes, “Fuck you,” and I go, “Fuck you.” It goes back-and-forth like a ping pong match between two neurotics.
