Audiences who knew Richard Lewis exclusively from the cringe-making sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm, which began in 2000 and is still running today, will have a singular image of the neurotic, weather-beaten comic. Coarse-throated, wild-eyed and shuffling, he dressed all in black like Johnny Cash, and had the kind of desiccated appearance that could make Methuselah resemble a boy-band star.
Lewis, who has died aged 76 of a heart attack, played a lightly fictionalised version of himself on the semi-improvised Curb. Like his on-screen self, he was dear friends with the show’s star and creator, Larry David. The pair, born three days apart in the same Brooklyn hospital, met as adolescents at summer camp, where they inspired instant antipathy in one another. Crossing paths in their early 20s on the comedy circuit, a rapprochement led quickly to respect, admiration and even love.
