Richard Lewis died quietly at home in Los Angeles on Tuesday night of a heart attack, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham.
Lewis said in April of last year that he was retiring from stand-up comedy because he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Lewis became famous in the 1980s when he started making fun of himself.
Bill Burr, another comic, called Lewis a “true original” in a post on X, which used to be called Twitter.
“A fearless comedian who did and said what he wanted,” said Burr.
“His comedic brilliance, wit, and talent were unmatched,” a representative told news sites in the US.
Lewis’s publicist shared a message from his wife, Joyce Lapinsky, in which she said, “Thanks everyone for all the love,
Lawrence David, who worked with him, said nice things about him in a message that HBO sent to the US media.
He was named by Comedy Central as one of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time, and GQ Magazine named him one of the 20th century’s most important humorists.
“Richard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital, and for most of my life, he’s been like a brother to me,” he shared. “Only a few people are both the best and the nicest at the same time. But he made me cry today, and I’ll never forgive him for that.
For many years, the actor and writer co-starred with Larry David on his HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he played a version of himself that was mostly made up.
Lewis was born in Brooklyn and grew up in New Jersey. In the 1970s, he became famous for his work in New York City bars and on late-night TV.
The last time we saw him on the show was in Season 12, which is now showing on HBO. They said they were “heartbroken” to hear he had died.
Lewis had to take a break from being the lead in Season 11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm because he needed to have surgery.
“I’ve had a bit of a rough time,” he said when he told people about his illness last year.
He also said that he had surgery on his back, shoulders, hips, and shoulders. “I had four surgeries in a row.” It was bad luck, but that’s life.
Lewis was known as “The Prince of Pain” because he often made fun of his own neuroses and over-the-top beliefs during his comedy shows. He almost always wore black, and he once joked that he was the “Descartes of anxiety” because he was always panicking.
On top of that, Lewis was honest about his problems with addiction and sadness. He had been clean for decades. Because of how edgy he was, talk show hosts liked him, and late-night stars David Letterman and Jay Leno became big fans.
His first role was in the NBC show Diary of a Young Comic in 1979. The movie was a satire about a young comic in Los Angeles who was trying to make it big.