Richard Lewis Net Worth

Richard Lewis's Quotes

• On wife Joyce Lapinsky: I keep thinking the rug is going to be pulled out from under me. I still think this is a practical joke and she has a million affairs and is married to someone in Italy. She keeps saying no, but I haven't seen her in a few days.
• I'll speak for me, though it's hard for me to speak for myself because I don't know who I am.
• [re Jonathan Winters ] I talked to Jonathan almost daily on the phone when he was feeling well. In the past eight or nine years he must have left me hundreds and hundreds of insanely funny messages in my voicemail, each a different character and all gold. If I failed to mention the premise of his call I was always touched when he asked me if I dug the bit. Imagine!? My childhood idol was asking me! We had a father-son comedy relationship. Both being recovering alcoholics we related on that level, Jonathan with a staggering fifty-three years sober before passing, and growing up we had a horrible time of it getting support from most of our family, diving into show business but mostly we free-associated in life and on stage and 'got' the most obscure references from one another. He had special relationships with a handful of buddies that I know he treasured. We were his standing ovation every time we saw him or talked to him. Every day.

Interesting Facts about Richard Lewis

1. Gentleman's Quarterly named him one of the 20th century's influential humorists.
2. First appearance on television: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in March 1974.
3. He appeared on Candid Camera (1960) when he was approximately 17. A bogus guidance counselor advised him he was best-suited for work as a laborer and/or shepherd. (This was re-aired on Candid Camera (1998) in 2000 and he appeared advising Burbank, California, students that they were best-suited for some unusual jobs, including stand-up comedian).
4. Met Larry David at a summer camp at age 12.
5. Graduated from Ohio State University in 1969 with a degree in marketing and communications. He was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
6. Friends with David Brenner, Richard Belzer, and Albert Brooks.
7. Has petitioned Bartlett's Familiar Quotations to attribute the phrase "the nk] from Hell" (i.e. "the date from Hell", "the roommate from Hell", etc.) to him. They have rejected his claims, stating that the phrase was in use as early as World War I when kilted Scottish soldiers were given the nickname "The Ladies from Hell". However, the Yale Book of Quotations does attribute the phrase to Lewis. This inspired a storyline in the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Nanny from Hell (2002).
8. Had a very close relationship with his comedy idol Jonathan Winters in the last ten years or so of Winters' life.
9. On his The Other Great Depression Tour [February 2001]
10. Was in two different movies with john candy once upon a crime and wagons east.