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PERSONALITY PEEKS:
RICHARD LEWIS, Comedian

by FRANK O'DONNELL
April 2007

I caught Richard Lewis on a good day.

"I had a fun night last night," said the veteran comedian, who's appearing at the new Catch A Rising Star Comedy Club in Lincoln this Thursday and Friday night. "I had dinner with some really old friends, comedians, comedy writers."

He spent five hours in a restaurant with four friends, including comedians David Brenner and Jimmie Walker. "People just old enough to know this era of comedy were gawking at this Psychotic Algonquin Round Table."

The discussion was normal – for them. "Usually, when we get together, we talk about the bad things that have happened to us. It's just funny to us now."

Lewis used to think "this is only happening to me." Troubles with club owners and managers and agents and other comics. "The trick is to navigate through the murky waters and hope for the best."

Murky waters indeed. "In this business, when stakes are so high, it's an ongoing battle to keep your sanity. But on stage, I can say whatever I want. Just don't tell me, it's your way or the highway."

By the time the night was over, Lewis was convinced. "I'm far more neurotic than the whole table combined."

His neuroses fuel his art. "I'm doing comedy for psychological reason. I had more luck talking to strangers than to people I love."

Lewis has built a reputation for being "sort of fearless in my career." His early influences were other comics he considers fearless. Jonathan Winters, Shelly Berman, Nichols & May, Lenny Bruce. He is "rigorously honest and fearless on stage. Anything less would be short-changing myself and the audience."

Now in his "tremendously late 50's," Lewis has simple advice for newcomers to the business of comedy. Success in the arts, he says, has "zero to do with money. Don't focus short of your passion. You won't become as good as you can be. If you have to focus on making a living, and not on the arts, stop now."

Perseverance is the key. "You got to really hang in there. The work you do is never a waste of time. You have a better shot at scoring if you always work at this."

That attitude, he believes, is the key to his success. "I was in it for the long haul from the beginning."

Lewis tells a story that he heard once that illustrates his long haul philosophy. He doesn't know if it's true, but he believes it anyway. "Toward the end of her career, Bette Davis took an ad out in an industry paper. It was her photo, and a caption that said, ‘Actress for Hire.'"

Lewis is amused by the way some people react to him. "They come right up to you, like they know more about you and your life than you do."

He tells a story about a woman who approached him in an airport, telling him he was a funny guy, and wondering why he's not doing any television.

Lewis could have listed his television credits, not the least of which is the recent completion of his sixth season on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, but he caught himself. "Why am I debating my resume with this woman? I'm just trying to buy a newspaper in the airport."

We talked a little about his 85-year-odl house in Los Angeles. "I live a mile from Lenny Bruce's house, a mile from Buster Keaton's studio. I'm in the middle of the playground of show business. All the creating, the complaining, the good stuff, the dark stuff. I happened right here."

Lewis knows his home is haunted. "They're comforting ghosts. I haven't seen them, but I know they're here."

He jumps into a quick riff about the afterlife. "If I do come back as a ghost, I do want to terrorize a bunch of agents." He laughs, then gets a little serious. "I have to let go of my resentments. If you're not careful, they can just chew you up."

Lewis looks forward to working in Rhode Island. "I've played every conceivable place, but I'm not sure about Rhode Island. I might not have – yet."

Lewis realizes that people are paying their hard-earned money to see him, and that makes every show important. "I've got to give them everything I've got. Just give me a microphone and a stage and people who care to listen," and he'll give them everything he's got.

[Richard Lewis performs at the grand reopening of Catch A Rising Star Comedy Club inside Twin River on Thursday and Friday, April 19 and 20. There are shows at 8 & 10PM each night. For complete details, log onto www.twinriver.com and click on the Entertainment tab.]