Mar 24, 2008

Comedian finds the funny in the hard times

By Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer

Misery loves company. Company loves to laugh. So it makes sense that Richard Lewis is among the most beloved comedians of his time.

You don't have to be the Marquis de Sade to enjoy another's suffering. When Lewis talks about his pain, it's universally appealing. Like a rock guitar god's inspired riffs, his spontaneous bursts of humor dazzle.

Daringly exposing himself emotionally, Lewis vents his angst on stage and in his wonderfully moving, amusing memoir, "The Other Great Depression."

Just as revealing is the new documentary DVD "Richard Lewis Naked." Created by his longtime publicist and confidante Michelle Mourges Marx, the entertaining and involving film allows viewers to sneak along on the comedian's stress-packed book tour. Lewis is unflinchingly candid.

"If you have a dark past and were abused emotionally, you've got to deal with it," Lewis told the Daily News. "You can't be in denial.

"At 23, I went onstage, because I felt misunderstood and wanted people to laugh at all the crap I thought I was victimized by, to validate me."

Known as the "Prince of Pain," Lewis is now 60 years old. He credits sobriety as a benefit to his art. "I was able to turn the light on me. Once I realized I was a screwball, it opened up a Pandora's box of material. I can go on stage and have the time of my life putting myself down. It's more fun shredding myself than blaming other people."
He encouraged the publication of a new edition of "The Great Depression." Lewis hears from readers who confronted their own addictions after reading the book. He'd like to reach the new generation of fans who discovered him on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

"Maybe I could help some of the addicts among them," said Lewis. "To help someone else help themselves is the greatest gift for me."

The new edition's afterword relates Lewis' quest for illumination and self-improvement. "It dawned on me that there are a lot of reasons why I drank. Those were defects in character. I concluded that, for me, it would be an empty sobriety, unless I worked on those defects. I wanted to write that down."

He also wanted to reprint the book to remind the public that though young starlets like Lindsay Lohan and Amy Winehouse have bounced in and out of rehab recently, the process can work. "You don't have to be sober for a day and then wind up naked on 'TMZ' in the back of a limo, drinking. There are other ways to go. Not that I would ever be naked in the back of a limo, not with my body at this point. It would be on some Yiddish porn cable."

The one-time Lothario married for the first time three years ago. He met former music publisher Joyce Lapinsky at a party hosted by Ringo Starr.

"I guessed she was Italian and 33. She said, 'Let's nip this in the bud. I'm 42. I'm a Jew from Minnesota. So if that bugs you ... And if children are a major thing ...' She was like reading my mind."

Turns out years before a friend had tried unsuccessfully to fix up Lapinsky with Lewis on the set of his hit sitcom "Anything But Love."

"She said, 'No, he's crazy. I'm not going out with him,'" Lewis said. "I was an active drunk and drug addict then, so it wouldn't have worked out anyway."

The timing was right when they did meet. To buddy Bob Costas, Lewis declared, "I met the woman I'm going to marry."

"I was able to commit to somebody finally. I met the right woman at the right time. There's a lot of compromise in any relationship. But it's easier to compromise at 60 than it is at 25," said Lewis.

"I've found peace and serenity. Onstage, I still mine my bottomless pit of bad memories. In real life, I'm still crazy, but I'm far happier and more grateful than I've ever been. Marriage has a lot to do with that. We have a neurotic relationship that's, 99 percent of the time, filled with laughter and love."

Lewis has also found surrogate mother and father relationships with comedic mainstays Phyllis Diller and Jonathan Winters.

"My father died before I ever went on stage. My mother and I didn't have a great relationship, to put it mildly," said Lewis. "When I got 'The Tonight Show' for the first time, in the early '70s, I called her and said, 'Mom, I'm on with Johnny!' She said, 'Who else is on?'

"Phyllis Diller and Jonathan Winters love me and I love them. They've taken me under their wing. It's like a dream. They're iconic figures in comedy, people I grew up watching. And I speak to them as parents, literally."

Lewis, who has two TV projects in the works, speaks of his flaws, but works on them diligently. "As I defogged, year after year, I realized how obsessive-compulsive and anal-retentive I was.

"I went to therapy for 30-plus years. I hardly go now. I make little NASCAR pit stops on occasion. But I pretty much know the deal at this point. I'm still pretty loony: I just don't medicate the problems anymore."