Corporate Entertainment - Comedian Richard Lewis corporate booking information

Comedian Richard Lewis is available for booking at your next corporate event! Perhaps Mel Brooks put it best when he said, "Richard Lewis may just be the Franz Kafka of modern day comedy."

Lewis has taken his life-long therapy fodder and carved it into a commanding and compelling art form. His early career as a stand-up brought him to the top of his ranks and, over time, he has broadened the scope of opportunities for others to share in his brilliantly warped world.

This year, along with his continuing personal appearances and talk show appearances, Richard returns to the tube with guest-starring stints on a number of shows to include his fourth season with HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” as one of Larry David’s closest friends (as is true in real life). The show has become a cult favorite and has won numerous awards and nominations for both cast and the show itself. The LA Times has said, "It's comedian Richard Lewis - himself famous for an act built on despair - who memorably sulks his way through a pair of early episodes as one of the few people in the business who can match David hang-up for hang-up, neurosis for neurosis...David and Lewis reluctantly help a blind man move furniture in his new apartment. It's a classic." He's also had additional appearances on “Seventh Heaven,” (reprising his guest-starring role as a slightly eccentric Rabbi Glass), as an accountant on the hit, “Two and a Half Men” and, more dramatically, in the new season of “The Dead Zone.” While touring he is concurrently co-creating his own quirky, dark and edgy ensemble, situation comedy series for F/X.

In February of 2002, Lewis’ autobiographical book, The OTHER Great Depression came out in paperback on Plume Books, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. First published by the prestigious Perseus/ Public Affairs Books, the book is a collection of fearless, essay style riffs featuring Lewis' dark stream-of-consciousness personal observations. He had taken time off-stage to complete it and to explore new forms of self-expression.

Some book review quotes:

“Behind the Music meets Portnoy’s Complaint. . . Lewis’s standard of total honesty [has] allowed him to unearth neuroses he’d never even touch onstage—or on the couch,” --New York Magazine

…[An] urgent, nervous, heartfelt book . . . Lewis writes with an addict’s jumpy restlessness, staggering from hurt to hurt, from tensely jokey confession to confession, from twitchy spiritual discovery to discovery.” --Entertainment Weekly

…“Candid and inspirational” --USA Today.com

…“Brims with anecdotes and…funny self-analysis…Lewis…has narrative gifts few celebrity authors exhibit.” --Cleveland Plain Dealer

A double CD, Live From Hell (Before and After), is being edited and readied for a re-release. ‘Before’, contains material from his very first cable special “I’m In Pain,” while ‘After’, is in the late planning stages and will most probably include hard-to-find, rare live performances of Lewis on DVD.

richard lewis comedy booking Lewis continues stand-up appearances and recently in Chicago, Howard Reich, of the Tribune reflected on his history with Lewis, "Nearly 20 years ago… I headed for Zanies and witnessed the most audacious comic wordsmith this side of Lenny Bruce: a young neurotic comedian named Richard Lewis. Ever since that revelatory evening I've followed Richard's ascent as perhaps the most gifted comedian of his generation." Indeed others agree and Lewis was charted on GQ Magazine’s list of the '20th Century's Most Influential Humorists'. Philadelphia's City Paper says, “Indeed, he is the Jimi Hendrix of monologists, whose virtuoso freeform riffs on ex-girlfriends, family and other antagonistic denizens from hell are delivered in a mesmerizing, stream-of-consciousness frenzy, a piss-yourself-laughing assault on the senses. Not only is he one of the undisputed masters of postmodern comedy, but also to incurable, self-loathing neurotics he is a patron saint who deserves to be canonized.”

In continuing to redefine himself, he expanded on his acting career by making different kinds of choices. Lewis took on his first dramatic role in “Drunks”, costarring Dianne Weist, Faye Dunaway and Amanda Plummer. Built around an AA meeting, Richard received rave reviews as the central character, Jimmy Epstein, an addict fighting for his life. “Drunks” was theatrically released, subsequently aired on cable and readily available on both DVD and VHS.

Lewis also got excellent notices for his cameo appearance as an agent in another film that dealt with alcoholism, “Leaving Las Vegas.” Furthering his 'indie' credits, Lewis also completed the film “Gameday”, as Coach Adler, a college basketball coach whose personal life is in shambles but, on the court and in the locker room, he's brilliant. It regularly airs on Showtime and Cinemax. Ironically Lewis had, earlier in life, battled some of the same demons these films address and he is uncompromisingly honest about them in his aforementioned book. He also costarred as a psychotic gangster in “Hugo Pool”, a dark comedy from Robert Downey, Sr.

With scores of other guest acting appearances and TV series under his belt, far and away his favorite was his four year run in ABC’s critically acclaimed series “Anything But Love”, costarring with Jamie Lee Curtis. Late night TV viewers and media junkies in general are familiar with his frequent guest appearances on every show including "The Daily Show" and "Conan" and he may hold the title to having the most appearances on late night television just counting David Letterman and the Tonight Show alone.

ricahrd lewis corporate comedian His second special, "I’m Exhausted," aired on HBO and earned him an ACE nomination as Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. It was part of a self-proclaimed "Trilogy From Hell," which includes the earlier "I'm In Pain" for Showtime and his second Ace nominated special "I'm Doomed" for HBO, all now available on home video. His "Diary Of A Young Comic," which he starred in and CO-wrote, first aired on NBC in the "Saturday Night Live" time slot and is now considered a comedy classic; also available on video.

Regarded by his peers as a 'comic's comic,' Lewis' neuroses have become a part of our language as in, "I had a date from Hell!" In July '95 Lewis performed live stand-up comedy for the first time in over two years with his "Magical Misery Tour." Shot at New York's historic Bottom Line HBO aired the one-hour special in December '96, making it a rare accomplishment in completing his fourth hour cable special. In December of 1989, Lewis achieved a very personal goal...he performed at Carnegie Hall to a standing room only audience. .

The comedy of Richard Lewis is now available for your next corporate event - c ontact us today to arrange an appearance for your next special event.