Richard Lewis has been with Curb Your Enthusiasm from the start. He was in the 1999 TV movie that kicked it off. Over the last near-quarter century he’s swung by for 41 episodes, playing a version of himself. He and Larry David are tight. But they weren’t always that way.
In a new interview with the British magazine Spectator (as caught by Deadline), Lewis confessed that the first time they met didn’t go so hot. Granted, they were kids then.
“I disliked him intensely,” Lewis recalled. “He was cocky, he was arrogant. When we played baseball, I tried to hit him with the ball: we were arch-rivals. I couldn’t wait for the camp to be over just to get away from Larry. I’m sure he felt the same way.”
But the pair — who were born a mere three days apart, both in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital — got a mulligan about a decade late when they were working NYC’s comedy scene. They almost didn’t recognize each other.
“I looked at his face and I said, ‘There’s something about you, man, that spooks me.’” Lewis remembered. David replied, “You’re Richard Lewis!” “You’re Larry David!”
In the most recent season of Curb, Lewis was only able to appear in one episode due to health reasons. Earlier this year he revealed he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Despite that, he was able to return for the forthcoming twelfth season.
(Via Deadline)