Larry David and Richard Lewis’ Friendship Was the Heart of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
Richard Lewis, stand-up comedian and frequent scene-stealer on Curb Your Enthusiasm, died last week at the age of 76. But while Sunday’s episode of the show, whose final season is currently airing, opened with a brief memorial to the actor, Curb refused to let that death weigh heavy upon it. Instead, this always absurd sitcom reminded us of the pure sweetness that underlaid Lewis’ misanthropic character—Larry David’s well-matched, lifelong best friend, one of the only other recurring characters playing a lightly fictionalized version of himself.
Perhaps “sweetness” is an overstatement. Larry has few champions in the world of Curb, alienating nearly everyone around him. (It’s gotten to the point where, as in last night’s episode, members of his temple are donating money to get “defamatory” messages about his wretchedness engraved in a wall outside the building.) To a drop-in viewer, Larry and Richard Lewis’ rapport may scream of a similar disdain. But Richard and Larry’s frequent mockery of each other, name-calling, and self-centered repartee always came with an underlying quality of brotherly love. Why else would Richard, one of the few people in Larry’s life with no obligation to care for or about him, stick around? In a world of transactional and toxic relationships, Richard and Larry’s connection is, ironically, meaningfully genuine.
Last night’s classic Richard-and-Larry barb-offs honored that historically poignant friendship. Larry dropped by Irma’s (Tracey Ullman) Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, which Richard Lewis also was attending. Richard proudly told Larry that he’d done some of his best “material” during the meeting—they let him go long, he said.