Richard Lewis has revealed that, when he first met his lifelong friend Larry David, he disliked him so intensely he couldn’t wait to get away.
Lewis, who appears with David in the upcoming 12th series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, told the UK’s Spectator magazine that the pair, who were born three days apart in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, first met at summer camp aged 12.
“I disliked him intensely. 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.”
The pair met over a decade later on New York’s stand-up comedy scene, and became close buddies, although they didn’t recognise each other at first.
“I looked at his face and I said, ‘There’s something about you, man, that spooks me.’” David replied, “You’re Richard Lewis!” “You’re Larry David!”
Lewis was only able to appear in one episode of the previous series of Curb due to health issues, and revealed in April of this year that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He told The Spectator he will be in approximately half of the episodes of the new season, and is confident the series remains on a high:
“Larry never does the show unless he thinks it’s going to be better than the last. At least on paper, and with the guest stars and the cast, he has the best year ever. But he’ll be the judge because he edits it.”
Lewis got his break in comedy on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and then with slots on Letterman. He retired from stand-up four years ago. He has appeared in Curb since the first season back in 2000. He posted on Twitter (now X) in November:
“I’m back shooting Curb! I’m a lucky cat to be with my oldest pal who just so happens to be a genius. Don’t tell him I called him that or he’ll mock me to my grave.”