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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 2014)
Street roots 5 Feb. 14, 2014 LEWIS, fro m page 4 because you’re on thè road alone. I love rock n roll and I love jazz. I love classical mUsic too but rock ‘n’ roll and jazz really keep me company. As much as I have a tremendous amount of negativity about humanity and lots of self deprecation, I am truly grateful That’s in the mix somewhere. I don’t let it come out too much on stage because I’ll disappoint the audience. S.Z.: Tell me about your friendship with Larry David. Although you are friends now, he was a sort o f childhood nemesis. Tell me about the evolution o f your friendship with him. • • Richard Lewis will perform at the Helium Comedy Club, two shows on each night, Friday, Feb. 21 and Saturday, Feb. 22 /. he said somethihg like, “Hey, you know if I die, it will probably save another 10 people.” I guess what Phillip meant was probably that he was famous and that if he dies, £ was a great guy, what I saw on the news led me to believe it never should have : happened. Even if he was a racist, if I knew he was a racist and he hated blacks, he still maybe it will stop a handful of people from ® should have sat in his car. The kid was using heroin. f walking down the street with a candy bar. It That’s hardly the realjssue. It’s an wasn’t as if the kid was attacking anybody. It epidemic - drug addiction and alcoholism. | never should have happened. The kid should The bigger issue is not for famous people to be alive and the cops should have come, overdose, but for anybody to know that you I’m a Jew, There’s going to be people don’t have to overdose. who hate Jews just like they hate African Change the laws. This absurd war on Americans o r Mexican Americans. I love , drugs and putting people in jail for life rather than putting them in treatment. this country. However, there is no getting Spending taxpayer’s money for keeping around the fact that there are people who ' them in jail when they should be talking to don’t realize that hatred is just insanity. counselors is insanity. We’re making strides with gay rights and | Clearly, people who are homeless and on immigration reform that is going to happen the street, are far more prone to want to sooner or later because forget their misery and get high. That’s how the population is it all happens. changing. There is no way that Lknow what was I took six months o il. It was I’m thrilled that the going through his head. I do know that the the greatest thing I've ever white population is reasons why I had a 20-year run: I was filling becoming a minority done« I hadn't taken a break up all sorts o f holes in my feelings. Or I was because it’s going to be like that, certainly? since I afraid to feel. There are a million reasons easier for all people. why you don’t want to see life on life’s was 20« It saved my career«/ I’m color blind. So all terms. I don’t know what he was going through in his life. But it’s not a question of, people will be able to. Hey! What a great y e a r... four movies ... one have equal rights. Tm of the most well-respected actors ever. How gonna be pretty old could he do this? Well he could do this watching that from, the retired actors’ home, because he loved how it felt. So did I. " but I ’ll be happy. ¿But the thing was, when I was high I screwed up a number of great things. I S.Z.: You’ve talked about Dick Shawn’s wasn’t a great friend. I quit stand-up for death (dropped dead on stage in 1987from a three years. I lost a ton of money. I burned heart attack, he was 31 years old,) and more bridges. If they trust me to be on a TV recently your good friend Lou Reed passed commercial two out of the last three years away. What is your relationship with death in front of 120 million people for a Super these days? Bowl ad, I guess I’m not a drug addict in their eyes. .(Lewis had a cameo in Hyundai R. L.: Last year, I had a show for a charity commercial during Superbowl XLVIII.) R.L.: Oh God. What an obnoxious human being the genius he is. I was a preemie. I was born in Brooklyn but I had to stay around for a week because I was only about an inch tall. Larry was born three days after me, in the same ward, I’m not kidding. We just discovered this at dinner about a month ago or so. We were ; screaming, laughing. He said, “I knew there was someone trying to strangle me with his umbilical cord!” I immediately had a tremendous dislike for him. I’ll say that. But sm art and annoying. Iw en t to this very famous sports camp, as did he, when we were 12. And we were | really archrivals. We were good athletes, we hated one another, we annoyed one another and we didn’t want to see each other again.. Twelve years later, I was making a name for myself in the comedy scene in New York, and David came on a year or two later, and he was a fan of mine. We hung out at ’ some of the clubs. Finally he went on and he was unbelievably g re a t At that point we were inseparable best friends. We weje about 2 4 -He Was never a big druggie or a «, S .7.: Speaking o f which, what d id y o u th m k drinker, and I w as a budding-addict.* o f Dylan’s Chrysler commercial? J. j ecall one night just staring at him and/ it freaked m e o u t He reminded me a bit of R.L.: I didn’t see the commercial. Bob the end o f Rosemary’s Baby: half a comic, Dylan is certainly a genius and one of. the half a sh eep .H e asked me what was wrong most enigmatic artists, and he should be. and I said, “T here’s something.about your He’s always said, you can lay anything you eyes that scares me.” We retraced our want bn me, but I’m not a political guy. I childhood and long story short, we realized just write what I w ant to write. It’s like we went to the same camp and I’m like, going to an art museum and someone going, “Wait a minute? You’re that Larry David?” Woah! and someone going, Huh? That’s how And he said, “You’re that Richard Lewis?” I perceive Bob. Everyone is boxing him in. And we almost came to blows at the bar. It Sell out? Come on. I’m not Bob Dylan, b u t: was unbelievable. It was a millioh-to-one did I sell out because I made a commercial? /shot, primarily because we were best No. I had fun doing i t t made some bread..,!. friends at the time. I love him. worked my ass off for 45 years, it was a good payday. If the commercial was stupid S.Z.: With thé recent death of Philip Seymour and I didn’t like what it was, I wouldn’t have Hoffman the discussion o f mental health and done it. But my wife says, “When you dress addiction is back on the front page. up like a hamburger, I don’t care how much they pay you: When you’re Mr. Burger, our R.L.: I used to tease(Philip because he marriage is over.” J was just so lovable. He had, I was told, I try not to sell out on my own feelings almost 23 years sober. Once you are an about my artistic integrity and I don’t think addict, you are an addict for life. Of course Dylan... I couldn’t care less. It’s none of my Philip was one of the greatest actors of all business, basically. I have all of his music. time but he was a person first and sadly an He even asked me to open for him once, addict as well. I’m sure if he could, Philip for six days in a row. I didn’t It seemed to ; would want his death to be a reminder to all addicts who slip and sadly court death, that . be a little crazy to do that. Plus I was bottoming o u t That was about a year and a rather than shoot up, pick up the phone and half before I bottomed out on crystal meth ask for help before experimenting yet again and I knew going on six nights in a row - it with a prem ature death. could have been the end. Philip’s passing, overdosing rather - it The bottom line is: I don’t care. I don’t bugged me, as much of a genius as he was speak for Bob Dylan and when people start ... (Lewis trails off to a moment of silence). judging him, put on his music and if you But w hat we should really focus more on is don’t like what he did, so be i t But just that th ere are a lot of people in bis position don’t forget to vote. and if he had picked up that phone instead of the needle, he’d still be with us. The disease is unrelenting, and it’s just waiting for someone not to pick up the • phone. I’m really heartbroken by it. I read a quote, I’m paraphrasing, he (Hoffman) was talking to another addict and S.Z.: That’s what you have to say about Bob Zimmerman (Dylan). What about George Zimmerman? R.L.: The guy was acquitted. Even if he in M ilwaukee and I didn’t w ant to cancel. It was sold out-B ut what they didn-1 know-, - was I hadn’t slept in three days. I was on a run (work, not drugs) that was so crazy that had I not had this sort of hallucination in my hotel room from fatigue and insomnia, I might have kept going because I had gigs for the next seven months. And I might have dropped dead, so I called up my representatives and I said, "For: all intents and purposes, I’m retired until I come back.” And I took six months off. It was the greatest thing I’ve ever done. I hadn’t taken a break like that, certainly, since J was 20, it saved my career.. It saved" m y life. So when I think about death, obviously; it’s down the road, but it doesn’t have to be premature. I saved myself from probabjy some really bad physical ailment, and it gave me time to focus on my addictions and why I was an addict, and spend more time doing service in the community, in the area of recovery. It was just a good time. I was able to connect more with my wife. We also got a (rescue) dog. I was always afraid of dogs, but now I know what puppy love is. The dog was ready to be euthanized. She’s a Maltese mix: Bella Luna Lewis. My wife’s the master. Bella follows my wife around. She is the cutest ... there are actually pictures on my Twitter account of her. S. Z.: You’ll be atH elium next weekend. R.L.: I’m really looking forward to coming to Portland - every show is different. One show could suck, the other could be brilliant. I don’t have an a c t I’m the a c t Bo it depends oil what kind of mood I’m in. Hopefully I’ll be in a crummy mood and you’l l have a blast.
