Richard Lewis on tour/PHL this Saturday

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on September 22nd, 2005

Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer has a swell article on Richard Lewis by David Hiltbrand (Free reg. req.)

The oddest acting credit on Lewis’ resume never happened. He’s listed on the essential showbiz site IMDB as a cornerman in Cinderella Man, Ron Howard’s boxing fable.

“Not only was I not in it,” Lewis protests, “but I never even saw it. People kept asking me about it and I thought, ‘Was I the trainer? Am I drinking again?’

“Maybe I should stop denying it,” he continues. “If I had a nervous breakdown, when I do crack up, it’ll give me something better to talk to the other patients about. ‘I loved working with Ron Howard. It was one of the greatest experiences of my film life.’ “

The occasion is Lewis’ appearance at the TLA (Theater of the Living Arts), a funky old repertory cinema on South St. (The fabled South St. made famous by song and the former home of the Funny Bone, then Catch A Rising Star and currently the Laff House.) The TLA’s perfect for standup. (The Male Half performed there, back in the open mike days, opening for Airplane in 1982!)

Good to see that Philly is bringing in name comedy acts, into non-traditional venues– and doubly good to see that the Inky is spilling ink on those acts. Also nice to see SHECKYmagazine quoted in the occasional article:

“His act, his persona is a schematic for Jewish humor,” said Brian McKim, editor of the comedy Web site SheckyMagazine.com, by e-mail. “He gets right to the point. He’s never more than a few pained utterances away from his guilt, his despair. He has embarked on a 30-year therapy session, yet, thankfully, he has never found a cure.”

Always a pleasure to fire up the Blurb-O-Matic for a good cause!

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