On indefinite hiatus from the HBO hit "Curb Your Enthusiasm," RichardLewis is currently on a comedy tour that brings him to the Helium ComedyClub this weekend. Lewis tells us he decides the content of his showonly minutes before getting on stage. "I never know what I am going tosay. It depends on what kind of day I am having. I have only one rule --no props," he says.On "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David and Lewisplay best friends who are neurotics in desperate need of therapy.(Lewis does not, by the way, have any inside information about theelusive, rumored ninth season.)Lewis describes David, who he hasknown since they met at summer camp when they were 13, as "eccentric,wearing his heart on his sleeve and needing to tell you everything."Lewisswears that their friendship off-camera is pretty similar to the onedepicted on camera, "except for a little hyperbole on camera.""Mywhole life is one big ['Curb'] episode. I wanted to take out Larry forhis birthday and bought a special gift for him," recalls Lewis. "Eventhough the restaurant had a valet, Larry David, a multimillionaire manytimes over, parked at the meter. When I was thanking him for ourwonderful friendship, as I was giving him his present of Yankee MickeyMantle's cufflinks, I noticed that he was not listening to me and keptlooking at his watch. He explained that he had to go because he wasparked at a meter and did not want to pay a ticket. Our lunch lasted atotal of 38 minutes. As he dashed out the door, I had to remind him notto forget his Mickey Mantle cufflinks."Staying in touchLewis believes that some of the credit for his success is due to the comics who came before him. He shows his appreciation to older comics by staying in touch or visiting them, and recently had dinner at Sid Caesar's house. "I talk to Jonathan Winters every day. He is like a father figure to me," he says. "I used to visit Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy and stayed in touch with his widow when he died. When I am older, I hope that Bill Maher and Jon Stewart will visit me."
