VHS Vault: Richard Lewis

I'm just unloading stuff now, fast and furious. This is Richard Lewis from the late 1980s on Letterman. I've always had a love-hate thing with Lewis. I think the first time you see a comic can forever slant you one way. I first saw him on The Alan Hamel Show, which was recorded here in Vancouver, when I was in high school. I'd never heard of him, but he did a stand-up set and I thought he was really funny. Since then, not so much, but he has a really endearing quality. He's kind of like Rickles in the sense you laugh and then go, "What did that even mean?" It's more in the delivery. And, of course, I'm a sucker for anything reminding me of Woody Allen (I just watched a chunk of Annie Hall tonight and, man, is it good! Still!).

Incidentally, I had the chance to interview Richard Lewis a year or so ago. The show was eventually cancelled so I never bothered transcribing it, but when I come across it, I'll definitely get on it. He's exactly – and I mean exactly – like his onstage persona. It'll be a bitch to transcribe, in other words. One half-expressed thought leads to another one, with hardly a break for a breath.

Anywho, this segment on the old Letterman show is cut off at either end. So take it for what it's worth.