All 37 Richard Lewis ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Appearances, Ranked
Why is Richard Lewis such an appealing character on Curb Your Enthusiasm? For starters, he’s Richard frickin’ Lewis, an American neurotic treasure. But more importantly, he’s one of Larry’s only true friends, despite the miserable treatment to which he’s regularly subjected. The key: Richard will let Larry get away with virtually anything, as long as the guy is funny. Here, then, is our definitive ranking of all 37 overwrought Richard Lewis Curb Your Enthusiasm appearances…
‘Fatwa!,’ Season 9, Episode 10
Richard is a guest at Sammy’s wedding. And… that’s about it.
‘Vow of Silence,’ Season 8, Episode 5
No Lewis appearance until the end of the episode, where we see Richard waiting for Larry to show up for lunch. Spoiler: Larry does not show up for lunch.
‘The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial,’ Season 6, Episode 3
Lewis shows up to pay his respects after Funkhouser’s mother dies in this brief appearance.
‘The Grand Opening,’ Season 3, Episode 10
Lewis’ presence is always welcome, but he’s basically set decoration as a patron at the grand opening of Larry’s restaurant. He does get in a good “pussy pig fucker” when everyone shouts profanities at the end of the episode.
‘The Smiley Face,’ Season 8, Episode 4
Don’t date the hostess at your favorite restaurant, warns Richard! Larry should have listened to him.
‘Beep Panic,’ Season 10, Episode 9
Richard is prepping for a career-defining role. Or so we hear — this brief appearance is really about setting up a golf game.
‘The Tivo Guy,’ Season 6, Episode 7
No Richard appearance until the last minute, resulting in a tussle where Larry gets a knee to “the long balls.” Ouch.
‘Thank You For Your Service,’ Season 9, Episode 5
When Larry suggests he might date a female mail carrier, Richard reveals that he once dated a garbage woman. Larry gets irritated at the one-up. Bickering ensues.
‘The Bare Midriff,’ Season 7, Episode 6
Larry and Jerry Seinfeld are sitting in a coffee shop booth when a famished Richard Lewis shows up to join them. Neither man wants to scoot over to make room for Larry’s neurotic friend, who ends up leaving as they argue.
‘Insufficient Praise,’ Season 10, Episode 5
Larry gives Richard’s new girlfriend his mother’s mink stole since she recently lost her own mother. But when Larry learns she’s a professional crier, he’s convinced she conned him.
‘Meet the Blacks,’ Season 6, Episode 1
After all of the kidney drama of Season Five, Lewis is back to Supporting Buddy as Season Six kicks off. He kvetches about a golf match with Larry and Jeff that was, frankly, a little boring. Later, he’s mad at Larry for confessing his sexual desire for new girlfriend Cha Cha during a round of the Newlywed Game at Ted Danson’s party.
‘The Bracelet,’ Season 1, Episode 4
While trying to help Larry buy a bracelet, a blind man asks Lewis to help him move into an apartment. Bickering ensues.
‘Artificial Fruit,’ Season 10, Episode 3
Larry and Richard have a series of arguments over who gets to pick up the tab for lunches, culminating in a fistfighting funeral brawl. Aren’t there a lot of funerals on this show? And a lot of fistfights?
‘Affirmative Action,’ Season 1, Episode 9
When Larry and Cheryl really need to get a prescription filled, they reach out to Richard who has a Black dermatologist friend. The fact that the dermatologist is Black wouldn’t be material except that Larry met him earlier in the day and insulted him. Because he’s Black.
‘The Car Salesman,’ Season 2, Episode 1
Larry takes a job as a car salesman because of course he does. Richard shows up and busts his balls. “This is a joke, right?” An argument over agents and cashmere sweaters ends up in yet another physical brawl.
‘Lewis Needs a Kidney,’ Season 5, Episode 5
Lewis is sick and needs a kidney. If both Larry and Jeff are matches, who’s going to give it up? Larry agrees to get tested, but Richard is pissed that it took Larry a day to think about it. As much as this episode is about Richard Lewis, he doesn’t get that much to do.
‘The Thong,’ Season 2, Episode 5
After their therapist shows up on the beach in a thong, Larry and Richard plot to break up with him. It’s a tough move for Richard, seeing as this was his “28th therapist since 1969.”
‘The Nanny From Hell,’ Season 3, Episode 4
Richard wants to be entered into Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations for his aphorism, “(blank) from Hell.” In real life, Bartlett’s rejected Lewis, but the far superior Yale Book of Quotations gives him proper credit.
‘The Lefty Call,’ Season 6, Episode 4
Larry helps Richard’s girlfriend Cha Cha land a job at his office, but she keeps holding him up with small talk as he tries to use the restroom. Larry’s bathroom habits are reported back to Richard, who expresses that “she has bowel concern for you and I do too!” More than the usual amount of hijinks ensue, leading to Cha Cha losing her job and Richard losing his mind even more than usual. Larry will get her job back if he can do his business at Richard’s, but “no one sits on Richard Lewis’ toilet!”
‘The Accidental Text On Purpose,’ Season 9, Episode 6
Larry’s girlfriend advice sucks, so Richard has to choose between Larry and Rhonda, his new lady. Of course, he chooses Rhonda. But when Larry’s “accidental text on purpose” gambit backfires, she breaks up with Richard anyway.
‘The Bat Mitzvah,’ Season 6, Episode 10
Richard has hired someone Larry “recommended,” though he didn’t understand that “recommend” was in quotation marks. Bickering once again ensues, including Richard mistakenly invoking the name of “Ben Laden,” a guy who sounds less like a terrorist and more like a shirtmaker in Manhattan. “He’s got great collars!”
‘The Safe House,’ Season 8, Episode 2
Richard is dating stripper Stella, and when Larry notices a suspicious breast mole during her show (he has “breast vision”), he suggests having it checked by a doctor. Richard is furious that Larry saw the burlesque — and even angrier when Stella and her doctor decide she needs a breast reduction. “I thought you didn’t care about her breasts!” “I lied!”
‘Foisted,’ Season 9, Episode 1
Richard’s parakeet dies, and do you think Larry could be a little empathetic? Do you know Larry?
‘Elizabeth, Margaret and Mary,’ Season 10, Episode 8
Larry and Jon Hamm, who is shadowing him for a Larry-esque role, dine with Richard, who wasn’t allowed to bring his girlfriend. In an excuse only Richard Lewis could make, he tells her she can’t come because Larry has a bleeding rectum.
‘Irma Kostoski,’ Season 11, Episode 7
This was Richard’s only episode in Season 11 due to three real-life surgeries; we’re ranking it this high because it was so good to see him back. The two friends pick up where they left off, sparring outside a political rally. “When are you gonna die?” Larry kvetches. “Will you please die?”
‘The End,’ Season 5, Episode 10
Larry learns (wrongly) that he was adopted and his real parents are Christians. He starts going to church and decides to donate his kidney to Lewis after all. Despite his generosity, Lewis can’t see his way to loaning Larry a putter, a perfect encapsulation of their friendship.
‘Ben’s Birthday Party,’ Season 4, Episode 2
The daughter of Richard Lewis’ friend wants breast implants to succeed as an actress, so he tries to get Larry to talk her out of it. It’s an indictment of Richard Lewis the person that he’d ask LARRY DAVID to handle this sensitive conversation.
‘The Surrogate,’ Season 4, Episode 7
It’s Borderline Problematic Richard Lewis, dating a Black woman and afraid he won’t measure up to all of the Black penises she must have seen in her life. That Knicks forward he saw in the locker room? “They could put the Chicago fire out with this. It was like from another planet.”
‘The Pants Tent,’ Season 1, Episode 1
Richard Lewis gets introduced right off the bat as Larry’s pal, Richard Lewis. The two friends get in a fight when Lewis’ date accuses Larry of staring down her dress while trying to get past her in a movie theater. “You’re looking at my girlfriend’s breasts!”
‘Vehicular Fellatio,’ Season 7, Episode 2
Larry has dinner with Jeff, Richard and Richard’s new girlfriend, who has performed the titular vehicular fellatio on the way to the restaurant. So is it a surprise that Larry doesn’t want to share a glass with her? Or a kiss for that matter?
‘The Baptism,’ Season 2, Episode 9
In this Richard-centric episode, Lewis accuses David of stealing his answering machine message. “I wrote it in Paris!”
‘The Ski Lift,’ Season 5, Episode 8
Richard still needs a kidney, and he offers Larry his Mickey Mantle 500-home-run ball in exchange for one of his. But Larry’s still holding out hope that Richard’s comatose cousin will kick the bucket, presenting an organ alternative. When Richard’s historic baseball goes missing, Larry suspects Lewis’ nurse stole it inside her unusually large vagina (it’s a long story). Bonus points for the look on Richard’s face when he realizes where Larry’s missing cell phone might be stashed.
‘Shaq,’ Season 2, Episode 8
Larry and Richard have courtside seats for the Lakers. Larry complains about why the coach won’t put Shaq back in the game. Lewis: “Who, Coach Jackson? I’ll go ask him and his eight rings.” When Larry inadvertently trips Shaq, it’s worth the price of admission to witness Richard’s mortification in front of 19,000 booing fans.
‘The Benadryl Brownie,’ Season 3, Episode 2
Richard has found “The One,” except should you date Deborah the Christian Scientist when you’re always under the weather?
What happens next is complicated. (Deep breath) Deborah is allergic to nuts, a diet restriction that Larry tells Cheryl about via his new, Richard-recommended cell phone, but the phone call drops so the information isn’t heard and Deborah has an allergic reaction for which she won’t take a Benadryl because it’s against her religion, leading Larry to convince Cheryl to whip up some brownies laced with the allergy drug. Suffice it to say, it’s a very funny Richard Lewis episode.
‘The Special Section,’ Season 3, Episode 6
Richard takes up yoga, and Larry offers up his mantra since his friend is too embarrassed to ask for one of his own. The only problem: Larry has second thoughts and wants his mantra back, prompting Richard to call him an “East Indian giver.” But when Lewis finds out its profane meaning, he can’t wait to get rid of it. A classic.
‘Running With the Bulls,’ Season 9, Episode 4
Larry and Jeff attend the opening of Richard’s art show, which includes a very flattering self-portrait. Lewis’ art is pretty good, but we’re with Larry about the self-likeness. We can watch this scene forever.
‘The Larry David Sandwich,’ Season 5, Episode 1
Richard is pissed that their favorite deli named a sandwich after Larry, eventually convincing the deli owner to change the name of the sandwich from the Larry David to the Richard Lewis. Let the rage match begin, including a Rosh Hashanah harangue.
