WATCH: Young Richard Lewis pranked by Candid Camera at his high school and told he is "perfectly suited for manual labor"

American stand-up comedian, actor and writer Richard Lewis died at his home in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack on February 27. The 76-year-old comedian had been living with Parkinson's disease, which he revealed to his fans via social media in June 2023. He is survived by his wife Joyce Lapinsky.

Following his passing, a video of a young Richard Lewis being pranked by Candid Camera in his high school in the 1960s has been doing the rounds on social media. In the video, a guidance counselor can be heard telling a baffled Lewis that after careful evaluation, they have decided that he would be "perfectly suited for manual labor."

Richard Lewis is famously known for his self-deprecating humor about his various addictions and neuroses. He is also known for his stand-up shows and various acting roles, including playing a fictionalized version of himself in HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, along with Larry David.

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High school student Richard Lewis pranked by Candid Camera in the 1960s

A video of a young Richard Lewis being pranked by Candid Camera resurfaced on the internet following the news of his death. On February 29, @DannyDeraney posted the video on X, which has since amassed 225K views.

In the black and white clip, Lewis, a student at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, can be seen talking to a man who is seemingly a guidance counselor. The man can be heard saying:

"We've been going through all the records in school for the past three and a half weeks now, and I've come to the very definite and firm conclusion that you would be perfectly suited for manual labor."

As a laugh track plays in the background, a confused Lewis can be heard asking "Did you say manual labor?" to which the man replies "Yes." As the video progresses, Lewis can be seen recounting the incident to a fellow student amid laughter, jesting:

"I'm going to be a bricklayer."

According to IMDb, Richard Lewis appeared on Candid Camera again in 2000, this time donning the hat of the guidance counselor, where he advised students in Burbank, California that they were best suited for unusual jobs, including stand-up comedy.

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A rundown of Richard Lewis' body of work

According to Vulture, Richard Lewis gained fame as a stand-up comedian in the 1970s, when he broke barriers by often incorporating themes of mental health and addiction into his acts. He debuted as an actor in the 1979 made-for-TV NBC movie, Diary of a Young Comic.

In the 1980 and 1990s, he became a staple in the late-night talk show circuit, appearing frequently on The Tonight Show and Late Night With David Letterman. From 1985 to 1997, he released four stand-up comedy specials on HBO.

As an actor, he starred opposite actress Jamie Lee Curtis in the ABC sitcom Anything But Love, which ran for four seasons between 1989 and 1992, before being unceremoniously canceled by 20th Century Fox.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, his most famous recurring television role was in HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he played a fictionalized version of himself who often got into hijinks with his friend and colleague Larry David. The show has been on air since 2000, with the final season wrapping up this year.