Comedian Richard Lewis never lived in Minnesota, but he was laid to rest last week at the Temple of Aaron cemetery in Roseville.

In a 2015 interview with American Jewish World, Lewis talked about how he first learned that news from his wife, St. Paul native Joyce Lapinsky.

“My in-laws are buried there,” Lewis said. “My wife, she decided one day — talk about a breakfast talk! — she went, ‘I know you’re a Brooklyn boy and you’re not that sure where you want to go at the end,’ and I said, ‘Well, is it the end?… So what are you saying?’ ”

Her response: “You’re going to be next to me for the rest of eternity … you’re going to come to Temple of Aaron cemetery.”

Lewis, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021, died of a heart attack in his Los Angeles home on Feb. 27 at the age of 76. Known for his dark jokes about his many neuroses and struggles with addiction, Lewis began performing stand-up in 1971 and became a familiar talk show guest, appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” 22 times and “Late Night with David Letterman” 48 times over the span of a decade. He starred in the ABC sitcom “Anything but Love” with Jamie Lee Curtis and was a mainstay on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” since it began in 2000.

Lapinsky got her start singing backup vocals on “Mouth to Mouth,” the debut album from Minneapolis dance group Lipps Inc. that spawned the worldwide 1980 hit “Funkytown.” After leaving Minnesota, she went on to work behind the scenes in producing and music publishing.

The couple met in 1998. In a 2010 interview, Lewis talked about how he introduced himself by giving her “my usual note … which was, ‘I hope you’re married and happy, but if you’re not …’ And I’d have my number on it. And it would be so sleazy. That’s how I picked up my wife. That same note. At a Ringo Starr party, if I can name-drop. And she saved the note. And she gave it to me for our first anniversary, this sleazy note.”

After dating for seven years, Lewis took Lapinsky to meet his therapist. “It’s sad, (I) had no confidence in my ability to select a mate,” he said in a 2007 interview with the Observer. “In a voice that was almost satanic — it was so dark and loud that it seemed to echo through the neighborhood — my therapist screamed at me, ‘This is as good as it gets!’ ”

The pair married in 2005 and Lewis took to matrimony with zeal. “Joyce has such a stabilizing effect on him. Everybody is looking for that one person in life who will love you unconditionally, and he’s found that with her,” his “Curb Your Enthusiasm” co-star and longtime friend Susie Essman told the Observer.

“On stage, I still mine my bottomless pit of bad memories,” Lewis said in a 2008 interview. “In real life, I’m still crazy, but I’m far happier and more grateful than I’ve ever been. Marriage has a lot to do with that. We have a neurotic relationship that’s, 99 percent of the time, filled with laughter and love.”

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