Bob Einstein: ‘Unforgettable’ Comic Remembered by Larry David, Patton Oswalt, and More

“Dave was a great friend and the master of a joke you could see coming for miles that still killed when it arrived,” says Jimmy Kimmel

Bob Einstein Marty Funkhouser Curb Your Enthusiasm
HBO

Some of Hollywood’s top comedians are remembering the life and career of Bob Einstein, the comic actor known for his characters Super Dave Osborne and Marty Funkhouser on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” who died Wednesday at 76.

“Never have I seen an actor enjoy a role the way Bob did playing ‘Marty Funkhouser’ on ‘Curb.’ It was an amazing, unforgettable experience knowing and working with him,” Larry David said in a statement. “There was no one like him, as he told us again and again. We’re all in a state of shock.”

Einstein’s brother, writer-director-actor Albert Brooks, called him “a great brother, father and husband,” but also a “brilliantly funny man.” In addition to his work on TV, several comedians also held up Einstein’s scene in the Brooks-directed comedy “Modern Romance” as a clerk at a running store calmly pressuring Brooks into spending a fortune on running gear as one of Einstein’s finest moments.

“The scene with you two in ‘Modern Romance’ always wrecks me. ‘I’m not perfect,’” Patton Oswalt tweeted Wednesday, who in a separate tweet referred to the scene as “Perfection.” “RIP to a comedy genius and a slow-burn god.”

Other comedians including Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, Weird Al Yankovic and others applauded Einstein’s wild, over the top stunts and physical comedy as Super Dave, who Kimmel says they always referred to by the nickname “Supe.”

“Dave was a great friend and the master of a joke you could see coming for miles that still killed when it arrived,” Kimmel said in a tweet along with a video of one of Einstein’s most famous stunts, “King of the Road.”

Even rock stars loved Einstein. Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood revealed in a tweet that while on tour with the band, he would check into hotels with the pseudonym “Marty Funkhouser,” Einstein’s character on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

“I was Marty Funkhouser on the last two Radiohead tours in tribute to his beautifully pitched performance,” Greenwood said. “So subtle. And to think it was all improvised.”

See some more tributes to Einstein below:

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