A Stretch in ‘Heaven’ for Richard Lewis

Comedian Richard Lewis begins a five-episode, guest-starring role tonight on “7th Heaven,” the WB series about a minister and his family. Lewis plays Rabbi Glass. It’s a bit of a stretch for a performer who has given his stand-up comedy tours titles such as “The Magical Misery Tour” and “I’m in Pain,” but Lewis says he’ll try to bring a little of himself to the role and feels he’s in good hands.

“This to me is like having a holiday in Utah, being with this cast,” Lewis said. “It’s really quite an experience. I can’t even recognize half the food for lunch. I actually ran away from one of the meals. It was a ham, but it had like a face on it. It was like an anti-deli.”

Lewis, the son of a caterer, says Rabbi Glass is a Reform rabbi. His wife is played by Laraine Newman, whom the WB’s core teen audience may not realize was a founding cast member on “Saturday Night Live.” In the story line, the Glasses’ daughter, Sarah, falls in love with the reverend’s son, Matt.

As a comedian, Lewis has spent decades mining his anxieties as a single, Jewish, commitment-phobic male shuttling to and from therapy. Onstage, everything in his life was “from hell.” And now he’s in “Heaven.” “I’m running out to comparison skullcap shop on Fairfax,” Lewis said.

Compiled byTimes staff writers