Comedian Bob Einstein, who often performed as the satirical daredevil character Super Dave Osbourne and played Larry David’s friend Marty Funkhouser on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, died Wednesday, January 2 after a bout with cancer. He was 76.
Einstein was the older brother of the comic and filmmaker Albert Brooks. Their late father, Harry Einstein, was a radio comedian best known for playing the Greek immigrant Parkyakarkus.
In a memorable episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, David invites Funkhouser to a new Palestinian-owned chicken restaurant in Los Angeles. The Einstein character, who has become more serious about his Jewishness, refuses to take off his yarmulke before going inside.
Brooks, on Twitter, remembered Einstein as a “great brother, father and husband” and a “brilliantly funny man.”