If a light goes out with the passing of a person who brought joy and laughter to the world, the death early Wednesday of writer-comedian Bob Einstein is a solar eclipse.

Einstein, 76, died at his home in Indian Wells. His widow, Berta, said he had been diagnosed with cancer, but the suddenness of his death was unexpected.

Einstein was best known to young audiences as Marty Funkhouser on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and as Larry Middleman, the “surrogate” for George Bluth on “Arrested Development.” But he was a mentor to Steve Martin who helped change comedy with his use of irony on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” in the 1960s and '70s.

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Einstein also was a bridge from the groundbreaking comedy of the previous generation. His father was radio comic Harry Einstein, known as Parkyakarkus, who died of a heart attack at age 54 in 1958 after "killing" an audience during a roast of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. He also was noted for naming another of his four sons Albert Einstein. That boy changed his name to Albert Brooks and began a major comedy career of his own.

Brooks tweeted Wednesday, "R.I.P. My dear brother Bob Einstein. A great brother, father and husband. A brilliantly funny man. You will be missed forever."

Bob Einstein co-hosted a talk show in Los Angeles in the early 1970s with Steve Allen, pioneer of the first “Tonight Show,” who Einstein called “like a second father to me.” Einstein and Allan Blye wrote and produced one episode of a variety show set in Harlem in 1977 for the legendary Redd Foxx. That show didn't continue in part because Foxx told Einstein, “I sold my house in Harlem and I don’t want to run home every night. So, you do it.”

Einstein said in 2011, “He was so much hipper than everyone. Everybody owes everything to him.”

Einstein also wrote and produced a variety show for Dick Van Dyke in the 1970s called “Van Dyke and Company.”

He became known as part of the great writing teams for the Smothers Brothers and Sonny and Cher, along with Martin, Blye, Rob Reiner and others. He worked for a Beverly Hills advertising agency until he had an idea for a sketch for a local Channel 11 television show in Los Angeles. He did a bit as the guy who carved the names of the stars into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. When an interviewer asked if someone could pay his way onto the walk, Einstein feigned outrage.

“Well, how do you get on there?” the interviewer asked as a follow-up.

“Do you have $10?” Einstein replied.

Tommy Smothers called him the next day and told him that was the kind of humor he wanted on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” Einstein wound up playing an ironic recurring character named Officer Judy. But he might have made a greater contribution by sharing an office with Martin, who Smothers hired for a summer replacement series hosted by Glen Campbell even though Martin had no writing experience.

“We went from writing and performing on Glen to writing and performing on the Smothers,” Einstein told The Desert Sun. “We were nominated for an Emmy and the clip we sent over to the Emmys, they wouldn’t run it. But we won!”

"The Smothers Brothers" was famously canceled for its political content that was often censored by CBS. Einstein, Martin and Blye went on to write for “Sonny and Cher” and Einstein and Blye then followed Bono to his own show, “The Sonny Comedy Revue.”

Einstein said he loved Bono and considered him very talented. But he advised him not to go into stand-up comedy.

“Denis Pregnolato, his manager, calls me up,” Einstein once told The Desert Sun. “He says, ‘Sonny wants to go to Vegas.’ I said, ‘Vacation?’ ‘No, he wants to headline. Come on over to this rehearsal hall and give him your honest opinion. You’re the only one he trusts.’ So, he does part of the act, singing off-key and missing the jokes. I say, 'OK, here’s what I think. I don’t think you should get on the highway to Vegas, I definitely don’t think you should drive on the strip. You shouldn’t go to a hotel there for many years, and you should never perform there.' ”

Einstein also sold a show to NBC featuring Richard Pryor doing bizarre stunts in the 1970s. NBC got scared by some of Pryor’s off-screen antics and Einstein did the pilot for “Bizarre” with Richard Dawson of “Family Feud” fame. Then he sold the show to Showtime with John Byner as host. It ran for six years featuring Einstein's daredevil stuntman character, Super Dave Osborne. That led to several “Super Dave” TV series and specials through the 1990s. Einstein became known on and off-screen as Dave Osborne before finally becoming famous to a new generation as Larry David’s friend, Marty Funkhouser, on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

“The first time I ever did (Super Dave) was on ‘Van Dyke and Company,’ ” he said. “This daredevil was going to do something that had never been done before. I was strapped in a car and you pull back and it’s a rollercoaster and I’m scared (to death). I didn’t do it again until ‘Bizarre.’ ”

Einstein and his wife, Berta, had homes in La Quinta and Indian Wells. He was an avid golfer and frequently appeared in celebrity golf tournaments. But he rarely performed in the desert. During one appearance in an original stage play produced by Peter Marshall at the McCallum Theatre, called “Old Faces of 2002,” he played a character in "The Hollywood Squares," hosted by Marshall. When the workshopped production started to run long, Einstein ad-libbed, “I was a young face when this show started.”

He later served as a grand marshal in a Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade, again feigning dismay that his career had sunk to the depths of riding a float down El Paseo. “My career is over,” he deadpanned.

But Einstein was looking forward to another season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” His co-star on “Curb,” Richard Lewis, tweeted, “His long career is hard to match. His role on #curbyourenthusiasm was excruciatingly brilliant! Our cast and crew will be devastated. He was so loved.”

Funeral or memorial services are pending, but Berta said they probably won’t be held this week.

Berta, who was with her husband for 40 years, said, “He adored his family.” He is survived by his daughter, Erin Einstein Dale, his son-in-law, Andrew Dale, his grandchildren Ethan Dale and Zoe Dale, and his brothers Cliff Einstein and Albert Brooks.