After six years, David ‘ready to do the show again’
“I’m sorry, Gary, I’m not a good interview. I apologize. I’m much better in front of an audience.”
That’s Larry David, professional curmudgeon, repeating an oft-stated regret after agreeing to discuss the ninth season of HBO’s improvised cult-classic comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the first in six years. He insisted it take place on Apple’s FaceTime app, which his assistant set up in his temporary Los Angeles office.
But David, who struck it megarich as the co-creator of NBC’s Seinfeld, didn’t really want to talk much about upcoming episodes. He forbade HBO from releasing advance screeners — “Why would we? I don’t see the upside in it” — and will say only that the first episode (Sunday, 10 P.M.) sets up a season-long arc, much like past seasons focused on a Seinfeld reunion and Larry’s casting in The Producers on Broadway.
Six years is an awfully long time to wait, even for David, 70, who “wasn’t into doing it until I decided to do it, I guess. It’s just whether or not I’m in the mood. There were other things I wanted to do. I did a movie (HBO’s Clear History), I did a play (Fish in the Dark), I did some stand-up, and then I was ready to do the show again.”
What’s different? Mercifully, not much, judging from advance footage: He’s still annoyed by life’s frustrations, including shoelaces, shampoo pumps, an inept (and constipated) assistant, a perfume saleswoman and a neighbour he takes to court on Judge Judy. And he makes many more enemies with his churlish behaviour.
“I would say nothing’s changed, except instead of people calling me a bald [expletive] they now call me an old [expletive]. I’m six years older ... so all the insults include something old,” which is “much worse. I’d kill to be called bald again.”
Co-stars Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines and JB Smoove are back, along with guests including Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen (as themselves), Bryan Cranston (as his therapist), Lauren Graham (a potential love interest) and Jimmy Kimmel.
David said he’s “horrified” at the suggestion that his unfiltered alter ego has emboldened others, especially Donald Trump, to speak freely without fear of retribution.
But it’s true that the real Larry has become more like “TV Larry,”
“I think that he has seeped into me to the degree that I will say things now that I didn’t used to say. I don’t go as far as he goes, but if somebody asks me to lunch, I can go: ‘No, I don’t think so,’ which I really didn’t do before. And they’re not offended! I seem to be able to get away with it, because they’re expecting it. That’s who they think I am, so why disappoint them?”
David won raves for last year’s performance as presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. “I have to say, I didn’t have to put a lot of work into that impression. It’s not like I studied tapes or anything. He does talk exactly like my cousin, so I have that voice in my head,” he says. “I was very surprised and pleased with how many people liked that.”