Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Larry David on why he brought ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ back
Fans have been nagging Larry David about the return of his beloved HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
It’s been six years since the show finished its eighth season, and it seemed that its star and creator was through, although that was never made definitive.
David — who co-created the landmark series “Seinfeld” — didn’t exactly go into hiding after the last “Curb.” He wrote and starred in an offbeat movie for HBO called “Clear History,” and he wrote and starred in the hugely successful Broadway play “Fish in the Dark.” He also showed up in an episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” with old pal Jerry Seinfeld and did a few cameos here and there.
During last year’s heated political campaign, he played Sen. Bernie Sanders on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which included a skit called “Bern Your Enthusiasm,” where the candidate came across like the irritating curmudgeon character on the HBO show.
Finally, the real thing is back. Season 9 of “Curb” is starting Sunday with 10 new episodes.
“I’m not a misser, so to speak. I don’t really miss things, people that much. But I was missing it,” admits David. He added he also missed his co-stars Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman and J.B. Smoove, along with writer and executive producer Jeff Schaffer, who worked on both on “Seinfeld” and “Curb.” All of them were with him to talk to reporters about the new season.
“So I thought, ‘Yeah, what the hell?’ And I got tired of people asking me, ‘Is the show coming back?’ “he says. “I couldn’t face that question anymore, and I wasn’t ready to say, ‘No, never.’ And I kept saying, ‘Oh, you know, maybe. Who knows?’ So I thought, ‘Yeah, I won’t have to be asked that anymore.’ “
People may think that doing “Curb” might be easy, especially when David says things like, “I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not,
but TV Larry is just about a quarter of an inch away from Real Larry.”
But while it may seem like David and the others are just riffing on themselves, that quarter-inch may as well be the distance to the moon. Things may be taken from David’s life, but they are tightly scripted.
“The difference between TV Larry and Real Larry,” says Schaffer, who David hired right out of Harvard for “Seinfeld,” “is Real Larry comes in the office and says, “This thing happened to me, and I should have a said this.’ “
David says a lot of people think they are providing him with material for his scripts, “but they’re not. You know, all of a sudden, I’ll write something down, and they’ll go, ‘Oh, did I just say something? Did I just give you that?’ No, no, you didn’t. Shut up. No.”
Explains Schaffer: “It’s basically, your Real Larry is Clark Kent, and TV Larry is like a neurotic Superman.”
While the writing is important to the show, “Curb” benefits from the longstanding familiarity the comic actors have with each other and their characters. There is usually little preparation done for a scene, so the actors are fresh for the cameras, which gives the show a looser feel.
The ninth season will feature episodes that are longer than the normal half-hour.
“The shows are filled. There’s a ton of stories this year,” says Schaffer. “I think it was just that Larry had a big reservoir.”
David points out that Richard Lewis is coming back, as well as Bob Einstein, Ted Danson and Cheryl Hines, who plays his ex-wife.
Other expected guest stars include Elizabeth Banks, Jimmy Kimmel and Bryan Cranston, with Lauren Graham appearing as an NBC censor — and a possible love interest for Larry.
Like many celebrities, David isn’t keen on getting recognized. In the comedian’s case, it’s particularly hard because some people think they know him from his TV persona. But that quarter-inch makes the difference between being a bit reserved in real life and being that jerky TV persona. (In the times I’ve talked to David or seen him interact with journalists, he has always been affable and polite, unlike TV Larry.)
If you want to know more about the comedian’s background, check out Tuesday’s episode of “Finding Your Roots” on PBS. The show delves into the Brooklynraised David and traces his family history.
Despite the show’s attempt to keep them secret until it aired, a couple of fascinating items revealed by host Henry Louis Gates have come out.
It turns out that the comedian is related to another Brooklyn-raised celebrity — yes, Bernie Sanders. So it seems like fate that the comedian played him. (Sanders also appears on the show.)
The other was that he is also related to a Confederate slaveholder, one of the few Jewish Southerners who fought for the rebel cause.
Even knowing this, the comedian’s reactions to those surprises and others when told are pure Larry David.
“I’m sure everybody’s curious about their roots,” says David. “I am human, so I thought that would be interesting to find out who my relatives were, who my ancestors were.”
Following a 1999 special of the same name, the series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” premiered on HBO in October 2000. So it’s taken 18 years to make nine seasons,
and David, as usual, isn’t committing to a 10th.
“On ‘Seinfeld,’ I would write season endings to the last show because I didn’t think I’d be back. So that’s just my nature,” David admits. “I like to quit things, too. You know, it’s a very satisfying thing, quitting. Did you ever go up to a boss and say, ‘I’m done. I’ve had it. Go to hell’? It’s fun.”
When a reporter wanted to know David’s reaction to turning 70 this year, his reaction was, “Extremely unpleasant. Very unpleasant experience. Thank you for reminding me.”
That’s very Larry-like.