Larry David: A Real Character

On HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm I like to watch Larry David in his socially awkward situations and his foul attempts at mending broken walls in such situations. The hilarity of the show dates back to he was growing up and his standup career. Larry began as a standup comic, holding several odd jobs to pay his bills such as bra salesman, and limo driver. He got his start in writing in ABC’s Fridays and SNL. While at SNL he only had one of his sketches air, which was pulled last minute. Fed up, he marched into his bosses office and cursed him out and quit only to return the following Monday as if nothing ever happened. He moved on to co-create Seinfeld, where he wrote for 7 seasons. Several shows in Seinfeld were based upon David’s real life experiences including the characters Kramer and George Costanza. Following Seinfeld, Larry moved to HBO in order to have total control over his own show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which he writes and stars. David is a very emotional and spontaneous person and his work reflects almost exclusively that behavior. It’s evident that he writes himself into his characters. His most well known signatures in his sitcoms are mainly poking fun at everyday things, social awkwardness, and stubbornness.

Larry David has a great sense of humor and loves to poke fun at everyday things. Jerry Seinfeld has a very similar style of standup and the Seinfeld series has been coined “a show about nothing.” In other words all they do is go about their lives and pick apart the strange things in life. In Season 3 Episode 10 George and Jerry are in the drug store discussing the difference between cold medicines. “You got isobutene-30?” George asks. “I got isobutene-20.” Jerry responds. “A-ha!” George exclaims. In Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 4 Episode 2 Larry and his manager Jeff discuss the ritual of singing happy birthday at birthday parties. In both instances the transcript reads as if Larry David were sitting next to you at the dinner table. He has a very philosophical way of delivery when it comes to these bits, which are carried out in a very methodical way. “I don’t sing the happy birthday song,” Larry says. “Well I’ve never seen you sing the happy birthday song.” Jeff replies. “It’s a stupid song, I don’t like it.” Larry says. “Well you’re entitled.” Jeff says. The hilarity of both instances is the fact that Larry has to have an enabler right alongside the main character. Jerry enables George’s ridiculous shenanigans and Jeff enables Larry’s every action. It can be found in nearly every episode that David writes and is key in the sets where he is complaining, venting or downright poking fun at everyday things.

In David’s work we can peg George Costanza in Seinfeld and Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm as very awkward individuals. When there is an awkward moment in Seinfeld often times Jerry will roll his eyes or raise his hands in the air or purse his lips. In Curb Your Enthusiasm there is usually a musical cue in the form of a tuba solo in the background. In both shows awkward moments are quite the motif, or running theme of a show. An example is when George leaves an embarrassing message on a girl’s answering machine. He proceeds to stake out her apartment in order to swap the recording before she can hear it. That was an actual situation in Larry David’s life, and it made for the perfect fit for George. In Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry is flirting with a woman at a karaoke bar. He moseys over to her and talks to her about karaoke and bowling. Clearly uninterested, Larry holds his ground and sticks to his standup like conversation. In utter rejection he wanders back to his friend Jeff to the tune of a tuba playing. Larry David’s socially awkward life has earned him millions of viewers and two of the highest rated shows ever aired.

In reality, Larry David is a stubborn man. While writing for SNL, after half of a season without one of his sketches airing he finally earned the 12:50 slot, only to have it cut at the last minute. He stormed into his boss’s office and cussed him out only to return the following Monday. His then neighbor Kenny Kramer suggested he act as if the whole thing never happened. He actually finished out the rest of the season! An example from his work occurs during season 3 episode 22 of Seinfeld when George fights Kramer’s friend Mike for several hours into the night over a parking space outside Jerry’s building. In Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 4 Episode 5 Larry notices that his friend Marty has placed his 5 wood golf club that he had lent him in his fathers casket during a wake. Rather than let it go and buy a new one Larry forces Jeff to replace the club with his club. This was undone when Marty noticed the switch at the end of the episode. In both sitcoms George and Larry respectfully represent Larry David’s real life stubborn self makes the writing seem that much more natural.

Larry David brings a lot to the table when it comes to writing. During Seinfeld’s run he created the role of George Costanza who is intended to emulate David from real life. In Curb Your Enthusiasm David plays himself, which mirrors Costanza very closely, though he is able to ad lib much more on Curb. In his work, David is known for poking fun at everyday life, he is known for being socially awkward and he is very stubborn. In his writing and acting roles he is a perfect example of an auteur, or someone who writes themselves into a television show. David can clearly be seen in Seinfeld and Curb both on screen and off.