David, Larry

▪ 2009

Lawrence Gene David 

born July 2, 1947, Brooklyn, N.Y.

      In February 2008 Larry David—cocreator of the hit television show Seinfeld and star of the HBO cable channel series Curb Your Enthusiasm—was cast as the leading man in Woody Allen's upcoming film Whatever Works. David's move to the big screen in a starring role was the most recent unexpected twist in the life of the publicity-shy writer-producer-actor, who had shed his career as an unsuccessful stand-up comedian to become one of the most celebrated comic minds of his generation.

      David attended the University of Maryland and graduated (1970) with a degree in history. He then returned to Brooklyn and found work with a bra wholesaler, one of the many David biographical details—including quitting a job and then returning to work as if the resignation never happened, stealing an answering machine tape so that a girlfriend would not hear the message he had left, and starting a soon-to-be infamous self-denial contest with his friends—that would later turn up in the life of Seinfeld's “lovable loser” George Costanza.

      David met comedian Jerry Seinfeld in 1976, and the two soon began collaborating on stand-up material. As Seinfeld's stand-up career took off, David worked as a writer and performer (1980–82) on the ABC television sketch comedy series Fridays and as a writer (1984–85) for Saturday Night Live, but he never gained much public notice. David was known as “a comic's comic” whose antagonistic, bitingly sarcastic act often alienated the audience but delighted his fellow comedians. In 1988 Seinfeld was offered a sitcom pilot by NBC, and he and David created Seinfeld, which became a huge critical and commercial success. David served as the head writer and continuity supervisor for the first seven seasons of the “show about nothing” and occasionally appeared on-screen in memorable cameos. He left the series in 1996 to write and direct the film Sour Grapes (1998). After returning briefly to Seinfeld to co-write the series finale, David was offered a comedy special on HBO. He took an unorthodox approach to the project and produced a “mockumentary” about the making of an HBO special, Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm (1999). The mostly improvised program received enthusiastic reviews, and HBO turned it into an ongoing series simply called Curb Your Enthusiasm. David's new show took the ethos of Seinfeld—described by David as “no hugging, no learning”—and amplified it to include even more socially awkward plot points and even-less-redeemable (but still strangely likeable) characters. The hit show, which was scheduled to return in 2008 for a seventh season, underscored that David's misery was indeed good company for TV audiences.

Adam Augustyn

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