Larry David

Larry David
David at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Birth name	Lawrence Eugene David
Born	July 2, 1947 (1947-07-02) (age 63) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American[1]
Years active	1975–present
Genres	Improvisational comedy, observational comedy, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Self-deprecation, everyday life, manners, sex, social norms
Influences	Phil Silvers, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen
Influenced	Jerry Seinfeld, Ricky Gervais, Jack Dee, Sarah Silverman, Josh Bernstein, Jeff Garlin, Casper Christensen
Spouse	Laurie Lennard (1993–2007)
Notable works and roles	Writer & cast member, Fridays Co-creator & head writer, Seinfeld Creator, writer, & actor, Curb Your Enthusiasm

Lawrence Eugene "Larry" David (born July 2, 1947) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and producer. In 1989, he teamed up with Jerry Seinfeld to co-create the television series Seinfeld, where he also acted as head writer and executive producer. David's work won him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993. In 1999, he created the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in which he stars as a fictionalized version of himself. Formerly a standup comedian, David went into television comedy, writing and starring in ABC's Fridays, as well as writing briefly for Saturday Night Live. He was voted by other comedians the 23rd-greatest comedian of all time in British Channel 4's poll The Comedians' Comedian.^[2]

Personal life

Larry David is a Jewish American comedian who was born into the neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn,^[3] New York. On Lopez Tonight DNA testing results showed David is 63% European and 37% Native American descent.^[4] A graduated from Sheepshead Bay High School and then the University of Maryland, with a bachelor's degree in history (1969) and then in business (1970).^[5]

David married Laurie Lennard on March 31, 1993. They have two daughters, Cazzie and Romy, and lived in Pacific Palisades, California.^[6] Like her counterpart in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cheryl David (played by Cheryl Hines), Laurie is an environmental activist. From May 2005, both Larry and Laurie were contributing bloggers at The Huffington Post.^[7][8] On June 5, 2007, the couple announced their intention to amicably separate.^[9] Laurie David filed for divorce on July 13, 2007, citing irreconcilable differences and seeking joint custody of the couple's two daughters.^[10]

Career

Early work

While a stand-up comedian, David also worked as a store clerk, limousine driver, and television repairman to pay his bills. He lived in Manhattan Plaza, a federally-subsidized housing complex in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, across the hall from Kenny Kramer, the inspiration for the Cosmo Kramer character in Seinfeld.^[11] David then became a writer for and cast member of ABC's Fridays from 1980 to 1982, and a writer for NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) from 1984 to 1985.^[12] During his time at SNL, he was able to get only one sketch on the show, which aired at 12:50 AM, the last time slot on the show.^[13] David quit his writing job at SNL midseason, only to show up to work a few days later acting as though nothing had happened. That plot inspired a second-season episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Revenge".^[14] David met his future Seinfeld stars during that early stage of his career: He worked with Michael Richards (Kramer) on Fridays^[12] and with Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine)^[13] during his one-year stint as a writer on SNL.^[15][16] He can be heard heckling Michael McKean when McKean hosted the show in 1984, and he can be seen in the sketch "The Run, Throw, and Catch Like a Girl Olympics" when Howard Cosell hosted the season finale in 1985.^[17]

Seinfeld

In 1989, David teamed up with comedian Jerry Seinfeld to create NBC's The Seinfeld Chronicles. Later retitled Seinfeld, the program became the most successful show in United States television history,^[18] reaching the top on TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest TV shows of all time. Entertainment Weekly ranked it the third-best TV show of all time. David occasionally appeared (uncredited) on the show, playing such roles as Frank Costanza's cape-wearing lawyer and the voice of George Steinbrenner. He was also the primary inspiration for the show's character George Costanza.^[19] David left Seinfeld on amicable terms after the seventh season but returned to write the series finale in 1998, two years later.^[20] He also continued to provide the voice for the character of Steinbrenner.^[21]

David wrote 62 of the episodes of Seinfeld, including 1992's "The Contest", for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and which TV Guide ranked the episode #1 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".^[22]

Syndication of Seinfeld earned David an estimated US$250 million in 1998 alone. This amount has been steadily decreasing each year, but payments will continue until the full $1.7 billion from the original deal has been paid. In 2008 David made $55 million from Seinfeld syndication, DVD sales, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.^[23][24] He was nominated for an Emmy award 19 times for Seinfeld, winning twice—once for best comedy and once for writing.^[25]

Curb Your Enthusiasm

David in December 2009

The HBO cable television channel aired David's 1-hour special, Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm, on October 17, 1999.^[26] This was followed by Curb Your Enthusiasm, a television series on HBO that aired its first episode on October 15, 2000.^[26]

The show revisits many of the themes of Seinfeld,^[27] and is improvised; the actors receive only a synopsis of each scene they act out. David has said that his character in the show, a fictionalized version of himself, is what he would be like in real life if he lacked social awareness and sensitivity.^[28] The character's numerous and frequent social faux pas and misunderstandings are the basis of much of the show's comedy and have led to the entry into the American pop culture lexicon of the expression "Larry David moment", meaning an inadvertently created socially awkward situation.^[29]

The basis of the show is David's life now that he has earned a fortune and has very little to do in semi-retirement.^[30] Alongside David is his wife Cheryl (played by Cheryl Hines), his manager and best friend Jeff (played by Jeff Garlin), and Jeff's wife Susie (played by Susie Essman). Celebrities, including comedians Bob Einstein, Wanda Sykes, and Richard Lewis, appear on the show regularly. Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen have had recurring roles as themselves.^[30]

The show is critically acclaimed and has been nominated for 30 Primetime Emmy Awards, with one win, as well as one Golden Globe win.

In the first six seasons, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander appeared in several episodes, and Jerry Seinfeld made a cameo. In season 7, the cast of Seinfeld, including Michael Richards, returned in a story arc involving David's attempt to organize a Seinfeld reunion special.

In October 2009, the episode "The Bare Midriff", in which David's character inadvertently splatters urine on a picture of Jesus causing a woman to believe the picture had miraculously shed a tear, was the focus of some criticism when Fox News reported that Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had criticized it. HBO responded to the criticism, stating, "The humor is always playful and certainly never malicious."^[31]

On Wednesday, June 2nd 2010, the series premiered on the TV Guide Network, making its network television debut. TV Guide Network also produced a series of related discussions with high-profile guest stars, media pundits, and prominent social figures called "Curb: The Discussion" debating the moral implications depicted in each episode. David is quoted as saying "Finally, thanks to the TV Guide Network, I'll get a chance to watch actual, intelligent people discuss and debate the issues addressed on 'Curb'." ^[32]

Other projects

Apart from David's major roles in creating Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, he has also been involved in other films and television series. David wrote and directed the 1998 film Sour Grapes, about two cousins who feud over a casino jackpot.^[26] It was neither a commercial nor a critical success.^[33][34] He has appeared in minor parts in two Woody Allen films – Radio Days and New York Stories^[35] – more recently taking the leading role in Allen's New York-based comedy film Whatever Works.^[36] Because his daughters are Hannah Montana fans, David, along with them, guest-starred in the episode "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" as themselves. In this episode, they are waiting to get a table at a fancy restaurant.^[26] David had a cameo appearance on the HBO series Entourage as a client of Ari Gold, as well as on the NBC series The Marriage Ref.

Awards

• Nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing - Comedy Series for various episodes of Seinfeld from 1991–1994.
• Won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing - Comedy Series for the Seinfeld episode, The Contest, in 1993.
• Shared a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for Seinfeld with co-creator, Jerry Seinfeld.
• Nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for his role in Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2002, 2004, & 2005.
• Voted by fellow comedians and comedy insiders as number 23 of the greatest comedy stars ever in a poll to select The Comedian's Comedian.^[2]
• Nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Comedy Series for his role in Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2010.

References

External links

• Larry David at the Internet Movie Database
• Larry David at HBO
• Top 100 Shows at Entertainment Weekly