“Mr. David. It appears you could have a historical past of doing the identical issues unsuitable again and again. And I actually hope this time you lastly discovered your lesson,” Dean Norris’ Choose Whittaker informed Larry David — the fictionalized model of himself — through the collection finale of HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
He has not.
The road, which got here with the choose sentencing the comic and author to a yr in jail, was meant to be learn as each literal and meta. Neither the pretend Larry David, who has spent 12 seasons calling out “pig parkers” and insulting somebody’s “beloved aunt”— and who now can’t even listen as his lawyer Sibby Sanders (Sanaa Lathan) makes an attempt to deify him to a jury — nor the true Larry David, who’s a staunch defender of the same ending for his and Jerry Seinfeld’s NBC sitcom “Seinfeld,” has ever been able to studying a life lesson (Driving the purpose residence, the final episode of “Curb” is titled “No Classes Realized”).
“Curb” govt producer and showrunner Jeff Schaffer, who additionally directed Sunday’s finale, says the impetus for the finale got here after they have been writing a scene from earlier within the episode when a boy hits David’s character within the head with a ball. The kid’s mom desires him to apologize and be taught from his errors. The knowledge David’s character imparts to the tyke? That, regardless of being a septuagenarian, he’s by no means discovered a life lesson.
“We realized we must always personal that and inform everybody Larry’s by no means discovered a lesson and simply do the finale once more,” Schaffer says, including that “Larry doesn’t care what you considered the ‘Seinfeld’ finale. He cares so little about your ideas that he’s going to redo it.”
And, though the “Curb” finale is stuffed with call-backs and nods to the “Seinfeld” finale — together with bringing again Seinfeld himself to be the episode’s Superman to save lots of the day by getting the costs dropped — there’s at the least one main distinction between the 2. In “Seinfeld,” the 4 leads stand trial for his or her meanness and are sentenced to a yr in jail collectively as a result of they have been caught mocking one other individual. In “Curb,” our hero’s on trial due to a good act. He offers water to his buddy Rae (Ellia English) when she’s in line to vote throughout a sizzling day in Georgia; a gesture that’s unlawful underneath the state’s Election Integrity Act of 2021.
Nonetheless, Schaffer says “the parallel between the ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Curb’ instigating incident doesn’t actually exist” and that “it wasn’t one thing that motivated us within the writing.”
“It was Larry saying, ‘You already know, that is loopy legislation in Georgia, I ought to get arrested for that,’” Schaffer explains. “It wasn’t ‘I’m gonna carry out an act of kindness.’”
In an interview that has been edited, and condensed, for readability, Schaffer and “Curb” co-star Susie Essman college The Occasions on “Classes Realized” and different takeaways from the present’s final season.
Susie Essman, not Larry David, has the final line within the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” finale.
(John Johnson/HBO)
Susie, you could have the final audible line of “Curb.” Your character, Susie Greene, and different key characters are combating on the airplane on the best way again to Los Angeles and also you inform David’s character, in so many phrases, to close up and return to jail. How does that really feel?
Susie Essman: It feels good. It made me very glad. I noticed it final evening for the primary time. And I used to be like, “Oh, wow, I’ve the final line.” It’s becoming that Susie ought to have the final line on the planet that we’ve created right here. I don’t assume that was on goal. My voice simply occurred to be loud.
Jeff Schaffer: It was a ultimate, strident grace be aware. After we have been filming that scene, we tried numerous various things, as we all the time do. There have been these strikes that as everybody was arguing, we might drift over to Larry. The concept, as we conceived it, was kind of ending on Larry’s face. After we have been within the enhancing room, Larry goes, “This isn’t proper. It shouldn’t finish on me, it ought to finish on our group.”
He was so nice about that. As a result of after we ended on Larry, it doesn’t matter what expression he gave, it nonetheless felt sentimental. And that’s not what we have been going for. However while you finish it on our guys doing what they do finest, which goes at one another, you get this sense of that is what they’re all the time going to be like. It’s one of the best retinal ghost of the present.
The finale additionally pays homage to Richard Lewis, who was sick whereas filming this season and died in February, by referencing a scene from the primary episode of “Curb” and likewise seeing Larry proceed to sabotage his buddy’s love life. Have been you deliberately making an attempt to deal with him?
Essman: We didn’t know Richard was going to die, that’s for certain. He was not nicely, and clearly anyone who sees the season can see he’s not nicely. However his dying was fairly stunning. I don’t assume something was written towards that.
Schaffer: As soon as we knew we have been going to do that recapitulation of the “Seinfeld” finale, the query was how far will we take it? How shut will we get to the top? I actually needed us to get to that pull-out shot [of Larry in jail and repeating a conversation he’s already had; just as Jerry had done]. … It was all about [let’s] take it so far as we presumably can and make individuals assume that we simply have been redoing it, shot for shot on the finish.
There’s additionally a complete bit within the courtroom of David swatting at a fly as his lawyer makes an attempt to lionize him. And a few of it’s shot from the fly’s viewpoint. Why did you wish to change up the look of the present by directing that?
Schaffer: Actually, as a result of it’s humorous seeing Larry actually go into that straight-to-camera of him making an attempt to kill that fly throughout this spirited protection. The truth that he didn’t hear a phrase she mentioned was humorous. So we have been simply mixing up the photographs. We needed that shot. We needed to see it from the jury’s POV. We needed him within the background. There was additionally only one shot of his hand slamming on the desk.
It was simply constructing that sequence out of Larry making an attempt to hunt the fly like he’s a tiger within the jungle throughout that speech.
Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld within the collection finale of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
(John Johnson/HBO)
The finale has a “Seinfeld”-like scene with Larry and Jerry riffing on a hypothetical about courting a bearded woman from the circus. I’m assuming there’s numerous unaired footage from that trade.
Schaffer: Larry had had this hypothetical that he needed to speak about through the season. … We didn’t know what present to place it in. And it was like, ‘Oh, that is good.” I’m so glad we saved it. It was the right hypothetical for Jerry and Larry to speak about so you can simply see these two be humorous collectively and get a way of “OK, perhaps that is how ‘Seinfeld’ obtained written. It was simply watching these two buddies making one another chortle.”
And I’m assuming that Seinfeld was OK with poking enjoyable at his present’s finale?
Schaffer: He cherished it. After we shot the jail scene, he mentioned, “That is so nice. It is a joke that’s 26 years within the making.”
This season has additionally gotten some intense fan reactions. An precise billboard of Essman’s character modeling her line of caftans was defaced in an analogous method to what occurred to the one on the present. And a fan at a Bruce Springsteen live performance got here with an indication that referenced the musician’s visitor look on the present. How are you feeling about this fandom?
Essman: Oh, my God. Individuals known as and mentioned, “Are you upset by this?” when the billboard was defaced. I believed it was the funniest factor in the entire world. I imply, it was no small feat to rise up there and do the graffiti. … They wanted ropes and scaffolding.
Schaffer: It was our genital “Discipline of Desires.” If we construct it, they may deface it.
And poor Bruce. He does us an enormous favor. He does at some point of capturing, and now, for all of his live shows .…
Essman: And let me say one thing crucial: Bruce improvised that line. He was actually not given his stuff. Generally, someone comes on and so they’re not an actor and are spoon-fed. That’s not true. He was sensible.
Do both of you discover the “Seinfeld” finale to be as divisive as the remainder of the web appears to?
Essman: I haven’t watched it because it aired. And actually, when it aired, I believed it was fantastic. And I haven’t actually considered it since then.
Schaffer: Larry and I watched it once more after we realized we have been doing this. … And [we both thought] that it was humorous. That made this much more good. As a result of it was like, in case you didn’t like that, f— you. We’re gonna do it once more.
That’s one of many issues I like about this finale. It’s larger than “Curb” and it speaks to Larry as a contrarian. It not solely wraps up the present, however it helps wrap up all this wonderful work that Larry has achieved in a really Larry approach. [That] is, “I believed it was humorous. And you understand what, I nonetheless assume it’s humorous.” And you understand what? He’s proper.
