Larry David was not a fan of Donald Trump’s recent UFC fight at the White House. At the premiere of the writer and actor’s new series, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, David said the event made him “embarrassed” to be an American.
“It was a travesty,”
David told Variety. “What else can you say about it? It was embarrassing. I was embarrassed to be an American.”
Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, which premieres on June 26 on HBO, is a sketch comedy show that satirizes important moments in U.S. history. It features a slew of celebrity guests, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bill Hader, Kathryn Hahn, Jon Hamm, Henry Winkler, Sean Hayes, Joe Manganiello, Jane Krakowski, Greg Kinnear, Alan Tudyk, Rita Wilson, and Jerry Seinfeld.
Notably, Barack Obama, whose company Higher Ground produced the series, appears in an episode. David told Variety that the former president has “perfect” comedic timing. “He was really good at ad-libbing,” David said. “Because the scene was ad-libbed and he was good at it.”
David explained that it was actually the Obamas who reached out to him about the project. “I know the president a little bit,” he said. “We played golf together, and I did a Super Bowl ad maybe four or five years ago where I was dressed in costumes and everything. So maybe that was part of their thinking. I don’t know. Maybe they just like Curb.”
David co-created the series with Jeff Schaffer, who directed the “Seinfeld finale” episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The pair wrote each episode, and Schaffer directed all of them. Schaffer told Variety at the premiere that it was daunting to give directing notes to Obama.
“I was telling the Higher Ground people, ‘What do I call him when I want to give him a note?’” Schaffer said. “They were like, ‘Just try sir.’ You’re trying to remember not to just go, ‘Alright, Barack, you’ve got to do this,’ because we move really fast. But he was amazing.”
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