Larry David’s new historical sketch show, “Life, Larry and The Pursuit of Unhappiness,” or as, one YouTube commenter put it, “time-traveling ‘Curb'” is coming to HBO Max on June 26, and executive producer Barack Obama and Larry David just released a teaser for the show last week. If I had to use one word to describe it, it would be “kvetchy,” which once again, affirms the hypothesis that this is “Curb,” with some American history theory thrown in.
In the teaser, 44 tells viewers that he’s “sat across the table from some of the world’s most difficult leaders and wrestled with some of the globe’s most intractable problems” and yet none of that prepared him for working with Larry David. Honestly, that sounds vey plausible. Obama explains that he’s the producer of the show, which means he doesn’t need to deal with Larry everyday, and yet even the amount of interaction they have is too much. David then walks in to ask the former president if he’ll be his emergency contact, because of course that’s a joke David would write. Obama refuses; after all, he’s seen David call 911 “when you had something in your eye,” which the veteran comedian and comedy writer insists was totally warranted.
“Don’t you know other people who like you?” Obama finally asks.
“No,” David responds, shamelessly. And when he doesn’t get an affirmative answer from the former politician despite his nudging, he resolves to just ask his wife Michelle.
“You see what I’m dealing with here?” Obama then asks the viewer. “Impossible!”
It’s quite funny to see the former world leader get down to the level of kvetchiness usually reserved for David himself. And all joking aside, I’m sure he was happy to be in it for the ride. He even has a part in the actual show! As do J.B Smoove, Jon Hamm, Jake Reiner, Susie Essman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Garlin. Some of the named roles in the show so far include Kathryn Hahn as Mary Todd Lincoln, Bill Hader as Abraham Lincoln and Sean Hayes who will play one of the Wright brothers.
And if you need more proof that this show will bring all the same Jewish, nebbishe Larry David energy as “Curb,” all you need to do is watch the first preview sketch, released last month. It’s inspired by the famous V-J Day in Times Square photograph, in which a sailor kisses a stranger in New York, in which David plays a passerby trying to get into the (nonconsensual) kissing action, only to get his comeuppance.
And while we don’t know anything about David’s character in the sketch, it sure does feel like a middle-aged Jewish man who took the train in from Brooklyn.
“Life, Larry and The Pursuit of Unhappiness” premieres on HBO Max on June 26.
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