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Larry David\u2019s new series Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness<\/a>, which has just wrapped on HBO Max with a sketch featuring former US president Barack Obama, has provided plenty of talking points over the past couple of months.<\/p>\n For fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/a>, it\u2019s essentially been a reunion, featuring most of the show\u2019s former stars as well as that sitcom\u2019s unrelenting cringe comedy. Released as a \u201cwarts and all\u201d celebration of America\u2019s 250th birthday, it\u2019s also been unafraid to take shots at the country\u2019s current leadership including Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The sketch which was most critical of Trump also served as the last screen credit for legendary filmmaker Rob Reiner<\/a> (a vocal critic of the president), filmed just a month before his tragic death<\/a>.<\/p>\n Editor’s pick For David, however, this project has been 50 years in the making \u2013 born via niche gags in 1970s comedy clubs and fostered through a lifelong obsession with history. Deputy TV editor Meg Watson spoke with David\u2019s long-time collaborator and series co-creator Jeff Schaffer about doing improv with a former president, the state of comedy in 2026 and why Larry David would \u201clove\u201d to be cancelled.<\/p>\n MW: Congrats on the show! I can only imagine how fun it must have been to work on this project: some of the world\u2019s best comedians playing dress up, hanging out with Larry. <\/p>\n JS: That was the selling point for all the amazing people who came in! \u201cHey, come in for a day and play with Larry\u201d. Every day was a new group of actors. Every day was new wardrobe, new hair and make-up, a new period \u2013 and I think that\u2019s the real fun of the show. Each one had a surprise element. It was like historical Russian roulette.<\/p>\n We knew we wanted to bring Jon Hamm in, for example. We had him earmarked for another part, but he couldn\u2019t do it because he\u2019s in 10 of the 12 television shows<\/a> on the air right now. He said, \u201cI really wanted to do something, but I can only do this one day\u201d. So we were like, \u201cWell OK then, you\u2019re a Wright brother!\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m really thrilled that we got to play with so many of the people not only in our Curb family, but our extended Curb family: Bill Hader and Jon Hamm and Sean Hayes and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Vince [Vaughn]. It was a blast to see everybody. [Note: Cheryl Hines, however, who played Larry\u2019s wife on Curb and is now married to US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr \u2013 who is openly mocked in the series \u2013 is a notable omission.]<\/p>\n Editor’s pick How did you decide what events to include? I like that it\u2019s as you\u2019ve said, a \u201cwarts and all\u201d history. There\u2019s some dark stuff in there \u2013 from slavery to antisemitism, and suicide during the Great Depression. You wouldn\u2019t look at that and think, \u201cThat\u2019s going to make a great comedy sketch\u201d. <\/p>\n We started making a big list of events \u2013 and some are obvious, right? Like the Declaration of Independence. You do a little research and you realise, oh, everyone thinks Thomas Jefferson wrote it, but there was actually this group of five: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin and also Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. You\u2019re like, \u201cOK, that\u2019s how we get in.\u201d Larry is Robert Livingston. Larry gets his crack at it. Everyone hates it. He was ignored by history.<\/p>\n And then there are other big hits where he\u2019s not ignored by history. Instantly, we were like: Larry\u2019s the guy who told Lincoln to go see that play. That\u2019s Larry, right?<\/p>\n And honestly, he knows so much about American history [it came very easily for him]. You can tell that this has been an obsession.<\/p>\n If you look at his old stand-up, he actually had jokes about Jonas Salk\u2019s mother in comedy clubs in the \u201970s. And then obviously if you\u2019re going to talk about [the inventor of the polio vaccine], we wanted to talk about vaccines now. We brought in the RFK stuff, and it all just sort of fell together.<\/p>\n But Larry\u2019s always had historical references in his old act that, frankly, no one appreciated. This was his chance to go, \u201cYou didn\u2019t like it before, so I\u2019m gonna rub it in your faces now!\u201d<\/p>\n Were there conversations about how recent to make that history? Obama\u2019s last sketch is the latest, set in 2014, but it\u2019s an outlier. Was there a moment you considered, \u201cDo we want to include the Capitol insurrection? Is there a way into 9\/11?\u201d<\/p>\n I remember we talked about a sketch about the Charlottesville race rally<\/a> [which happened in 2017]. You know, \u201cJews will not replace us\u201d<\/a>. We had joked around about Larry playing a Jewish guy, going, \u201cI don\u2019t want that. I don\u2019t want to be a toll-booth attendant or a janitor!\u201d But it went as far as that. We were like, \u201cEh, that has no legs\u201d.<\/p>\n But we knew we wanted to end with [former] president Obama. They were so funny together.<\/p>\n \u201cI always joke that I know where the line is because I can look back and see it.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeff Schaffer, Larry David\u2019s long-time collaborator<\/p>\n How did you feel about directing a former president? You\u2019ve directed plenty of big stars, but this is someone who directed the armed forces… Does it change the dynamic?<\/p>\n Well, the first thing I asked, talking to our partners at Higher Ground [the production company owned by the Obamas], was, \u201cWhat do I call him? How do I address him?\u201d And they just said, \u201cFor you, I\u2019d stick with sir.\u201d<\/p>\n But no, it was so good. He and Larry are so good together. It felt like a Curb sketch. It was the most amazing experience I\u2019ve ever had, just sitting in an Oval Office with president Obama and Larry \u2026 These are his words: he said, \u201cI really enjoy being annoyed by Larry.\u201d<\/p>\n I can imagine that\u2019s a special experience \u2013 though maybe less so for you, after so many years.<\/p>\n He and I have been working together \u2013 on and off, mostly on \u2013 since I was 24. It\u2019s literally the longest relationship I\u2019ve ever had. I don\u2019t know what that says about me, but I still enjoy it very much.<\/p>\n I know this show was written in the same way you did Curb: you write an outline and work out a lot of the details through improv. Did Obama ad lib his own jokes?<\/p>\n I mean, president Obama telling Larry that he has \u201cold lips\u201d and calling him \u201cold lips\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s a straight-up Obama improvisation. That was all him. The first time he did it, Larry lost it. He was laughing for, like, five minutes. And then that got woven into the rest of the scene.<\/p>\n How often does Larry break like that? Is it a real achievement?<\/p>\n I would love to praise Obama and say that it\u2019s a rare thing to get Larry to break, but it is not. He loved doing the show, he\u2019s having fun and he laughs all the time. The number of takes that are ruined because of him… [Schaffer shakes his head]. He\u2019s really having fun.<\/p>\n Obama\u2019s famously pretty funny, at least in comparison to other politicians. There was his appearance on Between Two Ferns <\/a>and his bit with Keegan-Michael Key at the Correspondent\u2019s Dinner<\/a>…<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t good for a former president; he was good for someone in a sketch show!<\/p>\n Did you feel any hesitancy about bringing him into scenes like that, though? All those bits that he was known for were during his presidency, it was pre-2016 \u2013 and that felt like a real turning point for how we interacted with politicians, how much we let them into the joke. Did you worry it could be a comedy killer?<\/p>\n Well, the problem now, in this age, is that the president is the joke<\/a>. We\u2019re sort of in a post-comedy world with our politicians. But no, he was great. I always knew that he and Larry were going to be funny. The two of them have such a good dynamic. They like ragging on each other.<\/p>\n Related Article There\u2019s a lot in the series about Trump without talking about Trump. That sketch where Rob Reiner plays George Washington, denouncing any theoretical president who would try to run for a third term, is such a direct hit. Did you have concerns about how it would be received? It features Jimmy Kimmel, who copped a lot more for saying a lot less<\/a>. And the things that Larry says in that scene are pretty hardcore. Were there any difficult talks with HBO or the lawyers about how far to take it?<\/p>\n Not one. That never even crossed our minds. I mean, look: we did the MAGA hat episode on Curb, and he ended up pinning it on his Truth Social. He was so dumb he didn\u2019t know we were making fun of him. It\u2019s just crazy.<\/p>\n We shot the George Washington scene in November 2025, and we knew that Trump was going to do more crazy, stupid things in the interim. We came back in March and shot Larry doing a few more lines because so many new things had happened: sending ICE in and killing American citizens<\/a>, starting a war to try to distract<\/a> from the fact that you\u2019re best friends with a paedophile. Larry couldn\u2019t care at all [about political or legal blowback]. I mean, I always thought this with Curb, too: if you told me that he was making this just to put on his shelf, he would do it the exact same way.<\/p>\n Obviously when we did it, we had no idea that Rob [Reiner] was going to pass away a month later<\/a>, which gave it this whole extra charge and poignancy. I\u2019m very saddened by the circumstances that led to it being that way. And I don\u2019t just mean Rob\u2019s tragic passing. I also mean the ignorance and misinformation that\u2019s created the situation we\u2019re in. But I\u2019m really happy that Rob got the last word<\/a>. That was special.<\/p>\n How are you feeling in general about the state of comedy? Rainn Wilson from The Office recently made headlines<\/a> saying that because everything has to be \u201cpolitically correct\u201d these days, you can\u2019t make the kind of TV you used to. That caused a lot of debate, and some people sharing clips from Curb (which ended in 2024<\/a>) as evidence to the contrary. As someone who has almost exclusively made comedy that is not \u201cpolitically correct\u201d, do you think we can still joke in the same way?<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t found that to be true. But I also get to work with someone who doesn\u2019t care at all. I mean, someone asked [Larry], \u201cdon\u2019t you worry about being cancelled?\u201d and he was like, \u201cOh, I\u2019d love to be cancelled. That\u2019d be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article I always joke that I know where the line is because I can look back and see it. I get it. But I don\u2019t think anything should be off-limits. It\u2019s all [in] the execution. It\u2019s all about how you do it. And I think it\u2019s really important not to care \u2013 not about the comedy, but about the audience [response].<\/p>\n HBO has been so great about artists making the thing that they like, and letting the audience decide. People don\u2019t have to watch it. There\u2019s plenty of UFC<\/a> to watch.<\/p>\n I mean, you\u2019ve worked with Sacha Baron Cohen [co-writing Bruno and The Dictator], who\u2019s notorious for that kind of comedy. He\u2019s coming back with a new Ali G film<\/a>, so we can\u2019t be too restricted.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c46f32decebac8a8c4fad4db626c4598853476ee26ab80b5de2ccaf9f481cac9.gif\")
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Larry David, Bill Hader and Kathryn Hahn in Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.HBO Max<\/p>\n![\"Gregg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/617d4ad9eb14e9228eeddc9dbdbef83f337fe55c.jpeg\")
Gregg Perrie plays \u201cBobby\u201d, Dora Salk\u2019s vaccine-hating neighbour whom Dora (David) tells to \u201cdrop dead\u201d.HBO Max.<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4fcabf11540406c7e458f3992876bcd97ebe039b.jpeg\")
Former president Barack Obama appears in a sketch based in a replica Oval Office, on criticism of him wearing a tan suit in 2014. HBO Max<\/p>\n![\"Larry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ae6946bf059e87dc0f408cdc1b2b4e4471fe7fdc.jpeg\")
Larry David in the final episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, No Lesson Learned.HBO<\/p>\n![\"Larry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/860d8b1c82702ef2b818d6559225d130f4e963f3.jpeg\")
Larry David in Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.HBO Max<\/p>\n![\"South](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4c4f4135829bb5c9078c7591f33b0fc1994529d7bf77f3f2b1ee69490c6ef97a.gif\")
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Rob Reiner in his last role as George Washington in Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.HBO Max<\/p>\n![\"Jerry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1d4ab4384fc691b227f8c934bc870a8597ae411e.jpeg\")
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