{"id":514571,"date":"2026-06-28T03:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T03:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514571\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T03:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T03:24:16","slug":"larry-davids-sketch-series-curbs-our-enthusiasm-for-american-exceptionalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514571\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry David’s sketch series curbs our enthusiasm for American exceptionalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

An all-time favorite line from the final season of \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm<\/a>\u201d is Larry David<\/a>\u2019s confession that he\u2019s been expecting more from himself his whole life but has come to realize, \u201cIt\u2019s just not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now apply that mote of satori to the whole nation and voil\u00e0: we have \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,\u201d David\u2019s seven-episode contribution to America\u2019s 250th anniversary. His America, as filtered through the lens of former President Barack Obama<\/a> and first lady Michelle Obama<\/a>\u2019s Higher Ground production company, is a land of well-meaning people. Some of us, anyway. Sadly, the circumstances of our birth also sentenced us to put up with picayune, ornery, solipsistic types like him.<\/p>\n

The limited series doesn\u2019t explicitly make that argument, mind you. It opens by promoting the opposing view, declaring America a grand experiment in self-government.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur founding fathers drafted a charter to guarantee the rule of law and the rights of man,\u201d says Obama in an introductory monologue<\/a>. \u201cTogether, they established a new nation, one where power resided not with the monarch but with ordinary citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

But see, that\u2019s also the problem, right? Not the part about severing ties to the British crown; that was a fine idea. I mean the bit about relying on the collective nobility of our compatriots. With \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,\u201d David suggests that the problem is us and has been since the nation\u2019s beginning.<\/p>\n

Time and again, David has mined laughs from the common understanding that humans tend to be egocentric and that the truth most Americans hold to be self-evident is that it\u2019s every man and woman (but mostly men) for themselves.<\/p>\n

Yes, there is a certain predictability to David\u2019s routine. When he shows up in a Depression-era soup line, you just know he\u2019s going to complain about the seasoning. When he appears next to a Civil Rights icon, you can surmise that person will quickly meet the limits of their tolerance.<\/p>\n

As we stand on the cusp of a landmark Independence Day, a sizable portion of us feel that way about our fellow Americans, many of whom voted for the guy who ran in 2024 on a platform of punishing his enemies and expelling immigrants. But he also vowed to lower the price of eggs.<\/p>\n

With \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,\u201d David suggests that the problem is us and has been since the nation\u2019s beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, fascism is pretty, pretty bad,\u201d you can almost hear a few say in David\u2019s voice, \u201cbut I do enjoy a morning omelet, so\u2026eh! Meh!\u201d<\/p>\n

In most of the sketches in \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,\u201d the comic plays some version of that person \u2013 the guy who, say, crashes key events where he isn\u2019t wanted and can\u2019t take the hint to leave, or generally behaves like a pest.<\/p>\n

As in \u201cCurb,\u201d though, he just as frequently positions himself as the logician surrounded by dupes fixated on useless details or idealists high on hopium.<\/p>\n

HBO has asked journalists to refrain from spoiling specific jokes, revealing certain gags, or mentioning guest stars that haven\u2019t been announced or confirmed in photos. Yes, that\u2019s Jerry Seinfeld wearing buckskins. Since he\u2019s there, you may assume, correctly, that J.B. Smoove will pop up at some point to rehash Leon and Larry\u2019s dynamic in, shall we say, an ancestral context.<\/p>\n

This and other sketches hang heavily on guest star power as opposed to mordancy, but the best contend that maybe it was inevitable that we would end up where we are now.<\/p>\n

In a Wednesday Bluesky post, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie<\/a> shared he was reading petitions and editorials written by Revolutionary-era Black Americans, \u201cand it is so striking (and frankly inspiring) to see how the ink wasn\u2019t even dry on the declaration before [they] were demanding that the patriots live up to their stated ideals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,\u201d in its way, backs up that finding.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Photograph by Courtesy of Art Streiber\/HBO) Larry David and Barack Obama in \u201cLife, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an upcoming scene that, again, I can\u2019t describe in detail other than to say that David appears as an early American contradicting a long-gone leader\u2019s belief in the populace\u2019s moral sensibility and government\u2019s supposedly unbreakable guardrails.<\/p>\n

When his colonial Everyman poses a series of doomsday scenarios that, in 2026, have already come to pass, that politician brushes away all concerns that, say, any potential leader running for office would be anything less than gracious in defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who wouldn\u2019t accept the results of a free and fair election is a sociopath<\/a>,\u201d cries David\u2019s concerned citizen. \u201cA man like that can even foment an insurrection rather than just admit that he lost! He could use the presidency to enrich himself and his family!<\/p>\n

He goes on to add, \u201cI\u2019m just spitballing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American brand is at a real low point. We\u2019re all feeling it. A series of recent Pew Research Center surveys<\/a> reveal that 59% of us feel the country\u2019s best days are behind us<\/a>, and that only 34% believe most people can be trusted<\/a>. And it\u2019s not just us.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLook how much Canadians hate the United States now,\u201d brays a February Politico headline<\/a>. First came shock, then resignation in the form of USA Today\u2019s opinion piece<\/a> declaring, \u201cIt\u2019s OK to hate what America does. It\u2019s not OK to hate America,\u201d a glum March quaff that paired nicely with Charles P. Pierce\u2019s Esquire piece announcing<\/a>, \u201cWe Are Hated as a Nation. There\u2019s One Man to Blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

David\u2019s right there with us, pal. Over the years, he has liberally and frequently reminded us that he is the furthest thing possible from a Trump fan, most recently telling Variety<\/a> that Trump\u2019s 80th birthday fight night celebration held in front of the People\u2019s House was a travesty. \u201cI was embarrassed to be an American,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But he also excels at making others feel embarrassed, even the shameless ones.<\/p>\n

When Kid Rock arranged a dinner<\/a> with Trump and comedian Bill Maher last year . . . wait, just look at those words again. Let them sink in. That sentence reads like a set-up to a \u201cCurb\u201d bit, but it is not. It\u2019s a part of actual history.<\/p>\n

Anyway, when the \u201cReal Time with Bill Maher\u201d<\/a> host emerged from that two-and-a-half-hour jaw-down with glowing reports that Trump was \u201cgracious and measured\u201d in his presence and that he is \u201cmuch more self-aware than he lets on in public,\u201d David responded by penning a New York Times guest essay titled, \u201cMy Dinner with Adolf.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was wearing a tan suit with a swastika armband and gave me an enthusiastic greeting that caught me off guard . . .\u00a0 I found the whole thing quite disarming,\u201d David\u2019s satirical persona observed.\u00a0 \u201c. . . Suddenly he seemed so human. Here I was, prepared to meet Hitler, the one I\u2019d seen and heard \u2014 the public Hitler. But this private Hitler was a completely different animal. And oddly enough, this one seemed more authentic, like this was the real Hitler. The whole thing had my head spinning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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(Photograph by John Johnson\/HBO) Larry David in \u201cLife, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness\u201d never sharpens to that degree of pointedness, and nobody but HBO and the Obamas asked for \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm\u201d to take a roll in the hay with \u201cDrunk History.<\/a>\u201d Still, if our nation\u2019s star misanthrope has a purpose greater than saluting the nation\u2019s 250th birthday with a weak tea party, perhaps it is to put forth that the commonfolk are more aligned in our irritation with our government than we might think.<\/p>\n

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Remember, America was born out of griping. A bunch of rich white guys sat down in a room to spell out \u201ca long train of abuses and usurpations\u201d they accused King George III of committing against the colonies, and that became our nation\u2019s founding document.<\/p>\n

In his parody of that gathering, David imagines other proposals that didn\u2019t make the cut, like a suggestion to establish a cut-off for wishing someone a Happy New Year, which isn\u2019t quite a \u201cWar on Christmas<\/a>\u201d level of offense. But the fact that said reference is an actual cultural concern is, well, very American.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are we doing?\u201d one of the drafters asks, frustratedly. \u201cThese are barely grievances. They are petty complaints, and they have nothing to do with a Declaration of Independence from England and tyranny!\u201d Hearing that all these years later, it\u2019s hard not to conclude that the petty complainers won.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness\u201d premieres at 9 p.m. Friday, June 26 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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