\n\tSPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This interview contains spoilers for\u00a0Episode 2 of \u201cLife, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America,\u201d now streaming on HBO Max.<\/p>\n
\n\tA month before he died, Rob Reiner<\/a> filmed his final role as George Washington in Larry David\u2019s historical sketch comedy series \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHis appearance in the HBO show was kept a secret until the second episode aired on July 3. The sketch allows Reiner, who was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, to get the \u201clast laugh\u201d against the sitting president, director Jeff Schaffer tells Variety. \u201cIt\u2019s coming out on Fourth of July weekend, and if it in any way spoils a sad octogenarian\u2019s weekend, then oh well!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs Washington, Reiner gives a speech in which he declares he will not be seeking a third term in office, adding that Congress can pass a constitutional amendment to prohibit future presidents from staying in power.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWell, what if there\u2019s some asshole in office, some narcissistic prick who doesn\u2019t follow the Constitution?\u201d asks Larry David, dressed in 1700s colonial attire. And the sketch turns into a long bashing session of you-know-who.<\/p>\n \n\tReiner\u2019s Washington stresses the importance of the peaceful transfer of power, and Larry says any hypothetical future president who can\u2019t admit he lost an election is a \u201csociopath\u201d and \u201cinsecure, lying asshole who would even cheat at golf.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe could use the presidency to enrich himself and his family. He could send troops into American cities to terrorize and even kill American citizens, all to distract from the fact that he\u2019s friends with a pedophile!\u201d Larry says.<\/p>\n \n\tJimmy Kimmel also makes a cameo as a fellow American, arguing, \u201cAre you suggesting that the president would taketh the time to challenge anyone who dare make fun of him? As if he were a big baby?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEventually, the colonists erupt into screaming matches and physical fights over just the thought of such a man ever leading the country. The sketch ends on a shot of POTUS Reiner observing the madness. \u201cWe\u2019re fucked,\u201d he says, and then the episode closes on an \u201cIn Memoriam\u201d card honoring the late actor and filmmaker.<\/p>\n \n\tSchaffer, who co-created \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness\u201d and helmed all seven episodes, tells Variety it was a surreal experience directing Reiner because \u201che\u2019s on the Mount Rushmore of directors.\u201d He and David knew from the start they wanted Reiner to play America\u2019s first president, but David had one stipulation: \u201cYou have to shave your beard.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cRob was like, \u2018Seriously?\u2019 and Larry was insistent: \u2018George Washington was clean shaven,’\u201d Schaffer recalls. \u201cRob was never without his beard, but he really wanted to do the sketch, so he shaved.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThey shot the sketch on the Universal lot on Nov. 13, about a month before Reiner was killed inside his home<\/a> alongside his wife Michele. (Their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested and charged<\/a> for the murders.) Schaffer says he and David were editing the sketch just two days before Reiner\u2019s death. \u201cIt\u2019s so incredibly sad,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \n\tThe team kept the cameo under wraps, even swapping it for another sketch at the Los Angeles premiere of \u201cLife, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,\u201d at which HBO screened the first two episodes of the series.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt just didn\u2019t feel like the right way to show the world,\u201d Schaffer says. \u201cWe thought long and hard about where the sketch should air \u2026 and ultimately we decided that July 3 was the perfect time. Just let it come out on the Fourth of July weekend, on the 250th, and let it sink in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This interview contains spoilers for\u00a0Episode 2 of \u201cLife, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,177482,111,139,69,13928,437],"class_list":["post-508870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-life-larry-and-the-pursuit-of-unhappiness","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rob-reiner","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}