Jason Alexander regales Larry with Seinfeld stories

on Larry King now the one and only Jason Alexander George is in essence the alter-ego of Larry David I didn't know that going in it wasn't until several episodes in that I started to piece that together and then I started doing a blatant Larry David imitation the thing that makes George magical is this fine balance between an overinflated ego and a complete sense of worthlessness now you do extend the one great thing about it is it's just it's the great thing and it's the curse it's why Jerry loves it for me it's a little lonely plus one thing that no one knows about you know I'm an exceptionally caring lover all next on Larry King now what a question - welcome to Larry King now Jason Alexander the award-winning actor director producer and stand-up comic his one-man show an evening with Jason Alexander and his hair opens April 11th at Harrah's Las Vegas and if I have to tell you that he's best known for playing George Costanza on Seinfeld you have been living under a rock or on another planet thank you so much finally finally finally you remove this curse now you do understand what with the hit you mean you wear a wig well some would call it a wig to pay I elevate it to a piece a piece yes yes I wear a piece for the show what is the purpose of this why have you added it it was a happy accident Larry I actually started wearing the piece because I lost a bunch of roles that I had auditioned for because the producers decided I don't know where to get this crazy idea that I look a lot like George Costanza from Seinfeld and they thought that that was an impediment the fact that billions of people watch the show across the world they didn't want that kind of a big audience so they didn't give me the role because of that and I got a little crazed and I said you know what let me see if I can just shove it up their butt a little bit and I went out and I got this piece and I deliberately started wearing it out knowing the tabloids were gonna make a big thing out of it and the the unusual byproduct was that I was doing stand-up what I was doing it as a character and I was primarily doing it for corporate shows and the corporate market crashed my agent said you got to do stand-up as you I said I'm not a stand-up comic you know but we started building the act and I said the problem is when you put my name on the Billboard and since people don't know me as a stand-up they're gonna think it's George they're gonna think George is doing the comedy so I put the piece on a well now they don't know what to think and then by wearing the piece and having to account for it in the stand-up routine it gave me all this great material it gave me ten minutes of material right at the top of the show so that's how that that's how the piece and I got don't how long have you been doing this show the the the current incarnation of it the one we're going to Vegas with has been growing for about three years I've done it all over the world I've done a Canadian tour an Australian tour American tours I do it for corporations I do it all over the place and it started as 15 minutes and we would add five and add ten and add and then it grew and now it's a it's a full 90-minute extravaganza having done comedy I go I've gone around told stories and worked inventions and szeliga the one great thing about it is it's just you it's the great thing and it's the curse it's why Jerry loves it it's why most of the stand-up comics I met love it they own it it's theirs they want to change your word they want to do a thing huge for me it's a little lonely it's a little lonely you g-class omble I went into the theater because it was instant community you get in the cast of a showing you got 30 new best friends so when I'm backstage you know getting ready for the show there's nobody else there I feel like the guys in spinal tap where they can't find the stage going yeah rock and roll there's nobody but once you get out there with the people it becomes a lot of fun if you work Vegas before yeah as my other standup incarnation I did a show a couple years ago called the Donnie Clay experience which you were a bad motivational speech by intro that joke that's right you did we had a great clip from Tiger Tiger my nephew your bad he's the DAO he's an impresario he's working for Cirque de Soleil now he's hanging out with the French he got very French but it was a fun show but it was also in the World Series of Poker right so every year every year for the last eight years I've got a poker player right good enough to know how not good I am macaws you know when you start playing poker like many things you don't realize there are skills there's craft to that game you know most people when they start playing poker they go I know what beats what I'm just going to play and there's all kinds of things that you have to learn to really become a pro how much of it is the cards and how much of it is the man I would say it's you can't win without carts there's no question but you can get a lot further if you know what the hell you're doing with bad cards then then a guy who's not good can do with good cards so I would say it's a 70/30 it's the player and then that's the cards but you cannot win the World Series of Poker without a being a good player and B being damn lucky how far did you get farthest I've ever gotten was late day three which was about four hours outside of where the money starts you didn't get any winning I have never cashed in the World Series of Poker what attracted you to the game itself if you're in show business you bump into it you know because there's a lot of downtime so eventually something that lets play cards and you play poker but it wasn't until the hole somewhere in the late 90s early 2000s the whole celebrity poker craze began and I was invited to play and my publicist said do you want a lesson and I wanna know how oh no and he said well I handle a guy who's a champion his name is Phil Hellmuth I know it well I've heard of him alright I'll sit with him and in 30 minutes Phil had my head spinning around and that's when I really said that many facets for oh my god endless endless are at Vegas are you a little nervous about you played Vegas before but in a different kind of setting you nervous about this not terribly I you know I I was nervous the first time I went to Vegas because I was doing something so outside of the norm with playing a character in a show and I didn't know if if I had an audience in Vegas or if they would take to something like this and that went very well this is a show where I go this is not you know I'm not reinventing the wheel this is stand-up comedy and I've been doing it long enough that I know the material is rock-solid so it doesn't matter if it feels good you're not gonna bomb you don't worry about it yeah up next with Seinfeld work today we're talking about the indelible 90s comedy maybe the best sitcom ever after this don't forget he opens April 11th at Harrah's in Las Vegas an evening with Jason Alexander and his hair great title I love that okay the whole sign how did you get the part straight up audition I had worked for I was doing a show called Jerome Robbins Broadway in New York won a Tony for it people like Garry Marshall and Rob Reiner had come to see the show Garry Marshall put me a pretty woman now Rob liners company is the producer of Seinfeld and they can't find George and Gary says to Rob I think there's a guy I saw him in a show and a thing he's very funny you should look at him so they put me on tape in New York I had no script I had three pages from the pilot script I didn't know what I was you know Jerry didn't know Jay I mean I've seen her before but I didn't know and I not knowing what this is I thought it seems like a Woody Allen movie it seems very Woody Allen II so I went out I got the glasses I did very blatant Woody Allen impression and I put it on tape and I figured I'll never hear from these guys again and then they called me out to LA and said come out and in essence you were the Larry David character do you think I was what turned Oranje is in essence the alter ego of Larry David I didn't know that going in it wasn't until several episodes in that I started to piece that together and then I started doing a blatant Larry David imitation but I why it Steinfeld what if we knew that we'd do it again Larry again on the page right the writing was for naught it absolutely was and I we've tried to piece it out some of it is you can't account for it it's it's magic it's chemistry the four actors and the writers who were writing for us just had this unique collaborative energy that either have it or you don't have it but the show was a the show broke some of the norms in that it didn't have that a plot B plot finish it at the act right but but it was about very small things that happened to most people and looked at it through a very funny prism and the guys you know we always hear it's the show about nothing it wasn't about nothing I mean by the time we started doing it there were four storylines in every episode and it all came to an end it all came but what would happen is that if the guys had a funny run of comedy that had nothing to do with the plot they would do it it didn't matter we would just do it and I think because we took those excursions those tangential zit became the show about nothing did you think it would work no in fact I I made a gentlemen's bet with with Jerry after we did the pilot that it would not work and not because I didn't think it was funny I thought the audience for the show I was I was 30 years old when we made the pilot I said the audience for the show is me Jerry and I don't watch TV and the guys like me don't watch TV TV is for you know married couples and young kids and senior citizens and they're not gonna get this show and initially I was right I didn't wasn't in fact the only demographic we had that was watching the show initially was men about 21 to 32 years old but that was the advertising demographic that everybody wanted I didn't know that so we always had sponsors willing to sponsor the show even though nobody was watching quite bidded boom somewhere in the third season they put us on they finally put us on they picked up a whole season what a network NBC and they put us on after the top show on television cheers and you were sink or swim because if you couldn't get anywhere near cheers as numbers you were gonna be there for a week and then they were gonna cancel you and we got in and we our first time up we kind of stayed close to the numbers the second time up we held the numbers the third time up we did the show about the masturbation contest and that became national news the next day and from that moment on we were we were sailing sweet it was Larry David the key I think so with all deference to Jerry who I've you know it's Jerry show but to me the the tone of the show and that the character of the show and a lot of the storylines that we pursued came right out of Larry day of its life and mouth did you get close to Steinbrenner no no would you see that character as a Yankee worker yet so many George's as the assistant of the traveling secretary it was fantastic you need his permission to do that initially yes we had to be it because we were using the Yankee logo and that's what we had to get and the story that I've heard is so they Steinbrenner's I've never seen the show sent me a script and he sees a script and he keeps seeing the character George George George who's an idiot he's a soul and George goes I'm not gonna go he thought it was him he thought the George in the script was him so initially he was not a fan but he came around how did you see George George was or what it's not a singular George George the thing that makes George magical is this fine balance between an overinflated ego and a complete sense of worthlessness and and it just Chuck realized it by kind of yes yes it's just like it's on the scales at all time which is how Larry David goes through life it is Larry absolutely absolutely once I realized that this character was Larry's alter ego it became very clear how to play it why did it go off yeah we got to the point we were the number one show on television and every year at the Christmas break so we were halfway done shooting a season we would all sit around and talk about after the fifth or sixth year we would talk about should we keep going how does it feel is there more to do you know because we never we've never want to go out on the bottom and we would always say yeah there's no I think we're doing good let's keep going the year we ended we got we we came into that season feeling like it may just be a money-making machine right now I'm not sure that we're doing our best work although we were doing very good episodes but when we got to that halfway point we had that meeting I think Jerry's heart was out of it he wanted to move on he'd been working his butt off all that time and we all got together and we said you know we could keep being funny because we have great writers but I don't know that we can do anything with these characters that are surprising to the audience they know these characters backwards that's a pretty good barometer for when a show has done its thing and so we made the decision in that night at the halfway point at the ninth season we said let's wrap it up let's go out on top and it was more do you get residuals now because it plays on so many stations yeah you know it is well known that the the Julia and Michael and I tried to negotiate to get some points in the syndication deal we could not get it they would not let us in so we got enormous salaries for the last two seasons and we get standard sag residuals which at this point are next enough Oh Gerry and Larry at peace they do just fine we'll be right back with Jason Alexander by the way I've seen you sing I've seen you dance I've seen you move because I saw you play the auto stocks right sure and the great producers one of the great Broadway shows ever written you play the with Martin Short did you have fun doing that yes of course I did because Marty is maybe the greatest you know center of joy in the universe so Marty made it a joy it's a hard show to do you know it's it's vaudeville it's baggy-pants vaudeville and if you have a great company of people on that stage with you it is great and we had a great company of people we had terrific actors and audiences loved it I mean they just loved it so they feed you I was there opening night mm-hmm and start produced that right that opening night was the best opening night I never saw a crowd go crazy as they went opening I love it when you saw zero in New York yeah it was just it was incredible Wow this it was humble not oh it wasn't zero I don't watch it was Nathan Nathan Lane Nathan Lane that was I came her if there was some colossal tragedy right around the time the producers opened on I can't remember if it was 9/11 might have been in fact I think it was no 9/11 I think 9/11 happened the producers opened and then 9/11 happened and all of Broadway you know all the box offices were way down because nobody was coming to New York and the producers was the one show that kept going up that up and up because everybody wanted to laugh so much and and it was it actually was a very important show in New York's history at that time when you got though you got it for the West Coast tour for LA right did you jump right at it you know mm-hmm no in fact you know Nathan Lane and I we sort of follow throughout our careers because when we were young guys in New York we were we were almost a coin toss I mean him you know we were we were very very similar he has completely distinguished himself in his career at this point as a very unique special actor but I saw the show with Nathan and when he's brilliant I can't do that I can't do that and when Mel called me I would you know I can do it but I'm not pound for pound as funny as Nathan Lane Nathan's got that great face and that voice and he thinks in a way that I don't think and I don't want to imitate so you got to get me a great leo and it got me a great leo and then I went okay now now I know how to do great that's a great show yeah and it was a great movie with zero zero that the movie with Gene Wilder you've been married for more than 30 years yeah how does that work how have you done that well this town you know I it's a great thing marriage as you get older is easier because as we age but our eyesight and our hearing diminish and that's God's yeah two couples that have been together a long time no it's people ask me all the time how do you do it how do you do how do you do it in show business how do you do it like oh it's a very simple thing pick right the first time I got a great girl we were we were so stupid I met Dana when I was 20 years old we were married when I was 22 I do not advocate that choice for anybody I think it's incredibly young and naive and we were just incredibly lucky we have changed and grown so much over the years but it's always been in the same direction we have two boys 22 and 18 one of the boys think of Seinfeld they don't watch it it's not that they don't like it my older son Gabe is an actor I think he doesn't want to be overly influenced by my work or by my success and I respect that you know here's here's the perfect encapsulation when my older son Gabriel was a young teenager he finally went all right everybody's talking about this Seinfeld thing what is it what is it I said well there's DVDs go take a look see what you think and he went in and he watched three or four episodes and he came out and he said you're kind of an act all yeah and he doesn't I don't think the kids you know the it's not that they hold me up to heroic proportions but they don't really want to see me being quite as bigger schmuck the students if they watch it on film you know it's a crazy thing it was a live audience we never added a laugh we didn't get you know how about when you went out what you did street scenes and cars that I would film without an audience but then we would show it to the audience yeah accord they're left but we we would film it with the live audience but it's a strange hybrid because even though the audience is sitting right where you are they're watching on a monitor it's like there's four cameras between them and us so they can't really see so they watch on the monitor fun to go to a sitcom by the way no there's you can't see you can't see and if they do it over and over and over I used to say you could fly to London in the time it took us to sit in the film an episode you know Jason will answer your questions in our final segment we'll play a game of you only knew and don't forget an evening with Jason Alexander and his hair April 11th opening in hirez Las Vegas so how long by the way we're gonna do we do Friday through Sunday for four weeks and we'll be back after this before we get to some social media questions for Jason on you're a wonderful guest you're a very kindly thank you you've been outspoken on stronger gun control right yeah how active you know vocal there's not a single long Twitter post right yeah especially you know when when there was a mass murderer a week it's a very dicey area for anybody to get into because the the the amount of emotion connected to this issue and the thing that I've always asked for is the people you know the people who want to fight with me go you're against guns you want to get rid of my guns tonight that's not my position at all what I'm what I'm advocating is a realistic conversation about what weapons should be in the hands of non military or non police people you know we all know despite the Constitution I don't think anybody advocates that we should all have nuclear weapons or we should all have b-52 bombers technically you can say yes you guys don't whine option but we all know that there's a line somewhere right I want to have a discussion about where that line should be that's all but even suggesting that for for people who I well I went on the campaign trail for Obama had a really interesting conversation with a guy who was a gun guy and he said you know the thing you don't understand is that there have been times in history where where the government has turned on its own people and we have to be able to fit it and I said you know that's true I said but you're not worried about the government turning on you you worried about the government turning on you with the aid of our American military I said but we're here in Colorado and Iowa and Wyoming who is in the military it's not my kids your kids it's your kids and your neighbors kids do you really think your kids because Obama tells them to turn on you and they're gonna get in planes and drop napalm on you your kids you don't worried about guns you're worried about parenting you know so it's it's a crazy position most people with guns kill their friends and relatives and wives and amazingly fortunate statistics absolutely are you supporting anyone for 2016 yet or is it too early that's too soon I think you know listen I get as excited about Hillary as anybody I think it would be wonderful to see a woman in that position I don't know why she would want the job and this is why why would you want to be President hi I can't imagine not with not with the state of our congressional affairs the way I know with the hatred a couple of facebook questions then we play if you only knew mark Webster on Facebook wants to know what and who makes you laugh oh there's so many people more people do than don't I have a lot of admiration for the guys that have to get up and do it with a different script every day so I look at guys like John Stewart and and Steve Colbert and you know Lana it was Leno up until recently but all the talk show guys that have to get up and do the monologue five days a week and find a new bit and of it that's really hard to do and I have great admiration for them but everybody makes me laugh we have a photo on the monitor it Joel the Canadian please look at that what was the vibe like on the set of Dunston checks in it's a 1996 film about a kid who befriends a law students orangutan in at a luxury hotel Jason place the boy's father yeah that was actually great fun and that was an amazing creature that was like working with a six-year-old kid they have a memory they have a personality they're really bright and they also have 30 times the strength of a man so they could pop your head zip they just do that and you're gonna prove Darwin right yes you betcha you betcha and then it was Faye Dunaway as well so you have an orangutan and Faye Dunaway what could it not be a joy koala or Roscoe via Instagram s is there a chance to meet you after the show in Vegas have been a fan since 1993 when I was in third grade Wow tell you telling me yes there is we have a meet and greet story it just cost big money that's all but it's so worth what are they shot I haven't you know I don't know I think it's I think our tickets are anywhere from in the low 50s and I think the meet and greet ticket is maybe 80 something I don't I don't and they take a picture with you and you calm you say hello you take a picture I sign a thing if you want that you leave I give you my life story you kiss right on the lips if they want we finish with if you only knew I just throw questions out okay right first person you have a kissed probably Suzie's sure Allen's who's the Shirelles this is that New Jersey yo yeah sixth grade yeah no idea if she's dead or alive but the thing that keeps you up at night The Walking Dead I watch it late at night and then everything to me as a zombie every shadow gun I shall love it love it what attic because the title is not about the zombies the title is about the humans and I find it fascinating an exploration of at what point is life not worth it anymore at what point do you become worse than the thing you're hunting it's a fascinating show great acting great writing you're on a desert island what three things you want with you pie I gotta have pie either Scarlett Johansson or a an inflatable version of Scarlett Johansson either would be fine and what a nice bathroom it can be it can be a mess the island but give me a nice toilet I don't like to go where it's not clean Seinfeld Terry he character you most like to play if it weren't George wow that's interesting I'm gonna say Marisa Tomei I would have liked to have been with Marisa Tomei a vice you can't shake o carbs I can't stop eating carbs Larry over or undercooked what do you like your food you like it well I see what you're saying I thought we were going with the cup I think I like things a little more cooked I've I have a little bit of a germ thing I don't do it yeah well right it's the last great book you read I actually just read a book and I'm fortunate can't remember the author's name it is a fascinating piece it's called the Martian and it's about it's a fictional piece about a Mars mission where one guy is presumed dead and they abandon him and how he survives given some fairly realistic circumstance this is brilliant if you could have dinner with anyone in the world tonight who would it be I scarlet johansson to go back maybe I could talk her into going to the island I think any and one thing that no one knows about you that no one knows about there's something about you we don't know Jason what the hell could be left already um no I'm an exceptionally caring lover I've been told you are good in bed that's what I've been told by your why all of one woman but it's but I believe everything she says you're the best brother thanks to my guest Jason Alexander and evening with Jason Alexander and his hair opens April 11th at Harrods in Las Vegas it runs through May 4th for tickets go to Harrah's Las Vegas calm and there is a meet-and-greet and remember you can find me on Twitter at Kings things we'll see you next time you

Channel: Larry King

Views: 399,044

Keywords: Larry King, Larry King Now, Ora TV, Entertainment, Celebrity, Jason Alexander (TV Program Creator), Seinfeld (TV Show), Las Vegas (City/Town/Village)

Id: iqqGFKwMNHQ

Length: 26min 23sec (1583 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 10 2014