Larry David interviewed by Charlie Rose 1998

in 1988 two little-known comedians named Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David met with NBC executives to pitch their idea for a pilot it would be a sitcom about nothing it's damn good Seinfeld is going on to become one of the most successful series in television history after seven seasons David left the show in 1996 but last December when Seinfeld announced his decision to retire he Jerry Seinfeld asked David to return to write the final episode it will appear on May 14th before an expected audience of some 75 million plus people since leaving the show he's turned his focus to the movies this friday marks his debut as a screenwriter and director with the film sour grapes I am very pleased to have him join us right here on this screen must Larry David yeah you referred to me as David not calling me David and it frightened me when you said that because all right since then Larry's gone on a Larry did this how do you feel about being here I'm not happy you know why why talk to me you're not gonna get anything out of this oh come on no no I'm not going to enrich your life or anybody else's believe me we have our means we have our ways you're going to wonder how does this person get through life I don't get it yeah all right tell me about the pressure from May 14th well the pressure was before before the show was actually written right then there was some pressure but once the show was written then then there's really no pressure okay Dave writing writing is the pressure all right take me back to the time that you first realized Jerry we're going back going back see we're going back and I'm gonna try to make this yeah all right you get a phone call from Jerry Seinfeld's saying what it's not a phone call what is it we're going back to when we first started is that it no no I think where I want to start yeah when did you find out that this was the last season for Jerry Seinfeld when everybody else found out I read it in the newspaper I can't leave that co-creator of the series finds out in the newspaper those are the depths that I son to after I left the show through the newspaper yes so what did you do pick up the phone not right away I waited I waited today yeah thinking maybe he called no he's just giving him some time to talk to other people maybe you can find out more about what he said other people what the story was yeah so now I waited a day and then I called and and what was the conversation about just about his decision to leave why he'd why he did it mmm was this a soulful conversation was as a matter of fact like you're talking to me Charlie I'm never gonna have another conversation in my life like this one so he might as well let it all hang out yeah I don't think we have no it wasn't a soulful okay what was it what men were soulless men we cannot soulful that's true it was it was a sort of a normal conversation oh you decided to quit why yeah you know what happened I thought I thought he was ready because even back in during the summer we had he had discussed the possibility that this was going to be it so it wasn't a total shock did he at that point asked you to write the final episode yeah we had a yes during that conversation in the summer he had mentioned the possibility of his leaving and perhaps I would do that so that would that was discussed and then I said well we'll see we'll see what it looks like for me how'd you feel about coming back to do that I was very excited excited yes excited to come back I missed it you'd missed it all along since you left yeah I didn't really regret it but I I missed I missed everybody I miss the people I had believe it or not I had friends there yeah so I thought you know that would be nice to go back and say goodbye and do that well let me go back a little bit further taketake but let's go back to the krrish in the show how much was it like what we just saw you're gonna go in there and you're gonna pitch him something about nothing we never actually used that expression nothing that only came up in that Epis it really caught on it did know we initially were pitching a show about how a comedian gets his material so we would follow a comedian around in his daily life we'd go from the grocery store to he to the dry cleaner may be honored he'd go on a date he'd hang out with his friends and then at the end of the show he would do a monologue and incorporated into the monologue would be some of the things that we saw happen on the show that's and that's ostensibly where the comedian got the material and that's that's why I don't pitch to NBC yeah an NBC believed in the show so they said he said we're committing to four episodes yes yeah all right four episodes for normally it's thirteen or eight or something yes at least yeah so we didn't really think that they had too much confidence in the show was it a hit did you feel good about it from the beginning I felt good just the fact that the four episodes were produced because I had never produced four episodes before and frankly I didn't know that I was capable of doing that so just the fact that we had four shows on the air made me very excited well I didn't think about the future I thought phew I got by I did the four okay let's go back to New York let's get on with our lives this is reason I like you so much you know use the story goes that you said when they wanted more you said more I can't do more I've given you everything I have in these four episodes well you know I didn't say it out loud but I said it to my close personal friends like Jerry yeah yeah you know I ran I said look I gave you the four things that happened to me in my life what what else could I possibly do so then I had to actually come up with ideas like like a regular writer and I that was yeah then we were doing 13 episodes I had to do 13 episodes I want started crying from the from the fear the masturbation sequence which we're going to sow dare you what do you think you're talking to me you know my parents have been probably gonna be watching this I'd certainly hope so yeah you probably are all right did you create this was this your idea yeah from where well it actually based on you know all right I might as well say it it is based on something that happened to me yes you got caught did you know I didn't get caught you know I was in a contest I was in fact emerged victorious I'm proud to say yeah all right this is a famous episode in which you won an Emmy thank you very much roll tape is it George Michael thingy yeah I suppose this is one of the most famous episodes of Seinfeld ever yeah yeah definitely it got tremendous word of mouth I guess and I think it's one of the turning points in the history of the show that and moving to Thursday night that's what really got us over the top why did you leave well Charlie you see I was feeling that I needed to know you know I had been there for seven years and that's a long time to suffer the way I do and in my daily life and seven years is a long time for somebody to executive produce a show like that burnout no it wasn't burned out I had plenty of ideas it wasn't that it was yeah huh I was learning how they had to do it it wasn't that I just thought that I felt like I was ready to do so I thought that I had done that and now I wanted to try something else and that's that's pretty much it do you regret it leaving no no which I know sounds strange because some the kind of person is regretted most most things in his life I'll regret this interview believe me I know I can just see yeah I enjoyed you it's Charlie Rosen you're gonna say oh god yeah don't please don't bring that up no I don't know I don't regret it I missed it I missed everybody are you were a little sensitive to the fact that they went just fine without you you know is it Jerry says it's like you know do you want your ex-girlfriend to be to be happy you know so I wanted to be happy but not too happy so you went off to do whatever you were gonna do right and the show went for what this wasn't the end of the ninety-fifth season 1995 season the end of 96 96 yeah margin the end of March 96 yeah and it went on yes did you ever think about coming back the thought crossed my mind from from time to time but you know what not really I was kind of busy with with doing what I was doing so and they had a whole new way of working and everything it would have been awkward you and Jerry equal partners yeah so this is your baby I mean even if you weren't there your baby I've created the baby yes you're one-half of the parentage of this baby right a very handsome baby so it comes to the final episode and Jerry and you say look if we do this and final episode we want you to what's the test what's the challenge for a final episode the challenge is that first of all everybody has it in their head what they think this show should be when people sit down to watch in regular episode on Thursday night nobody's thinking of us of a plot in advance of how it should what should happen but in this particular show everybody has it has their own scenario going so you have to top their scenario now as you have to top their scenario you have to come up with something that really brings some closure to the entire series so it was a it was a daunting prospect it is said now I know and I'm not trying to play this game with you try to find out and have you give me something that'll make news make me look like a big deal because you'll disclose something here that you haven't know I'm not trying that's a big deal you don't have to look like a I'm not trying to do that you got it it is said that there five separate endings true no no not true now that's news right right right here yeah you know there are two endings do ya and it is said that the final decision on how to make it end in the end won't be made until a week before the broadcast has it already been made is it in the can there's that nothing else to do now it's already been made it has yeah yes yes it has do you feel good about it I feel very good about it and it's nice to feel good about something now I see how other people feel during the day good I take that feeling of feeling good about the final episode and when I talk to people I see them feeling good I can compare my feeling with theirs whereas ordinarily I can't do that I just look at them and go why are they feeling good all this story about you suffering yes is true oh yes yes yeah why I don't know that's how I was born it goes that far back yeah yeah suffering always never believing could be this good never believing you could keep it never believing that it was gonna happen to you uh yeah I suppose that that's that's true in some way do you have a tissue does that and if this is my serious question I think that's what made you very good as a comedy writer I guess it's that and growing up in Brooklyn there's something about Sheepshead Bay or something yeah Sheepshead Bay something about Brooklyn I think that it breeds comedy do people who do comedy well as far as you're concerned to have something in common do they see life through a certain prism all of them do they have a sort of special observant quality and a special mimic quality I think so yeah I think we generally feel a little outs outside the mainstream we're generally more observing than participating usually self-consciously about things self-conscious about things you don't want me to talk about this but I am you've made over a hundred million dollar why why are you why are you do that because what is why why are you compelled what compels you to say something like that because I read about ah okay alright has it made any difference well in terms of what we're talking about insecurities struggle the absence of having fun as much as you ought to you know I said didn't uh in in one article that the one difference that it's made is that you can't really complain anymore to people about various things although hasn't really stopped they know it's certainly tonight that aside you know you can't really complain about the little things that are bothering because nobody really wants wants to listen to you they don't want to hear it take your hundred million yeah go get the hell away from me the other thing is that you know even though I used to worry about money a lot because I didn't really have a lot I used to be you know I'd go down to the grocery store three o'clock in the morning with a jar of Tropicana a bottle choppa cannon with pennies felt and get a can of ravioli so I I didn't really have much money at all for a long time and then now that I have it it's it just all that's compartment that I had where I worried about money that the money's gone now that compartment in the brain isn't worried about money but something else jumped in so fast to take its place what was that a whole whole assortment of thing is that do the worrying is still there there's still concern in this compartment of the brain but it's not know long about money it's about something else so there was a void and something rushed into something question to fill the void exactly so the void has been filled up yeah so you got something else to worry about there you go are you gonna live a long life or whatever it might be never worried about before now because there's space to worry about something else we've got new concerns there's no room left believe me I got it yeah I got it the last episode you you want to tied tie the ends together right or you have tied the ends together you have dotted the i's and cross the t's and you have given it a finality I've tried to yeah compare it to all the other sign pills well it's it has the magnitude and the the scope of a final episode it's not it's not a typical episode it's a it's a finale what steps did you go to make sure cuz that no one is it so far it hasn't leaked out what it's about anything what did you have to do to make sure you had that confidentiality you know everybody who came to see the show how to sign a letter saying it will cut off your right right everybody who worked on the show signed something Jerry talked to everyone I reiterated what he said to the audience and people just are really respecting it and I'm so I'm so happy about it because I really think people enjoy the show so much more if they really don't know what it's about you'll still enjoy it if you knew the story but it's just better to come out at fresh now you tell me about Jerry and it did the jury that you know and what it is there's more I thought this thing I really thought you know this guy as well as anybody work with him you created with him as you say you were on the same wavelength yeah did you watch the show so I'm told yes I do there you go that's all I need to know that's all you need to know you watched you watch until Seinfeld yes watch George yes there you go that's all you need to know about me is that right yeah so it's you're like a painter who says Picasso used to say look everything you need to know about me is right here in this painting every music I've had composers comes here man you need to know about me is in that music I'm very much like Picasso in many ways my liberty for sex certainly my outputs we have a lot in common me and the picky picky Picasso you know Jerry's uh you say he's a tremendous Karl give you the exhibit remembers guy here's a question what essential Seinfeld story okay yeah we going somewhere yeah when I was about our third or fourth season on the show I was in a room talking to a few of the writers and I looked at one of the writers shirts and there was just something a little off about this shirt it was it was sort of it was in a bit of a diagonal going down and I said is Jerry seen that shirt you know and he and he said no and I said I'll bet you he comments on that shirt within 10 seconds after he sees you you know and he said you got a bet we bet we bet $10 may even be $20 I said okay all right and I'm just about to leave the room and here he comes he comes walking in and I hang out at the doorway and he didn't even make eye contact with the guy and he's talking to somebody else and all of a sudden he turns and he he says how many too many and goes what's the story with that shirt you know you're a guy yeah you think like so you then he knows the same thing about you yeah have you two ever talked about this notion it is said that juror forgery the show was fun for you doing the show was suffering you know I also had a lot of fun too the most fun I had was actually the actual writing of it the the writing that we did together those those were those were great times we through a process of creating assignment well they were there all they were all different do you mean the writing of it or I mean what day one what happens to create a sign Phil we're not know about a classic you're talking about one that I would write or one that door one that somebody from the staff would write you know they need these definitions well because they're because it's a different process what you wrote okay well I would you know I would probably get an idea for show and I would take an example like what oh Jesus hard huh is this hard yeah it's kind of complicated it is hard give me a small idea that became a good idea okay well let's see I'm in I'm in the office and somebody takes out this little space pen right and I go hey that's an interesting pen you got there let me see that he goes here this is Jerry's manager he goes here and I take the pen and he says to me it writes upside down and I start writing upside that say I said hey that's terrific because you know a lot of times I like to write in bed and you can't in the pen Skip's and he goes take the pen I don't want to take your pen and he goes come on take it I go no you know you just take the pen all right then I take the pen and then I start to feel guilty that I took the guy's pen and I approach him later on take the back exist now no keep the pen I got plenty of them so I'm thinking then I don't know some some point down the line I'll go you know that's a funny thing taking a pen from somebody like that and then you know I would tell Jerry what do you think of this pen idea and he would go yeah I like that I don't like it whatever and in this particular case he likes it now I'll go off and I'll write it write it by yourself I'll write it by myself but we always go over everything together every script we go over together every every line and you know he's got his say and he adds a lot to everything my reputation as a writer has been greatly enhanced by by having him working on my I didn't make contributions and suggestions and all that final interest so you went away and wrote it yeah alone yeah well he you know I had the time I mean he was really busy with the show so I think he was somewhat relieved that I had the time to do that because they were swamped with work yes oh and an episode like this you know you needed some time to write I think it would have been a bad situation if I had gone into episode if I had finished writing episode 21 and all of a sudden here was the finale upon us with five days to write it would have been impossible so fortunately I could take my time and do it and you would finish sour grapes yes let's talk about that since it's a movie that's about to be released and critics have said the following things about it surprisingly good first-time director good from yeah well surprisingly good for a first erection right some have said it's it you can tell that this is someone who came out of sitcoms there is something a connection there you can see a direct connection I think they said the connection was from Seinfeld not not from Sitaram sign yeah I stand corrected well this happened a lot to you it's not easy yeah I'm sure you know image of yourself and then people constantly correcting yeah you know I've tried to hold back and I could have corrected you more times and I don't make any more mistakes have I oh all right so sour grapes the idea is white it's two cousins who go to Atlantic City and one wins a jackpot using two quarters with that the other one gave him and he refuses to split the money with him and that's basically sounds like a Seinfeld episode to me yeah yeah basically well perhaps the Seinfeld cable episode because how was it to write for ninety two minutes rather than 20 much much harder much harder hard oh yes first of all yeah all new characters and you had to keep keep the balls in the air for 90 minutes much harder all right roll tape here's an episode from here's a clip from sour grapes run back to TV or do something else I mean yeah yeah definitely yeah I actually and I know people are shocked to hear me say this enjoyed it I enjoy no oh no no I know I really did enjoy it yeah and so you already have another idea you're thinking yeah I'm in the middle of another one what's what's this one about oh yeah it's a comedy yeah it's a comedy yeah it's about it's about a guy with a talk show who's always being corrected yes yes yes I you look back on on the sign til years and what do you think about most mmm-hmm what do I think about my see I think now you got me I was doing well until this moment I really was I think I'll actually think about the writing writing the show's working working with Jerry the writing process how much fun we had doing that the collaboration I think that's what stands out in my mind the most congratulations it's a classic you know you created something to be touched a lot of people congratulations thank you Charlie Larry David a good luck with sour grapes as well thanks very much we'll be right back with somebody I know you want to see Yogi Berra your Yankee fan Yogi's here Yogi's here no kidding no kidding I can't believe it Larry David and yogi berra on one show what do you know I'm thrilled we'll be right back with Yogi Berra stay with us

Channel: Gadaí

Views: 315,833

Rating: 4.9043694 out of 5

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Id: AMUs9KPMqj8

Length: 24min 39sec (1479 seconds)

Published: Sat May 02 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/RagingNerdaholic]

Larry David must have looked 60 since he was 20.

[u/_SpiderDisco]

"tell me what that phone call was like"

"It wasn't a phone call"

Asking Larry David a question is like making a wish from an evil genie. He will always find the loophole in your request.

[u/LetsJerkCircular]

How fucking drunk was Charlie Rose, and damn if he didn’t still nail that interview.

[u/timfoil_88]

This resonated more than anticipated... The effort we put into solving major concerns that occupy our thoughts will always be replaced with other concerns (even after making millions). Fortunate for us, we occasionally get to choose what we dedicate energy towards. "David" made a ton of money but it didn't resolve all of life's problems or stress factors. His ability to make people laugh and publicize how quirky life is, I can appreciate!

[u/sebas4thewin]

Hey it’s that guy from Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[u/BeefPieSoup]

I just don't know what it is about Larry David. Like.... he's definitely an extremely interesting man. You don't hear a lot of interviews... like that... with anyone, really. He's very up front about his insecurities. He seems to be one of the keenest observational minds I've ever seen... he's immensely intelligent. He's fundamentally funny. But he's just so blunt, and he just always seems to take virtually anyone by surprise almost constantly with just how...sort of cutting he can be. I'm sure I like him, or I certainly am enthralled to hear what he has to say about stuff...but I'm sure I'd hate and sort of feel very uneasy to talk to him directly myself. It's weird. It's like...how could someone so funny and intelligent seem so awkward and uncomfortable and downright off-putting to be around all the time.

[u/sunflowerarmies]

Larry David is always the same.