Larry David Is ‘Human-Adjacent,’ Admits ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Producer

You know how many fan theorists believe that Mr. Bean is an alien? Perhaps his home planet is in the same star system as whichever barren rock spat out Larry David.

We are now two episodes into the official (really official, this time) final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the cranky, cantankerous protagonist has already landed himself in some seriously hot water that will seemingly continue to boil for the rest of the series. After accidentally violating Georgia’s controversial Election Integrity Act of 2021 in the season premiere, the fictionalized David now faces a highly-publicized court case that could result in jail time for the Seinfeld co-creator, which would be a pretty poetic series finale considering the way his other show ended. 

While discussing David’s seemingly benign crime of giving Leon’s Aunt Rae some water while she waited in line at the polling station, Curb Your Enthusiasm executive producer Jeff Schaffer told The Hollywood Reporter that he considers David to be “human-adjacent,” which is a much more forgiving descriptor for the series star than what someone like Susie would call him.

“He does Auntie Rae a solid,” Schaffer said of David’s humanity in the first episode this season. “I’ll grant you that.” Of course, on the other side of the coin is the lawn jockey debacle, in which David unintentionally exposed Leon's whole extended family to the replacement racist lawn jockey he and Jeff had to scrounge up to save Susie's deposit at their Airbnb after they accidentally broke the original.

On the possible connection to the Seinfeld finale that David has seemingly been concocting with the current arc of Curb, Schaffer said, “It’s the first time I’ve ever thought about that. We were thinking about just making the stories work and what was funniest.” Many fans have pointed out how the law David broke in the season premiere could be seen as the evil inverse of the “Good Samaritan” statute that landed the Seinfeld cast in prison back in 1998. “That’s much more philosophical than we’ve ever gotten,” Schaffer debunked.

“Larry has never once cared about what other people think. I can truly say that,” Schaffer reflected of his collaborator’s character. “Never when we were writing did he ever voice concern about what someone else might think about the show. And that’s the beauty of Larry. That’s why the show’s great.”

As for the near future of David’s character on Curb, Schaffer says that, with the eyes of the nation upon him regarding his court case, the public will see all of his true self, for better and for much, much worse. “Larry is in this very strange position where most people think he’s one of the best human beings in the world, and we’re going to have fun with that. Think of all the people he can now disappoint,” Schaffer gleefully suggested. “He can’t sweep it under the rug, pay a fine and be done with it. Now he’s going to have to deal with it.”