Larry David Secretly Enjoys Being Yelled At, Says Susie Essman

Larry David is known for his cantankerous rants, on talk shows, on Curb Your Enthusiasm and in real life. But here’s a secret, according to his Curb costar Susie Essman: David absolutely loves it when people yell at him. 

Conan O’Brien used to be roommates with Jeff Garlin when the two young comics were on the rise, he told Essman on his Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast. “We’ve known each other forever, so I took particular joy when you would go after Jeff,” O’Brien said. “‘You fat fuck!’ I would be crying laughing.”

Maybe O’Brien didn’t notice, responded Essman, but as Curb progressed, her character spent less time yelling at Garlin and more time screaming at someone else. “Larry kind of saved me, as these seasons went on, he would save me more and more for him. Less and less for Jeff,” she explained. “He would relish that. The man loves to be yelled and screamed at. I mean, loves it. He lives for it.”

David understands an important comedy secret, argued O’Brien, one that goes back to Johnny Carson and even Jack Benny. “I learned a long time ago, you can get big laughs by just reacting,” he said. “Looking a little sad and downtrodden when it’s appropriate. And Larry’s so good at being eviscerated, the way his face falls.”

Let’s not forget Garlin, who was also a master of the downtrodden face, or that “I got busted” look. The expression is deserved because “they did such stupid shit,” Essman told O’Brien. 

That made it pretty easy for her to work up some righteous indignation. “People would ask me questions: ‘Is it hard to get that angry?’ No! He’s stealing my kid’s doll’s head. He’s stealing my kid’s dog. He’s getting her drunk. He’s getting us kicked out of a country club. He’s stealing a salad dressing recipe. It’s not like a big method acting thing I gotta do. You just have to be in the scene. And it’s like, ‘Look what these fucking assholes are doing.’” 

Having grown up in a household where people suppressed their anger, O’Brien discovered joy in berating people through comedy: “If I shared an office with Bob Odenkirk, I could just go to town on him. And it was so much fun!” 

Naturally, Essman told O’Brien that she shares his glee at comic verbal abuse. “No one gets hurt. You scream and yell at Larry or Jeff, whoever. And then it's ‘Cut!’ and it’s like, ‘All right, where do you wanna have dinner?’ That’s the beauty of it. I say that all the time. You scream, you yell, ‘Fuck you!’ and ‘You’re an asshole!’ But nobody gets hurt.”