In his capacity as a comedic performer, writer, and public figure, Larry David has made a considerable living by being cantankerous, contrary, and dissatisfied, perpetually whining about the status quo, human behavior, and his own day-to-day existence. He regularly succeeded in coaxing laugh after laugh from his tsunami of complaints as the star of the acclaimed HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm, after making bank as cocreator and showrunner of the influential hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld. On Curb Your Enthusiasm, nothing was safe from his ire: modern society, the people around him, and even himself. Now, he’s turned his self-righteous indignation on the history of the United States with his latest project — the seven-episode HBO-Max show Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.
Coproduced by none other than former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, and narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is subtitled An Almost History of America and leapfrogs from one significant moment to another in the checkered past of the United States, with David’s cynical sensibilities and willingness to offend informing each era and historical event. That means we’re present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the beginning of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the McCarthy hearings in 1954, the watershed 1955 incident when civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat on a bus in Alabama, and other notable happenings — all grist for the humor mill. And who’s right in the middle of such consequential affairs, bitching and moaning and making a nuisance of himself? If you guessed that it’s variants of Larry David, garbed in period costume, you get an “A” in Historical Farce.
Numerous big-name actors were willing to be regulars or guest stars opposite a fictionalized version of David on the award-winning Curb Your Enthusiasm. Similarly, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness attracted an abundance of famous folks and familiar David cronies to play figures who impacted the chronicle of America since its founding. So we get Henry Winkler as John Hancock, Jon Hamm and Sean Hayes as Wilbur and Orville Wright, Don Johnson as Doc Holliday, Timothy Olyphant as Wyatt Earp, Jerry Seinfeld as William Clark (alongside longtime colleague David as Meriwether Lewis), Jurnee Smollett as Rosa Parks, and the late Rob Reiner as George Washington.
The stars line up with Larry
Lin-Manuel Miranda takes a break from writing and appearing in musicals to play the organizer of the Boston Tea Party who pointedly refuses to invite David’s annoying character to the protest. Saturday Night Live alumnus Beck Bennett is reporter Bob Woodward whose search for inside dope about the Watergate break-in leads him to David’s petty, recalcitrant Deep Throat. Michael McKean (This Is Spinal Tap) is Joseph Welch, the crusading lawyer in opposition to the vicious anti-Communist alarmist Senator Joseph McCarthy during the repressive 1954 hearings — with David in a dither as McCarthy. Ike Barinholtz (The Studio) is virulently anti-Semitic automobile magnate Henry Ford facing off against a sly Orthodox Jew played by David.
Since Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is a sketch show, it’s almost a given that the skits will be hit or miss. The fact that it’s partially improvised like Curb Your Enthusiasm probably contributes to its uneven nature. One of the lesser bits is about the conception of the Declaration of Independence, with David, in the role of Founding Father Robert R. Livingston, doing a list of typical Curb Your Enthusiasm-style grievances that derail the process. Despite the period setting, it feels overly familiar for any fans of David’s previous work. The James Buchanan and Alexander Graham Bell send-ups are both a little strained. A more successful endeavor is the Rosa Parks scene wherein David, as a passenger sitting next to her, is such a pain in the rear that she decides she’d be better off sitting in the back of the bus.
The sharpest and funniest sequence in the series thus far concerns President Abraham Lincoln, played by Bill Hader (Barry), and his chief of staff, played by David. As his most trusted advisor, the chief of staff convinces Lincoln to attend a play at the Ford Theater to avoid the unhinged behavior of the First Lady, Mary Todd. Nothing bad could possibly happen at the theater, right? The furtive interplay between Hader and David is comedy gold, while Kathryn Hahn as the expletive-spouting Mary steals every moment she’s on screen. By the time Abe, Mary, and the chief of staff get to the presidential box at the Ford Theater with a certain disgruntled Confederate sympathizer in the wings, the inevitable tragedy is leavened by laughter.
Viewing the present through the past
In the process of revisiting and burlesquing bygone times, David and his creative partner/cowriter Jeff Schaffer also manage to take some deserved swipes at those currently governing the country. As Washington stands before a crowd of enthusiastic citizens, announces he will not seek a third term, and asserts that the U.S. is not a monarchy, David interrupts him with questions about the ways democracy can be undermined. Washington says none of it could happen, although every point David brings up comes straight out of the Trump administration’s playbook. One man in the gathered throng asks if the government will be able to repress freedom of speech. He’s played by TV talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel who was tossed off the air for a few days after FCC complaints about the political bias of his monologue. A send-up of Jonas Salk’s invention of the polio vaccine has his proud mother, played by David, arguing with a ruddy-faced, frog-voiced anti-vax neighbor bearing a resemblance to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who just happens to be married to David’s former Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Cheryl Hines.
Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness invites comparisons to Drunk History, Documentary Now! and History of the World, Part II — television programs that similarly spoof or satirize important occasions from the past. They each have their charms. The difference with Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is David. If you’re amused by the curmudgeon and his litany of gripes, moans, and frustrations and you’re interested in seeing what the celebrity supporting cast brings to the party, pledge allegiance to Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness. In general, the hits outnumber the misses — especially in the case of Mr. Lincoln.
New episodes of Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness air Fridays on HBO and Max.
