‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ finale: ‘A joke 26 years within the making’

“Mr. David. It appears you will have a historical past of doing the identical issues incorrect time and again. And I really hope this time you lastly discovered your lesson,” Dean Norris’ Decide Whittaker advised Larry David — the fictionalized model of himself — through the collection finale of HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

He has not.

The road, which got here with the decide sentencing the comic and author to a yr in jail, was meant to be learn as each literal and meta. Neither the faux Larry David, who has spent 12 seasons calling out “pig parkers” and insulting somebody’s “beloved aunt”— and who now can’t even concentrate as his lawyer Sibby Sanders (Sanaa Lathan) makes an attempt to deify him to a jury — nor the true Larry David, who’s a staunch defender of the same ending for his and Jerry Seinfeld’s NBC sitcom “Seinfeld,” has ever been able to studying a life lesson (Driving the purpose house, the final episode of “Curb” is titled “No Classes Realized”).

“Curb” government producer and showrunner Jeff Schaffer, who additionally directed Sunday’s finale, says the impetus for the finale got here after they have been writing a scene from earlier within the episode when a boy hits David’s character within the head with a ball. The kid’s mom desires him to apologize and be taught from his errors. The knowledge David’s character imparts to the tyke? That, regardless of being a septuagenarian, he’s by no means discovered a life lesson.

“We realized we should always personal that and inform everybody Larry’s by no means discovered a lesson and simply do the finale once more,” Schaffer says, including that “Larry doesn’t care what you considered the ‘Seinfeld’ finale. He cares so little about your ideas that he’s going to redo it.”

And, though the “Curb” finale is stuffed with call-backs and nods to the “Seinfeld” finale — together with bringing again Seinfeld himself to be the episode’s Superman to save lots of the day by getting the fees dropped — there may be at the least one main distinction between the 2. In “Seinfeld,” the 4 leads stand trial for his or her meanness and are sentenced to a yr in jail collectively as a result of they have been caught mocking one other particular person. In “Curb,” our hero’s on trial due to an honest act. He provides water to his pal Rae (Ellia English) when she’s in line to vote throughout a scorching day in Georgia; a gesture that’s unlawful beneath the state’s Election Integrity Act of 2021.

Nonetheless, Schaffer says “the parallel between the ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Curb’ instigating incident doesn’t actually exist” and that “it wasn’t one thing that motivated us within the writing.”

“It was Larry saying, ‘You already know, that is loopy legislation in Georgia, I ought to get arrested for that,’” Schaffer explains. “It wasn’t ‘I’m gonna carry out an act of kindness.’”

In an interview that has been edited, and condensed, for readability, Schaffer and “Curb” co-star Susie Essman faculty The Occasions on “Classes Realized” and different takeaways from the present’s final season.

Susie, you will have the final audible line of “Curb.” Your character, Susie Greene, and different key characters are combating on the airplane on the best way again to Los Angeles and also you inform David’s character, in so many phrases, to close up and return to jail. How does that really feel?

Susie Essman: It feels good. It made me very comfortable. I noticed it final night time for the primary time. And I used to be like, “Oh, wow, I’ve the final line.” It’s becoming that Susie ought to have the final line on the earth that we now have created right here. I don’t assume that was on objective. My voice simply occurred to be loud.

Jeff Schaffer: It was a ultimate, strident grace be aware. After we have been filming that scene, we tried a whole lot of various things, as we at all times do. There have been these strikes that as everybody was arguing, we’d drift over to Larry. The thought, as we conceived it, was form of ending on Larry’s face. After we have been within the modifying room, Larry goes, “This isn’t proper. It shouldn’t finish on me, it ought to finish on our group.”

He was so nice about that. As a result of after we ended on Larry, it doesn’t matter what expression he gave, it nonetheless felt sentimental. And that’s not what we have been going for. However while you finish it on our guys doing what they do finest, which goes at one another, you get this sense of that is what they’re at all times going to be like. It’s the perfect retinal ghost of the present.

The finale additionally pays homage to Richard Lewis, who was sick whereas filming this season and died in February, by referencing a scene from the primary episode of “Curb” and likewise seeing Larry proceed to sabotage his pal’s love life. Have been you deliberately attempting to give attention to him?

Essman: We didn’t know Richard was going to die, that’s for certain. He was not nicely, and clearly anyone who sees the season can see he’s not nicely. However his loss of life was fairly stunning. I don’t assume something was written towards that.

Schaffer: As soon as we knew we have been going to do that recapitulation of the “Seinfeld” finale, the query was how far can we take it? How shut can we get to the tip? I actually needed us to get to that pull-out shot [of Larry in jail and repeating a conversation he’s already had; just as Jerry had done]. … It was all about [let’s] take it so far as we presumably can and make individuals assume that we simply have been redoing it, shot for shot on the finish.

There’s additionally an entire bit within the courtroom of David swatting at a fly as his lawyer makes an attempt to lionize him. And a few of it’s shot from the fly’s perspective. Why did you wish to change up the look of the present by directing that?

Schaffer: Truthfully, as a result of it’s humorous seeing Larry actually go into that straight-to-camera of him attempting to kill that fly throughout this spirited protection. The truth that he didn’t hear a phrase she mentioned was humorous. So we have been simply mixing up the pictures. We needed that shot. We needed to see it from the jury’s POV. We needed him within the background. There was additionally only one shot of his hand slamming on the desk.

It was simply constructing that sequence out of Larry attempting to hunt the fly like he’s a tiger within the jungle throughout that speech.

The finale has a “Seinfeld”-like scene with Larry and Jerry riffing on a hypothetical about courting a bearded woman from the circus. I’m assuming there’s a whole lot of unaired footage from that alternate.

Schaffer: Larry had had this hypothetical that he needed to speak about through the season. … We didn’t know what present to place it in. And it was like, ‘Oh, that is excellent.” I’m so glad we saved it. It was the right hypothetical for Jerry and Larry to speak about so you would simply see these two be humorous collectively and get a way of “OK, possibly that is how ‘Seinfeld’ received written. It was simply watching these two friends making one another snigger.”

And I’m assuming that Seinfeld was OK with poking enjoyable at his present’s finale?

Schaffer: He beloved it. After we shot the jail scene, he mentioned, “That is so nice. This can be a joke that’s 26 years within the making.”

This season has additionally gotten some intense fan reactions. An precise billboard of Essman’s character modeling her line of caftans was defaced in the same method to what occurred to the one on the present. And a fan at a Bruce Springsteen live performance got here with an indication that referenced the musician’s visitor look on the present. How are you feeling about this fandom?

Essman: Oh, my God. Folks referred to as and mentioned, “Are you upset by this?” when the billboard was defaced. I assumed it was the funniest factor in the entire world. I imply, it was no small feat to stand up there and do the graffiti. … They wanted ropes and scaffolding.

Schaffer: It was our genital “Discipline of Desires.” If we construct it, they are going to deface it.

And poor Bruce. He does us an enormous favor. He does at some point of capturing, and now, for all of his live shows .…

Essman: And let me say one thing essential: Bruce improvised that line. He was actually not given his stuff. Typically, anyone comes on they usually’re not an actor and are spoon-fed. That’s not true. He was sensible.

Do both of you discover the “Seinfeld” finale to be as divisive as the remainder of the web appears to?

Essman: I haven’t watched it because it aired. And truthfully, when it aired, I assumed it was advantageous. And I haven’t actually thought of it since then.

Schaffer: Larry and I watched it once more after we realized we have been doing this. … And [we both thought] that it was humorous. That made this much more excellent. As a result of it was like, should you didn’t like that, f— you. We’re gonna do it once more.

That’s one of many issues I like about this finale. It’s larger than “Curb” and it speaks to Larry as a contrarian. It not solely wraps up the present, however it helps wrap up all this wonderful work that Larry has achieved in a really Larry method. [That] is, “I assumed it was humorous. And you already know what, I nonetheless assume it’s humorous.” And you already know what? He’s proper.