Plot: Created as a comedic tribute to the United States Semiquincentennial, the series explores major events in American history through the lens of Larry David’s signature observational humor.
Review: In the two years since the series finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm, audiences have felt a glaring absence without Larry David’s signature brand of curmudgeon gracing our Sunday nights on HBO. For years, the Seinfeld co-creator said the things many of us would barely dare to think and let his intrusive thoughts become our entertainment. Now, in honor of America’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday, he has partnered with Barack and Michelle Obama on Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, a new anthology series that celebrates memorable moments in the history of the United States in only the way Larry David could. The result is a blast for hardcore David fans, but for everyone else, it may feel a little safe compared to the line-crossing comedy of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
The seven episodes of Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness each present a series of short sketches that spoof famous and infamous moments in American history. Larry David appears in almost every sketch, portraying iconic historical figures as well as other tangential figures created for this series. Each sketch lasts about 10 minutes and follows a pretty familiar formula: showcasing a moment, then letting whichever Larry David avatar he is playing ruin it for everyone else. The first episode opens with a hilarious introduction by Barack Obama before seguing into a Samuel L. Jackson narration. This then leads us to Larry playing Founding Father precursor Robert Livingston, who took the first crack at drafting the Declaration of Independence. As expected, Livingston’s self-importance and overly specific foibles overshadow the document’s significance, and hijinks ensue. For a handful of minutes, Larry David does his trademark complaining while everyone around him argues back or hangs their heads in shame.
The premiere also sends up Alexander Graham Bell, World War I, and Rosa Parks before later episodes reimagine everything from the Wright Brothers to V-J Day, Abraham Lincoln, and the start of the Civil War. The mockery of American history is good-natured, but there is little bite to the humor, which feels a bit safe for what we have become accustomed to from Larry David. Out of respect for America’s anniversary, I am sure some of the raunchier jokes were held back or excised, but there are still cunnilingus jokes and similar jabs that push the envelope a bit. Still, there is nowhere near the profanity that Curb Your Enthusiasm regularly featured, leaving the series to feel a tad sanitized compared to what Larry David is synonymous with. Barack Obama and Larry David are students of history in very different ways, and at times Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness feels like a middle ground between respectful and satirical, with many of the punches pulled rather than landed.
The best part of Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is the massive cast of actors that the Obamas and Larry David enlisted for these sequences. The cast boasts Curb Your Enthusiasm veterans like Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Vince Vaughn, Fred Melamed, J.B. Smoove, and Richard Kind as well as Sarah Silverman, Jurnee Smollett, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Henry Winkler, Jon Hamm, Michael Chiklis, Isla FIsher, Joe Manganiello, Rita Wilson, Bill Hader, Sean Hayes, Alan Tudyk, Kathryn Hahn, Chris Parnell, and many more. Every actor is game to pay homage to the United States and embrace the semi-improvisational nature that Larry David brought to Curb Your Enthusiasm. It was clearly a blast for these famous actors to play with each other in this series, and you can tell they had fun, but I wish their fun had translated to more boundary-pushing results.
All seven episodes of Life. Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness were written by Larry David and Seinfeld veteran Jeff Schaffer. Schaffer, who is credited with creating the Festivus pole from Seinfeld, co-created the FX sitcom The League alongside his wife, Jackie Schaffer, as well as the series Dave starring Lil Dicky and the cult classic film EuroTrip. David and Schaffer have an extensive history writing together which translates to an easy partnership with this series, but Schaffer’s workmanlike approach to the various historical eras shown on screen is focused on Larry David looking funny in different costumes and prosthetics from the last two-hundred-and-fifty years. Where Curb Your Enthusiasm used locations throughout Los Angeles to lend some realism to the improvised episodes, the heavy production values and costume design work on this series is a far greater effort and does not necessarily match the output of the sketches themselves. Yes, these episodes are funny but they elicit more chuckles over genuine laughs.
In an era where American history and the celebration of the nation are divisive for those who align on either side of the political spectrum, we can agree that laughing at history should have been an exercise is unity. Larry David and the Obamas have crafted a series with good ideas and good intentions, but the end result is not as strong as it should have been considering the level of talent involved. Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is funny and funy but should have been so much more. You will probably find yourself rolling your eyes at some of the jokes when you should have been cracking up. That could be a sign of how jaded we are these days or just the result of this series not being as good as it could have been,
Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness airs new episodes on Fridays on HBO.