Larry David working on 8th round of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Larry David says he is working on “some stuff” for an eighth season of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which we presume means there will be an eighth season.
“I think there’s a pretty good chance,” for another season, the “Curb” creator and star told about 2,000 fans who’d paid good money to breathe the same air as David and “Curb” cast members Sunday night at the Paley Center’s annual TV festival in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“It’s not definite yet, but we’re working on some stuff,” he said, including the return of house guest Leon, played by J.B. Smoove.
David, never one to share information, seemed to check out about one minute into the evening when the moderator, Los Angeles Times television editor Martin Miller, asked whether there would be another “Seinfeld” reunion on “Curb.”
“There will be no more ‘Seinfeld’ references on the show. ‘Seinfeld’ questions are probably not appropriate,” David said icily.
Unlike earlier nights in the PaleyFest at which fans of other TV shows have been showered with affection and gratitude by those on stage, “Curb” fans had to scavenge for crumbs.
When one ticket-holder noted “Curb” has a lot of jokes about race and ethnicity and wondered whether David’s trying to tell people we need to be able to laugh at ourselves, series regular Bob Einstein, who plays Marty Funkhouser on the unscripted comedy series, asked, “Are you armed?”
“Yes, I feel it’s important to laugh at ourselves,” David all-but-sneered. “After all there are some black people and some white people — if we could only recognize our differences.”
Most of the evening focused on two things: how much everyone up on stage hates to rehearse or memorize lines, and how weary they are of fans who do and/or say shocking things in their presence that are entirely in keeping with the shocking behavior of the characters they play on the show, and who enthusiastically pitch them episode ideas. Cast member/executive producer Jeff Garlin said he’s been pitched ideas by thousands of people and “I’ve never heard one funny one.”
Even so, one brave ticket-holder in the audience wondered whether David would continue to drive a Toyota Prius in future episodes. David said he took the guy’s point. Another courageous audience member asked whether David and his made-for TV-wife, played by Cheryl Hines, would get back together this season, with the clear understanding it was what she hoped. Acting uncharacteristically publicity minded, David said, “I think so.”
Miller got off to a bad start with David when the Paley Center showed a compendium of clips from the show before the interview, giving Miller the idea he should kick things off by noting how great those clips looked on a big screen and wondering whether we would see a movie version of “Curb” any time soon.
“I don’t think so,” David said frostily.
Miller then dove straight into the “Seinfeld’ reunion question and, after David hit him between the eyes on that one, tried to get some time to recover by asking the cast members if they would each recount how they came to be on the show.
“Well, I know Jerry Seinfeld,” joked Einstein, who knows road kill when he sees it.
A short while later, Miller made like a lemming and dove off the “Seinfeld” cliff again, as he started to blah, blah, blah about David having recently appeared on Jerry Seinfeld’s NBC reality series “The Marriage Ref.”
“We’re here to talk about ‘Curb’, Martin,” David responded testily.
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