Larry David and Conan O'Brien on “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
HBO
[This story contains spoilers from season 12, episode eight of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “The Colostomy Bag.”]
Conan O'Brien made his long-awaited appearance in the final episode of the series Curb your enthusiasm. The talk show host — a close friend of iconic star Larry David in real life — appeared in the HBO comedy as a high-profile neighbor, someone TV Larry (played by the real David) felt needed a “pass” in order to get close.
For the eighth episode of the final season, Larry looked to his friend Richard Lewis (who also played a version of himself in the series) to help him get permission to approach the comedian, but due to the series of events of the episode, no permission was obtained that came at the time Larry needed To great service.
So Larry arrives, unannounced, at the O'Brien house, begging for an “emergency pass” because his car died (Larry angered a valet, who unplugged his electric car) and he fears Susie Green (Susie Essman) will discover Larry and Jeff Green's latest scheme ( Jeff Garlin). “You will kill us, you don't know what this woman is capable of!” He cries to O'Brien. O'Brien ends up giving in and loaning Larry his car. Unfortunately, he throws his keys (an action that gets Larry into a war with the server), hitting Larry in the eye. Larry ended up too late. Susie retaliates, and both Larry and Jeff appear wearing identical eye patches.
“We finally got Conan on the show, and we've always wanted to have him on board,” says executive producer Jeff Schiffer. Hollywood Reporter. “Conan and Larry are friends and really hit each other off, which is why Conan was perfect to play this role and really pissed off Larry about his conversational skills. When someone is so strict and mean to Larry, he can't stop laughing. The more Conan bullshits all over All around Larry, the more Larry laughs. He has no immunity to laughter from scolding, and he just laughs like a schoolgirl.
Larry David and Conan O'Brien Curb your enthusiasm.
HBO
The episode also saw guest appearances from returning star Sean Hayes (as Larry's lawyer, who fires him in this episode) and Steve Buscemi, who plays a man trying to sell his car to Louis who is offended by a joke Larry makes about a colostomy bag. But O'Brien was the only famous actor in the episode to play him.
“No one would believe that the real Steve Buscemi had a colostomy bag. So this story wouldn't work if he was playing him,” says Schaeffer, explaining how he decides which guest actors play which roles and who plays him on the Emmy Award-winning improv series. On the other hand, a redemption story only works for a celebrity. So it's all on a story by story basis. We kind of do it a la carte.
As it turns out, the clearance story was based on a true celebrity story, one that came from Encirclement alum Alec Berg, a TV host and writer who also worked with Schiffer and David during their days Seinfeld.
“I'm not going to tell you who the celebrity is,” Schiffer says. “But there was a celebrity in Alec's neighborhood and he wanted to say hello, but he didn't want to come up and bother him and be a stranger. He'd been texting me about it, and we'd been texting back and forth, imagining this bureaucratic system of guidelines for getting a pass when approaching… A celebrity.
Examples he cited from their exchanges were “You only have a pass to text or say hello in a group” or “You can only get a pass if you're spoken to first: speak up if you're talking to a pass.”
“We thought this was funny Encirclement “The story,” he continues. “And then Conan was the most perfect person to do it.”
Larry David in Episode 8.
HBO
For anyone who thinks Larry wouldn't have any qualms about getting close to anyone, Schaefer is hitting back hard. “Larry is a rule follower. “His rules may seem idiosyncratic, maybe even arbitrary, but there are rules and they have to be followed,” he says, explaining the disappointment on Larry’s face when he realized he was talking to O’Brien without consent. “All celebrities like to have Customs clearance system. As Conan says, you have to follow the levels. How cool would that be? “Larry can't walk down the street without wishing he had a pass.”
The scene ended up being a full-circle moment for Schafer, who plays the multi-hyphenate Encirclement. “One of my first assignments with Alec was to work on it Late Night with Conan O'Brien When it started, he said. “The house we shot at [his Curb scenes] It was the home of old film agent Marty Bowen. So it was like 30 years in the business, all wrapped up in one crazy scene.
By the way, did Berg end up getting his pass? “You know what, I don't think he ever did that,” Schiffer says.
Here are more odds and ends from Schiffer, who goes behind the scenes Encirclement He is preparing to sign on for two more episodes.
- The late Richard Lewis had a big story in this episode, which Schiffer says arose out of an inability to smell and a need for a “guest's nose.” The cheese was a joke from a Season 10 episode that was cut and they reworked it here because, as Schiffer says, it meshes too well with Louis having had the coronavirus a long time ago, losing his sense of smell and not realizing how bad his car smelled with old cheese in the backseat. The smell was so bad, it ruined his date. That woman was played by Joyce Lapinski, wife of 19 years, and was David's idea. “Richard Lewis talks about true love and looking for love. Larry always gets shit on him for that. But, I mean, he EncirclementSo she got into the car, realized it smelled like hot garbage, and left. But the intention was good! Schiffer says of the episode's final scene. “They were both so supportive of each other. Louis kept saying, 'You're doing so great.' It was such a sweet, sweet moment. A really great way to shoot that scene. And I love that they had that moment to end the show.” [Lewis passed away Feb. 28, 2024, at age 76.]
- Viewers had to fill in the blanks about how Jeff got his black eye. “It was funny to imagine that Susie had hit him. We tried to prove that Susie had some temper,” Schiffer says of the husband and wife. “If she found out about this, who knows what she would do? They thought they had a good plan, and then it all went south. And I got really angry! Her signing those papers and saying, “We're done here” is her boss's biggest move. She's in complete control.” But don't worry: “His eye will work again.”
- All of this season's late humor wasn't really intentional. “We certainly didn't pick this season to say, 'Our team is going to face their deaths,'” Schiffer says when asked about storylines surrounding end-of-life legal documents. “Some of them are just stories that we thought were funny. We end up in the hospital at least once a season. We get into these life-and-death situations regularly — I would call Jeff's a life-and-death situation! When things are so important, screwing them up is pretty funny.” “
- David never said to anyone “at least you don't have a colostomy bag,” but it was something he always believed He was It would be funny for me to say that because, what if that person did? “It's a story he's lived with for a while,” Schiffer says. “Susie and Steve Buscemi live in New York; They hit it off and he's a big fan. We're like, “Oh my God, Steve Buscemi loves the show.” How do we enter it? We are so glad he was able to get out and do a day.
- The real David gets a kick from his obnoxious TV ego. “The jury didn't like his energy and the obnoxious word came up again, just like in the scorecards for the movie where Jon Hamm was playing Larry David's character [in season 11]”We love that people continue to find Larry obnoxious,” Schiffer explains. This tickles Larry to no end.
- Schiffer stands by Larry heading into the final two episodes and faces his looming trial without a lawyer (he fired Hayes' lawyer over the whole cowardice debacle): “Like everyone else, Larry wants a lawyer who will be on his cowardice side. If you can't defend A guy was right about the cheese in the fridge, so how can you be trusted to defend the same person in court?
- And who knows, Schiffer says, maybe Larry won't even make it to trial. “The former criminal boss is supposed to be tried four times now, and none of them happened! TV Larry must be envious of how you did that [former president Donald] Trump is delaying all of these things. So, who knows what will happen Encirclement?
- The season 12 episode where Schiffer and David got the most real-life feedback is about the pain of being added to a group text thread. “It struck a nerve,” says Schiffer, who suggests a “one-day ceasefire,” where “everyone can get out of the text thread without any repercussions. A kind of text truce.”
- David also made headlines this week by taking his anti-goal kicking crusade in the NFL to the next level Interview with The Rock, which went viral. “Larry has theories about everything. He's a big soccer fan, and something that has bothered him for years and years is the fact that soccer is often decided by a kick,” says Schaefer. “He wants to get it out of the sport. He thinks it's as worthless as deciding a tie game by having a pie-eating contest at the 50-yard line. The NFL is fairly established in what they do, so it started with the fledgling league, the UFL. And he turned his little heart out to The Rock to get everything out of the game. If the UFL succeeds, the NFL will probably have no choice but to consider Larry's logical arguments.
Curb your enthusiasm New episodes release Sundays at 10pm on HBO and Max. is reading THRAnother Season Talks with Schiffer here.
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