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Emperor Of Nothing The Making Of Larry David From Blake Harris · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: I was doing some research yesterday on Morgan Wallen. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't know the dude was on NBC's The Voice. Did
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: you know that? Season 14. See, that's the reason why
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  Speaker 1: we've created this channel called That Voice on Arrow.net. A-R-R-O-E.net.
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  Speaker 1: You just never know where these people from The Voice
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  Speaker 1: are going to end up. Just ask Morgan Wallen. A-R-R-O-E.net.
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  Speaker 1: Look for That Voice. Enjoy your exploration. Hey, TalkingFresh.com. I
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  Speaker 1: just learned something about a favorite holiday of mine that
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  Speaker 1: takes place right between Hanukkah and Christmas, which actually is
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  Speaker 1: some really good stuff you want to talk to this
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  Speaker 1: gentleman about.
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  Speaker 2: Festivus. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, Festivus. Of course. I'm very familiar with Festivus because
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  Speaker 1: being at the grocery store, that's all I hear about
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  Speaker 1: because not everybody celebrates the regular stuff. So what they'll
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  Speaker 1: do is they'll go into a Festivus or they'll do
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  Speaker 1: things with their friends and stuff. No, it's a big
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  Speaker 1: thing that's going on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's amazing.
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  Speaker 1: I love it when people can get together. If you
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  Speaker 1: want to create a holiday, I'm all for it. Just
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  Speaker 1: make sure that you get my email to me on
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  Speaker 1: time so I can show up all funked down.
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  Speaker 2: I love that.
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  Speaker 1: I got to tell you something, Blake. You've done something
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  Speaker 1: here that really just, first of all, it blows me
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  Speaker 1: away in the way that you open it up. By
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  Speaker 1: Larry questioning, why does he want to talk to me?
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  Speaker 1: I can just hear his voice saying that, but yet
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  Speaker 1: at the same time, I can hear his heart saying something.
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  Speaker 2: Why?
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  Speaker 1: I do this because I have to. I don't do
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  Speaker 1: it because I want to, because I think he would
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  Speaker 1: implode if he wasn't creative.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're totally right. You know, people ask me all
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  Speaker 2: the time, when's Larry going to retire or why isn't
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  Speaker 2: he playing golf all the time? And the answer is,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he loves golf, but he can't. This is
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  Speaker 2: what he has to do. He's going to do it
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  Speaker 2: until the day he dies. So for better or worse,
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  Speaker 2: we're just going to keep getting content from Larry David
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  Speaker 2: and his partner, Jeff Schaefer. And I love it.
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  Speaker 1: You talk about that golf and he was recently on
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  Speaker 1: national TV talking about that. I did not know that,
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  Speaker 1: but boy, he's got an eye for that ball. And
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  Speaker 1: if he's not doing well out there, he's going to
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  Speaker 1: let you know about it.
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  Speaker 2: He takes it very seriously and fitting with this theme,
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  Speaker 2: you know, for me as a biographer, it's been, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's fun to see these threads go throughout time. And
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  Speaker 2: so he has this thing with golfing that his friends
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  Speaker 2: always make fun of. And they tell me about where,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's like every month he thinks that he's
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  Speaker 2: figured out how to golf. Like, oh, yeah, I got
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  Speaker 2: this tip. i got this great tip or i figured
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  Speaker 2: i had to change my swing and for a month
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  Speaker 2: or so he thinks that he's now solved this issue
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  Speaker 2: and that's been going back to when he was a
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  Speaker 2: stand-up comedian like back when he was a stand-up in
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  Speaker 2: the 70s uh one week he decided that he was
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  Speaker 2: not going to wear his glasses so that way he
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't be nervous by seeing the audience and that led
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  Speaker 2: to all sorts of problems because he couldn't see the
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  Speaker 2: audience then his next week it was i'm gonna focus
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  Speaker 2: on one person and just stare at them and that
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  Speaker 2: you know a friendly face but then that kind of
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  Speaker 2: got weird and so He's always trying to beat the
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  Speaker 2: system and he can't just accept the fact that he's
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  Speaker 2: a funny guy and that he should just do what
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  Speaker 2: he does. He has to feel like he's doing it
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  Speaker 2: his way.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my God. I can so relate with that because
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  Speaker 1: what I try to do to kind of break up
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  Speaker 1: that tension is that I'll try to get people to
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  Speaker 1: look in a direction. I'll lean, I'll cock my head
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  Speaker 1: to the side or I'll kind of quickly move it
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  Speaker 1: just so people can get the attention off me and
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  Speaker 1: they can look at who I think I'm looking at,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm not looking at anybody, but they think I
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  Speaker 1: am looking at somebody.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. That sounds like a curb storyline. Or like when
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  Speaker 2: George would be in his office pretending that he's angry
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  Speaker 2: just so that people would think he was working really hard.
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  Speaker 2: These little tics and nuances that Larry and Jerry picked
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  Speaker 2: up on that no one really got into before.
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  Speaker 1: So who is more mysterious? Led Zeppelin, the group Kiss
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  Speaker 1: with full makeup, or Larry David? Because Larry has always
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  Speaker 1: been this guy to me that it's like, I want
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  Speaker 1: to know who he is, but do I want to
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  Speaker 1: know who he is?
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  Speaker 2: And the answer is you do want to know who
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  Speaker 2: he is because it's exactly who you'd hope he is.
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  Speaker 2: It's 90 percent the character on the show, but 10
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  Speaker 2: percent mystery, sweetheart guy, great father. You know, I was
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  Speaker 2: having dinner with him the other day, which is my
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  Speaker 2: name dropping of Larry David. Also to say that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he still talks to me after all these years and
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  Speaker 2: he's just so funny. And then the part I wanted
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  Speaker 2: to bring up was that, you know, even after all
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  Speaker 2: this time, we're staring at the book together. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm very proud of how it turned out. He's reluctantly
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  Speaker 2: accepting that this all happened. And and he says, you
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  Speaker 2: think people are going to buy this? And I'm like, yeah, Larry.
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  Speaker 2: He's like, really? Like, but like, why? Like, he still
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  Speaker 2: doesn't see himself as somebody. He doesn't see himself as
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  Speaker 2: a celebrity because he's in his head. He's still the
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  Speaker 2: guy who is just such an unsuccessful stand up comedian.
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  Speaker 2: And it's hard for him to believe that people actually
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  Speaker 2: want to know about him and know about his life.
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  Speaker 2: And any fan of Seinfeld and Curb should want to
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  Speaker 2: know about his life, because shockingly, like 90 percent of
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  Speaker 2: the stories on that show were based on real life things,
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  Speaker 2: often real life things that happened to Larry. And it
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  Speaker 2: just shows you truth is stranger than fiction. And Larry
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  Speaker 2: and Jerry figured out how to how to bottle that.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to sit down with him and say, Larry,
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  Speaker 1: we need to turn this into a one man play,
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  Speaker 1: put it on off Broadway and watch it go to Broadway,
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  Speaker 1: because I think Larry doing your words with his story
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  Speaker 1: would be the most magnetic storyline I've ever seen him
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  Speaker 1: be a part of.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate you saying that. Part of my pitch to
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  Speaker 2: Larry when he was very reluctant was I said, come on, Larry,
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  Speaker 2: you're eventually going to do a season on Curb where
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  Speaker 2: you have a guy writing a book about you and
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  Speaker 2: you get angry with the guy. And I always thought
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  Speaker 2: it'd be funny because, you know, as a writer, he's
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  Speaker 2: a public figure. So, like, you know, there's things you're
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  Speaker 2: allowed to say about a public figure and that if
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  Speaker 2: he was going to write a spite book, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's things he can't say because the journalist is a
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  Speaker 2: private figure. I said, so why don't you get your
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  Speaker 2: reps in? And, you know, it's been a really fun process,
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  Speaker 2: like just getting to text with Larry, getting to call Larry.
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  Speaker 2: I can't believe I still can't believe that it happened.
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  Speaker 2: I can't believe I pulled it off. I feel like
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  Speaker 2: I pulled off some sort of heist.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I totally get that. But the thing that really
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  Speaker 1: just blows me away is the number of years that
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  Speaker 1: you put into this, because when you sit down and
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  Speaker 1: think about it, I mean, your five years of dedication
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  Speaker 1: and probably longer in thought is probably two or three
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  Speaker 1: hundred years in Larry David years.
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  Speaker 2: Play feels like that and the other thing to put
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  Speaker 2: in perspective you're right it's like every day is a
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  Speaker 2: much longer but much richer with larry david in it
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  Speaker 2: um and like i i was looking back when i
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  Speaker 2: was writing the acknowledgements and how it took me six
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  Speaker 2: years and i was thinking like oh my god i
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  Speaker 2: feel kind of proud of myself but i shouldn't because
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  Speaker 2: in that same amount of time larry wrote 130 episodes
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  Speaker 2: so maybe this is not that impressive what i've done.
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  Speaker 1: But what was it like, though? Did you feel like
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  Speaker 1: that you were snooping on him and putting this book together?
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  Speaker 1: Because you get close, man. I mean, you give us
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  Speaker 1: a side of Larry that I have never seen before, dude.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for saying that. I do feel
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  Speaker 2: like that. And actually, to go back to Curb, there's
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  Speaker 2: that episode where there's a fatwa that's put on Larry
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  Speaker 2: and somebody investigates his life to figure out if he
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  Speaker 2: deserves it. So that's kind of what I felt like
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  Speaker 2: I was doing, talking to his old friends, his old
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  Speaker 2: ex-girlfriends and trying to figure out, does this man deserve
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  Speaker 2: a fatwa or not? Yeah. And I think part of
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  Speaker 2: that is, you know, I never wanted to I never
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  Speaker 2: prepared questions in advance. I always wanted to approach this
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  Speaker 2: on a human level. I wanted to try to make
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  Speaker 2: Larry laugh myself, though, of course, the ratio is much
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  Speaker 2: more him making him making me laugh and me letting
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  Speaker 2: him laugh. But, you know, like we like we were
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  Speaker 2: texting about the New York Knicks, which were both Knicks fans.
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  Speaker 2: And so I got to know him on a human level,
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  Speaker 2: which helped for the book, but also just helped the
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  Speaker 2: relationship sustain because it didn't feel like he was just
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  Speaker 2: talking to a journalist all the time.
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  Speaker 1: So was he surrounded by people when you got to
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  Speaker 1: interview him? Because he seems to be the type of
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  Speaker 1: person that you would give him one of your unbelievable questions,
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  Speaker 1: and then he would kind of look to the right,
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  Speaker 1: to the left, look forward, look up, look down, and
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  Speaker 1: then take his time, like a comedian, that damn pause,
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  Speaker 1: and then give you the answer.
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  Speaker 2: That's a good assumption, but it's actually the opposite. What?
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  Speaker 1: Whoa.
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  Speaker 2: He answers very spontaneously. I mean, I think that's part
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  Speaker 2: of what makes Kurt great. You know, the dialogue's improvised
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  Speaker 2: because Larry loves just being on the spot and coming
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  Speaker 2: up with the stuff. And so maybe he looked at
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  Speaker 2: it as a prompt. And most of the time, my
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  Speaker 2: conversations with him were one-on-one. Like, I think one of
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  Speaker 2: the things that I personally like about Larry— is that
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  Speaker 2: as successful as he is, he doesn't have like 15 assistants.
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  Speaker 2: I always just talk to him directly. There's no PR trading.
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  Speaker 2: It's just one-on-one Candid Larry and Candid Blake. And I'm
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  Speaker 2: not that interesting. So he says all the interesting things.
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  Speaker 1: But why is it I have never been associated with
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  Speaker 1: this Jeff Schaefer? I mean, when I picked up the book,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going, oh, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: You gotta know Jeff Schaefer. Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's one of those where it's like, it's
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  Speaker 1: not top of mind. And so when you bring it
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  Speaker 1: back up in the book, I'm going, holy crap, I
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  Speaker 1: am missing a very big part of this journey.
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  Speaker 2: You really are. So for people who don't know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in the 90s, Larry had this partner, Jerry Seinfeld, who
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  Speaker 2: he'd literally sit across from in a desk. They'd stare
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  Speaker 2: at each other all day. And then for the past
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  Speaker 2: 15 years, Larry has had a different J.S.
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  Speaker 1: In his life.
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  Speaker 2: Jeff Schaefer, who was actually his protege at Seinfeld, him
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  Speaker 2: along with Dave Mandel and Alec Berg, who went on
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  Speaker 2: to run silicon valley and barry in alex case and
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  Speaker 2: then veep in dave's case like basically larry's in the
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  Speaker 2: coaching tree of larry like his protégés have gone on
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  Speaker 2: to make these great franchises and jeff schaefer aside from
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  Speaker 2: everything he's done with larry and that him you know
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  Speaker 2: he's the yin to larry's yang he also created one
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  Speaker 2: of the my opinion greatest comedies of the 2010s which
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  Speaker 2: is the league i love the league the fantasy football
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  Speaker 2: show yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Now do you find yourself looking at people differently because
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  Speaker 1: it really seems like that larry is He's a people watcher.
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  Speaker 1: I always call him the greatest silent wolf of all time,
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  Speaker 1: that he can sit back and just watch.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I love the title of the book, but
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  Speaker 2: now I kind of want to go with Silent Wolf.
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  Speaker 2: That's a great description. I mean, I'm sure that talking
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  Speaker 2: to him has changed my mind, you know, my mentality
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  Speaker 2: a little bit. But but it's the whole reason I
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  Speaker 2: became a writer is because I love Seinfeld so much.
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  Speaker 2: And so I felt like that Larry DNA already existed
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  Speaker 2: within me. So it's probably been exacerbated by these past
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  Speaker 2: six years. But I think that it's not just me. Like,
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  Speaker 2: I think that's what's so great about what Larry and
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  Speaker 2: Jerry did and what Larry did with Curb is that
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  Speaker 2: he sort of changed how we all look at comedy.
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  Speaker 2: slowly but surely uh you know for for so many
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  Speaker 2: years of his life he was ahead of his time
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  Speaker 2: and then he finally brought us all up into the
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  Speaker 2: same time as him.
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  Speaker 1: Oh we're just getting started i mean we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: larry david here OK, with Blake Harris. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: be right back. the name of the book emperor or
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  Speaker 1: nothing oh that says larry david we are back with
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  Speaker 1: blake harris i can't be the only one that every
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: time that i've seen anything that larry david creates be
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: it on seinfeld or be it right there him on
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: curb your enthusiasm that it really does teach me to
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: look at my own life and is is that his
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: calling that we're supposed to see ourselves.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think he would ever think about it that way,
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  Speaker 2: but you're right. And I think a lot of that
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  Speaker 2: gets back to he's a really principled guy. Like he
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  Speaker 2: believes these things. They're not just in the show because
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  Speaker 2: of the comedy. Like I remember I sort of once
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  Speaker 2: suggested that maybe he put something in the show just
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: because he didn't that he didn't believe it, but that
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  Speaker 2: he thought it'd be funny. And it was the episode
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  Speaker 2: where he said there's a buffet and he thinks that
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  Speaker 2: people you shouldn't have to wait for seconds. And I said, like, Larry,
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  Speaker 2: that's ridiculous. Like, why would you not have to wait
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  Speaker 2: for seconds? You already got your first and no one
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: else got food. Like, why should you benefit again? And
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  Speaker 2: he said, no, no, no, you're not understanding. You don't
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: wait for seconds because if you have to wait for,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: you know, if there's going to be waiting for seconds,
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  Speaker 2: people will take longer the first time through. So he
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  Speaker 2: had a whole logic to why he felt this way.
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  Speaker 2: And he genuinely believes these things. But so they're based
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  Speaker 2: on this, you know, they're based on actual principles of
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  Speaker 2: how he thinks the world should run. And I think
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  Speaker 2: that that says, you know, like your point that that
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: talks about our place in the world and how we
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: should treat each other. And there's sort of like this
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  Speaker 2: sociological interhuman aspect to it that, you know, it all
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  Speaker 2: comes from a place of comedy originally. But it does
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  Speaker 2: have these other repercussions.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: See, I'm going to impersonate my mom right now with
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  Speaker 1: Larry David, because she, I swear to God, was his
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: biggest groupie. And here it is. And she would go
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that Larry. He's the smartest, wisest man I've ever met
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  Speaker 1: in my life. And I'm going, mom, mom. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: but she, because she really, really bought into it because
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  Speaker 1: he would talk about things that she probably thought about.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right. Like, I mean, he I'm not being
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  Speaker 2: too hyperbolic when I say, like, I really think he's
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the voice of a generation. He said all these things
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  Speaker 2: that we all thought, but no one ever said. And because,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's a shamefulness to it and a selfishness
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: to it, but it's also very human. And like I said,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he has a good heart. So I think
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  Speaker 2: his selfishness is something that we can all relate to.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: And it's in many cases aspire towards at least his
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: honesty is something we can aspire towards.
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  Speaker 1: When you say that, though, now you make me wonder,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: is he the Don Rickles of this generation?
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  Speaker 2: I think so. But I think that, you know, one
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: of the big differences is that the way that Larry
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: has packaged his comedy, the way that, you know, that
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  Speaker 2: it got to your mom is that he's a master storyteller.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: We don't really think about him as a storyteller because
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  Speaker 2: he he conned us into all thinking that he designed
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: a show about nothing. And we just sort of imagine
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: in our heads as, oh, it was just two guys
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: sitting in a coffee shop talking for 20 minutes or
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  Speaker 2: four guys. But that was such a small part of it.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: And that was just the table setting. um for the
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: these crazy intricate plots like seinfeld had more scenes and
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: more sets than any other show like there was so
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  Speaker 2: much story packed into each episode and you never really
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: realized that like i didn't realize that when i watched
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  Speaker 2: it as a kid uh and there's no reason to
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: because it's just about making you laugh but really it's
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  Speaker 2: him as a storyteller and i think that's what separates
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: him from don rickles not to take away from rickles
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  Speaker 2: amazing guy but i think that that's the difference is
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  Speaker 2: the storytelling.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I've always loved studying Larry David in the way of
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  Speaker 1: patterns as well as pacing, because the way that they
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  Speaker 1: did shift those scenes so quickly, it was like I
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  Speaker 1: used to sit there and watch him trying to figure
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: out how he was able to shift a subject and
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  Speaker 1: he didn't lose us. Whereas if I did it on
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  Speaker 1: the radio, that was a chance for listeners to go
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: someplace else. But with Larry David, we stayed. I want
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  Speaker 1: to know that magic trick.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: He's the master of the segue. And I think it's
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: just about, like, distilling things down to their bare essentials.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Like I mentioned earlier, Dave Mandel and Alec Berg, who
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: were Larry's protégés, legendary writers who went on to do
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Veep and Silicon Valley and Barry. And I remember Dave
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: telling me that... the first week at Seinfeld, he thought
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: that he had a, basically he had like 70% of
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: an episode, you know, he had the first two acts
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: and then he brought it to Larry and Jerry and
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: they went through it scene by scene by scene. And
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: he left the office with only two scenes. Everything could
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: be compacted down to two scenes. And he liked the
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: analogy he used with me. He was like, it's like
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: when you're putting stuff in a trash bag and you
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: think it's full, but actually you can keep pushing it
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: down and pushing it down and pushing it down. And
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: that's the way that Larry and Jerry approached comedy. And,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: and I think that that helps make, Like that for
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: the for the segues, I think that that helps you
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: pivot from one comment to the next because you are
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: getting to the bare essentials of something and you can
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: switch to the next topic.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Because you've been so close. Is he a yellow tablet
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: man or does he type into a computer? And if
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: he does the tablets, come on now, I'm the guy
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: that's going to walk in there and smell the ink
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: on that page because ink has a scent to it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: So Larry has always been incredibly disciplined. He's famously had
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: these notebooks where he writes down these ideas and he
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: goes back to these notebooks year after year. But he
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: did at some point, probably about 10 years ago, pivot
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: to putting the ideas on his phone. And then him
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: and Jeff Schaefer organized them together. But they go through
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: it together on a loose leaf piece of paper. So
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: eventually there's a tangible aspect to it. But that's another
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: thing I learned from Larry just being around all these
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: years is like, you know, write down every idea. They're
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: not all winners, but you may as well write it
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: down instead of forget it because losing an idea is
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: the worst feeling.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: I'm that guy that I'll be in the group of
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: people and everybody's got an opinion about Larry David. And
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I'll sit there and say, calm down, calm down. The
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: guy's probably so damn gentle. There's probably not a temper
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: bone in his body. that he would probably sit down
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: and listen to you more than argue with you.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I'm wrong, aren't I?
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: I'm wrong, right?
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: No, no.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's a listener at heart. He does a temper, though.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: You know, he likes arguing, but he is gentle. I
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: would say maybe the best way to put it, and
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: maybe this would still be persuasive to your argument, is
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: there's nothing about him that's mean-spirited. It always comes from
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: a place of just trying to be funny. And like
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Mary Steenburgen told me that you would think that Larry
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Day would be the last person you want to call
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: in case of an emergency. And Mary and Ted Danson
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: are friends with Larry. And she said that Larry would
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: actually be the top of her list. He's a really
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: loyal guy. Yep. You know that he that he did.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: So so he is someone you can trust. I'm like
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: the character in the show. Like he is a gentle,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: reliable human. But but don't but don't let that fool you.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: He does like arguing and he does like, you know,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: dissecting minutiae.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: You bring up something that's going to teach this generation.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: What is a schmohawk? I want to know more about
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: that because it's in the book and it's like, okay,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: what can we do with this word that we can
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: sit here and expand upon it?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a word that Larry's father used very
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: often during their childhood. It made its way in the
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: curve a few times and I was very pleased with
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: myself for figuring out a way to get into the book. Yeah.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: See, that's that creative person inside of you. Now I'm
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: starting to see that Larry David has worn off onto
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: you and we're going to start seeing you on a
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: live stage one day.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Maybe this is all part of my long con to
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: get in front of the camera myself. No, but it's
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: been a real pleasure getting to know him. And I think,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: you know, I felt a lot of pressure. I had
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: to write a Larry Caliber book because his shows and
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: his comedies are of a certain caliber. So it forced
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: me to raise my game. And I'm grateful for that.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: A personal question just between the two of us, because
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: we both do have conversations with people of fame. When
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: you have a conversation with Larry, as many as you had,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: did you have those moments where you lost your emotions
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: when Larry was gone? You go, holy crap. And you did.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: You actually shed a tear because I'm going to be
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: man enough to tell you that has happened to me
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: many times because the emotions are too damn strong. Larry
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: seems to be that kind of guy that would do
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: it to me as well.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely. I mean, Larry is my personal hero. And
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: I think that says a lot about him that he
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: started my hero on six years later. He's my hero
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: because there's that adage, don't meet your heroes. And I
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: think that's ridiculous. I mean, I still don't even know
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: how whenever I talk to Larry, I'm able to treat
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: him like another human being, like someone I'm talking to.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: But there's so many times when I would get off
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: the phone and I would turn to my wife and
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: I'd be like, oh, my God, I just talked to
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Larry for 45 minutes. How did I do that? How
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: did I not just become a stuttering fool?
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: But, you know, I guess like you, like we rise
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: to the occasion and and and it's amazing. And I
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: guess it also shows Larry is a human. You know,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: he is this guy on a pedestal. But, you know,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: conversation with him is just like a normal conversation with anyone.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you?
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Because I love your attitude. I love your energy. And
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I want people to know more about you and your
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: walk forward in sharing history.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much. I mean, I'm on all
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: the normal social media places, but don't worry about me.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Just read the books.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Listen to you, Larry David Jr.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Yeah. That's true. Yeah.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Emperor of Nothing, History of the Future, Council Wars. That's
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: my best self. I mean, I often feel like George
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Costanza when he's like, you know, if you take all
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: of his years and put them into a couple of days,
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: it sounds impressive. And so, you know, that's me. The
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: books are the impressive version of me. The rest is
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: just chatter. But I do love, you know, I love
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: getting the word out. I hope that people will get
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: to know Larry in the way that I've gotten to
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: know him all these years.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So do you think you could stand up to George Steinbrenner?
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: Ah you said you know i mean come on if
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: you're if you're gonna be george you gotta you gotta
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: be part of that new york yankee kind of a
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: attitude there and george did quite and that's larry david's
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: writing i swear to god i felt like that larry
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: david was in my soul and in george's soul during.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: That It's true. I mean, it's one of the most
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: mystifying things about Larry to me is that he is
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: such a specific sense of humor. Yeah. But he's so relatable.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Like everything that people say, the thing about Seinfeld or Kermit's, oh,
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: it's these relatable situations. And it is. But it's coming
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: from this very specific prism. So I don't know how
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: he can be so specific, but also so universally relatable.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: But somehow he pulls it off and it's amazing.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: You got to come back to this show anytime in
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the future, Blake. The door opens. is always, always going
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to be open for you. Thank you. You be brilliant today, okay?
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: You too. Thank you so much for having me on.