I’m going to start this by making an accusation I cannot prove whatsoever: I think Larry David is continuing to troll Bill Maher with his latest move at HBO Max. Maher infamously got wined and dined by the current president of the United States, and then waxed poetic about how he wasn’t taken for a ride, but saw a human side to the monster he met. He claimed he was bringing the country together by debasing himself at the behest of Kid Rock. Larry David saw it differently and satirically compared Maher’s experience to getting in bed with Hitler. Bill Maher did not take that well.
The longtime political commentator and occasional comedian claimed that, since David brought up Hitler, he had already lost. However, getting Maher to call it out at all shows that it clearly got under his skin. He’s someone who always likes to claim he has the high ground, and he got his legs kicked out from under him by a notorious curmudgeon. Now, to make things even worse, David is teaming with a President who (most) people don’t despise, and they will be making something meant to be intentionally funny, unlike the unintentional hilarity brought on by Kid Rock’s star-spangled White House attire.
David will be teaming with Barack Obama for a new sketch show on HBO Max, the network that will presumably try to get you to turn to Maher’s show right after. The series will be six episodes long and feature sketches about American history. It will be produced by Obama’s company, Higher Ground, a name that has certainly not aged poorly at all. The logline states, “President and Mrs. Obama wanted to honor America’s 250th anniversary and celebrate the unique history of our nation on this special occasion. …But then Larry David called.”
In a statement about the new show, Larry David lamented his return to television. “Once ‘Curb’ ended, I celebrated with a three-day foam party,” he explained. “After a violent allergic reaction to the suds, I yearned to return to my simple life as a beekeeper, harvesting organic honey from the wildflowers in my meadow. Alas, one day my bees mysteriously vanished. And so, it is with a heavy heart that I return to television, hoping to ease the loss of my beloved hive.” That sounds like classic David to me.
In his own statement, Obama lamented his partnership with Larry David. “I’ve sat across the table from some of the world’s most difficult leaders and wrestled with some of our most intractable problems,” the former president noted. “Nothing has prepared me for working with Larry David.” David will be co-writing with Curb mainstay Jeff Schaffer, who also playfully threw his longtime partner under the bus in a way, saying, “The characters Larry is playing didn’t change history. In fact, they were largely ignored by history. And that’s a good thing.”
All of this possesses a level of humility that Bill Maher is incapable of expressing. The man does not have a single humble bone in his body. It’s fair to say that Larry David may not have one either, but he is at least able to avoid taking himself too seriously, and is capable of cozying up to presidents who aren’t regularly trying to kill Americans.
