PHOTO BY: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
July 2: Larry David, 75
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 2, 1947, Larry David, 75, worked as a bra wholesaler, a private chauffeur, a cab driver and a paralegal before finally breaking into the world of comedy as a writer on Fridays and then Saturday Night Live for a season. In 1988, he teamed up with Jerry Seinfeld to create one of the groundbreaking sitcoms in American television history, a “show about nothing” in which David’s zany and often misanthropic antics inspired the character of George Costanza. Over the course of the show’s run, he wrote such classic episodes as “The Contest,” which earned him an Emmy and was ranked number 1 on TV Guide’s 2009 list of the 100 greatest episodes of all time. Beginning in the year 2000, David kicked off a decades-long run on his own improvisational HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which he unabashedly ramped up the unlikability of his characters. The show would go on to earn 47 Emmy nominations, including six nods for David’s lead performance. In 2009, he starred in the Woody Allen film Whatever Works as — what else? — a misanthropic divorcé, and he later wrote and starred in the HBO movie Clear History about a disgraced marketing executive who lost out on becoming a billionaire. He parlayed his sardonic tone into a Broadway play, 2015’s Fish in the Dark, which broke box office records when it took in $13.5 million in advance ticket sales. That same year, SNL came calling when Vermont senator (and Larry David look-alike) Bernie Sanders entered the presidential race, and the comedian was called upon to impersonate the progressive politician. David and Sanders later found out on PBS’ Finding Your Roots that they’re distant cousins, and despite being a fan of the politician, David told Stephen Colbert that he couldn’t handle a Sanders presidency: “If he wins, do you know what that’s going to do to my life? Do you have any idea? I mean, it will be great for the country, great for the country. Terrible for me.” Of course, there’s a character David might never tire of playing: himself. To prove it, he’s already confirmed that Curb Your Enthusiasm will be returning for a 12th season. —Nicholas DeRenzo
