Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness review – A Complete TV Mess from Larry David | television

ISeeing former US President Barack Obama appear on screen is always an emotional blow. The Instagram algorithm sends me a lot of him, because he knows I’m always tapping him, and he’s charming with kids, statesmanlike in speeches, great at rallies, articulate and intelligent about anything, endlessly composed, compassionate, intelligent, handsome, and thoughtful — a fully functioning adult human being, if you want the short version. And the algorithm doesn’t know I was in pain before I clicked and quietly cried about how low we’d fallen – the US sneezed, but the UK definitely caught a cold.

And then he shows up at the beginning of Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America (one of the children of his and Michelle’s television company, Higher Ground Productions) to remind us that above all else, he also has impeccable comedic timing. As he walked around what I assume was the new Barack Obama Presidential Center, he modulated his performance so beautifully that I almost cried quietly again. If I had known what chaos would follow after this course, I would have cried.

Life, Larry and… is seven half-hour episodes in search of a punchline. E pluribus unum. The luckiest installments find two, maybe three. May God protect the rest. Each half hour consists of three or four sketches starring Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm while Larry David performs his comedy routines from Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s something a little different and a lot worse. It’s mostly screaming stuff you’ve probably heard before and puts it best in period costume. In the opening episode he shouts while wearing a wig as a member of the Continental Congress who had a crack at drafting the Declaration of Independence before Jefferson. In the hands of Larry in the 18th century, it was intended to deal with more than 27 historical complaints. He wants to make it illegal to share umbrellas (“Forgot your own umbrella? That’s too bad!”), share sweets (for Seinfeld double-dipping reasons) or wish anyone a Happy New Year after January 7th. Each person should have the right to ask about other guests before accepting the dinner party invitation.

And it continues. All graphics do. The following is about the first phone call between Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Watson. They’re both awkward, boring, and don’t know how to end. Another, in the third episode, about the McCarthy hearings, lasts almost as long as the witch hunts themselves.

Other sketches show Larry screaming like a World War I soldier in the trenches, first trying to avoid agreeing to deliver a fellow fighter’s letter to his girlfriend if he died, then war altogether by pretending to have been shot in no man’s land, or screaming like the third Wright Brother, objecting to having to take the middle seat in their first plane. Again, familiar. And that doesn’t necessarily matter – Larry David fans will tune in to see Larry David as Larry David – if his talents are on full display and skewer the cowardice and hypocrisy of the human condition, so we writhe in abject agony with him and/or the people around him. But they are not.

A couple touch on racism – Larry as a talkative idiot who sits next to Rosa Parks on the bus and carries her back to back; Larry – as a steward along the Underground Railroad who is being exploited by his guests who refuse to help (on the grounds that this is “subservient stuff”) – manages to do pull-up and punch-down exercises. This makes for a bad experience comedically as well as in many other ways. However, there is one moment – ​​when Larry the Poor asks Rosa whether she would rather be robbed by a black or a white man (“Interesting, socially”) – when you are reminded of David at his best, distilling the essence of a host of indescribable human complexities into a single line. But they are very few.

However, familiarity with the material is the most striking drawback. What’s on offer puts you in mind of H.L. Menken’s definition of a hot dog — “sweeping the slaughterhouse” — rather than Larry’s climax, especially during a sketch about Lewis and Clark with guest star Jerry Seinfeld (they’re just going on an expedition to get away from their wives! Sideways!).

To the extent that a great man would certainly not be happy with it, Life and Larry and… depend for any success on a combination of faith and nostalgia that is almost indistinguishable from philanthropy.

However, it’s worth watching Obama’s introduction. And cry quietly.