Larry David has no idea why he hasn't been canceled.
For over 20 years the comedian has tackled controversial subjects in his semi-autobiographical HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and despite recently joking about topics including incest, battered women, mental illness and 9/11, his show continues amid an intensely political environment.
When asked about this by David's fellow "Curb Your Enthusiasm" alum Robert B. Weide during his show at the 2022 "Netflix Is a Joke" festival in Los Angeles over the weekend, David was stumped.
"How do you get away with this?" asked Weide, according to Variety.
"I don’t know. It’s a very good question,” David said. "I don’t know why. I don’t like to think about it too much."
David offered a theory about how he has managed to avoid the negative attention that has haunted his peers.
"There were fans of the show, they liked the show. And they have a good sense of humor. The fans of the show don’t care about political correctness," he said, to which Weide pointed out that David was always the butt of the joke on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which might have helped.
"You’re just the idiot who didn’t get the memo, and I think that buys you a lot," Weide said.
"Yeah, I think idiots can get away with a little bit more than the more intelligent brethren," David said.
David also revealed that he struggled during his early days doing stand-up comedy and even received tips from other fellow comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld.
"I wasn’t really a very good comedian," he said. "Jerry Seinfeld would come up to me: 'Why do you keep doing that bit? They don’t like it. They’re not laughing.' But it’s funny. So that was the problem."
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" has been nominated for 47 Primetime Emmy Awards and aired its 11th season last year, according to NME. David also won two Primetime Emmy Awards in 1993 for his work on "Seinfeld," for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing a Comedy Series.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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