Larry Charles (born 1956 or 1957)[1] is an American comedian, screenwriter, director, actor, and producer. He was a staff writer for the sitcom Seinfeld for its first five seasons. He has also directed the documentary film Religulous and the mockumentary comedy films Borat, Brüno, and The Dictator. His Netflix documentary series Larry Charles' Dangerous World of Comedy premiered in 2019.
Charles performed stand-up comedy during the 1970s until he was hired to write for the short-lived sketch comedy show Fridays, where he worked with Larry David. This began Charles's career in television writing that included The Arsenio Hall Show and eventually Seinfeld. David gave him the job as a writer on Seinfeld and his directorial debut[4] on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld
Although series co-creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld wrote the bulk of the show's episodes during the early seasons, Charles was their second in command during this period. Charles had met Seinfeld co-creator David when he was part of the writing staff of the ABCsketch showFridays, on which David and Michael Richards were also part of the show's ensemble cast.[5] Charles had been unable to write for the show's first season, as he had been writing for The Arsenio Hall Show.[5][6]
Charles is noted for contributing some of the show's darker storylines and scenes. In the season two episode "The Baby Shower" Charles wrote a dream sequence in which the title character, Jerry Seinfeld, was killed. Charles's episodes also covered such controversial topics as Nazis (in "The Limo"), a psychotic stalker (in "The Opera") and a hospital patient committing suicide (in "The Bris"). A season two episode he wrote, "The Bet", concerning Elaine buying a handgun to protect herself, was never filmed because NBC, some of the cast, and the show's director felt the gun content was too provocative.[7][8][9] Charles claimed that his writing on Seinfeld was heavily influenced by Dragnet, Superman and Abbott and Costello.[10]
Charles said he was instrumental in the development of Cosmo Kramer; he felt that "Jerry and George were so well-defined through Larry David and Jerry, that there was less room for me to, sort of, expand on those personas. But Kramer was very unformed at the beginning of the show and it gave me an area of creativity to, sort of, expand upon. So I spent a lot of time with Kramer because he was a character that I could have an impact on in the future of the show".[9] It was Charles who imbued in Kramer a distrust of authority (especially in his episodes "The Baby Shower" and "The Heart Attack"), and who created the character of Kramer's notorious unseen friend Bob Sacamano, after his real-life friend of the same name.[11]
Film
Charles's feature debut was Masked and Anonymous (2003) which he directed, and co-wrote with Bob Dylan (under the pseudonyms Rene Fontaine and Sergei Petrov, respectively). The film received a mixed reaction from audiences and critics alike; it did poorly at the box office.[12] Charles maintains it takes many viewings to get true enjoyment from the film: "I want the movie to be like a great Bob Dylan song that is listened to over and over and for people to [go] back and see it again and get a lot more things, or totally different things."[13]
His second feature film as director, the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy mockumentaryBorat, was much more successful; it "set new records in terms of profitability; on a budget of 18 million dollars, it grossed in excess of 261 million dollars."[12] In an interview, Charles discussed how, because of the nature of the mockumentary process, he had to act as well, even if none of his performance made it to the screen: "We all, especially me, had to play a character as well. I wasn't Larry Charles when we were on the road. We all had to be in character, and we had to balance that with our aesthetic and logistical needs to produce the movie properly...The director also had to act."[14] The film was nominated for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes.
Talking with fans outside TIFF premiere of Religulous, 2008
Charles's third film was Religulous—a documentary about Bill Maher's take on the state of contemporary religion[15]—which was released in October 2008.
Charles directed an unreleased biography of Larry David, set to be released on March 1, 2022, titled The Larry David Story. The film was postpostponed a few hours prior to its scheduled release; according to HBO, this was at David's request.[16][17] In a podcast appearance with Marc Maron on October 5, 2023, Charles described the documentary as the result of a four-hour conversation, adding that he had not spoken to David since the release was canceled.[18][19]
Live performances
Charles rarely performs live, but has appeared at Un-Cabaret and can be heard on several of its podcasts.[20]
Charles has stated about this episode: "I was extremely happy and proud with this show, and I loved the idea of doing that fantasy sequence, I loved the cinematic quality of the story where we kinda go from a plane to a fantasy sequence, and we have all these stories swirling around. I thought that it was a good template for later episodes."[9]
The 'Inside Look' feature on the Seinfeld Season 3 DVD features Charles in an interview, talking about how he wanted to create a Jack Webb/Dragnet-style police monologue in a sitcom format, which was the inspiration for Lt. Bookman in this episode.[10]
Charles appears in a cameo alongside David on the far right of the screen next to the police when the authorities show up at Kramer's apartment in Los Angeles to arrest him for murder.
Charles appears in a brief cameo as the passenger who vacates the plane's lavatory, leaving a foul stench that Elaine Benes must endure as she uses the lavatory while holding her breath.
Charles served as executive producer on two short-lived programs, The Tick (for which he wrote two episodes), and the Dilbert animated series, which he co-developed with Scott Adams and co-wrote the following episodes:
In 2000, Charles began his first directorial job on the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David's follow-up to Seinfeld (which David co-created). Charles directed 18 episodes of the hit show.
Episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm directed by Larry Charles
Season
Episode
Notes
1
"The Wire"
2
"Trick Or Treat"
3
"The Benadryl Brownie"
3
"The Nanny From Hell"
Charles was nominated in the 'Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series' categories at both the Directors Guild of America and Emmy Award ceremonies for this episode.
4
"Mel's Offer"
4
"The Blind Date"
4
"The Surrogate"
4
"The Survivor"
Charles received his second Emmy nomination in the category of 'Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series' for this episode.
5
"The Bowtie"
5
"The Ski Lift"
5
"The End"
Charles received his second Directors Guild of America nomination for 'Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series' for this episode.
6
"Meet the Blacks"
6
"The Bat Mitzvah"
7
"Funkhouser's Crazy Sister"
7
"The Bare Midriff"
8
"Mister Softee"
9
"Thank You for Your Service"
9
“The Accidental Text on Purpose“
Entourage
Charles served as an executive producer and writer on the HBO show Entourage for the first two seasons. The episodes that he wrote were:
