A couple things left on the cutting room floor. 1) LC says a second turning pt in Seinfeld was when Julia L Dreyfus told Larry David and Seinfeld she was being underutilized. They responded by giving her George stories. "That was the beginning of the explosion of the Elaine character." - ThreadSky

jasonzinoman.bsky.social • 8 days ago

A couple things left on the cutting room floor. 1) LC says a second turning pt in Seinfeld was when Julia L Dreyfus told Larry David and Seinfeld she was being underutilized. They responded by giving her George stories. "That was the beginning of the explosion of the Elaine character."

Reposted from Emily Nussbaum

A fascinating interview with Larry Charles by @jasonzinoman.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/b...

Comments

markharris.bsky.social•8 days ago

Fascinating interview!

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

He's an interesting dude who has worked with...everyone. Who seems to have reached a pt where he's willing to be open. Rare triple threat.

danielg17.bsky.social•8 days ago

Fantastic

ryancraig.bsky.social•8 days ago

"Because we don't know how to write for a woman!"

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

I did say it was odd that his answer for not giving JLD good parts was to give her George stories. he said thats the best they could do then. Then more female writers came on board.

ryancraig.bsky.social•8 days ago

Ah yes, Boosler & co.

I think this was further down the line but the ep in which she basically became George ("I'm George! I'm George") maybe was obliquely referring to some of all that?

robertelewis.bsky.social•7 days ago

My favorite show was about nothing. Can we just talk about nothing nothing at all nothing because I’m doing nothing. You’re funny Jason. Thank you.

jljones0618.bsky.social•8 days ago

You should rank season 4 of Mad About You up with the best sit-com seasons ever. It weaves comedy and raw human weakness better than any show other than M*A*S*H. Can you imagine Rob & Laura Petrie going thru that?!?

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

I confess i dismissed the show by this pt and now really want to watch this. Larry Charles played a really big role in that season.

jljones0618.bsky.social•7 days ago

That season’s directors? How about David Steinberg and — hello— Tommy Schlamme.

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

2) Me: Do you agree there’s an element of cruelty in Borat?
LC: There’s cruelty. There’s anger. There’s sadism. There’s transgression. All those things make great comedy, unfortunately.

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

He described getting yelled at by Ari Emmanuel, being subjected to ridic power plays by Scott Rudin and working for the Weinsteins. I said who was the most intimidating? His answer...Robert Redford. "You know the part of the movie where the serial killer’s eyes go black. You didn’t recognize him."

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

"Ari, id seen go crazy on other people. Scott and Weinstein, id heard about. But Robert Redford seemed like the coolest guy in the world. Id loved him. I loved hanging out with him. Had a great time, then it became a weird experience."

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

On Sacha Baron: "His personality change was very distressing to me, because we were like brothers. I would have done anything for him. The artists who turned are the hardest to process. It was very sad. The aftermath of the dictator, I went into a depression. What now?"

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

LC has a fascinating account of working on Mad about You that made me want to revisit the later seasons. I asked if Paul Reiser was underrated. LC: Yes. Paul is much darker person than the character he played. Maybe one the reason mad at you hadn’t had the impact because it was upbeat.

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

LC described the writers room as "an early low tech version of AI.” -- "You had these sensibilities that had to be synthesized. I found it to be edge-dulling." Seinfeld never had one, he said.

kevinaiello.com•8 days ago

Jason: I’m lacking this full story due to a paywall for now, but I’m curious if, in the book or article, Larry Charles talks about Larry David’s axing of the documentary about him; and what their relationship is like after that happened.

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•8 days ago

He does, in the article and the book. Consider getting a sub or the book.

jasonorta.bsky.social•2 days ago

I appreciate his cameo
on Seinfeld where he leaves the airplane bathroom.

samadams.bsky.social•6 days ago

This was great; makes me want to read the five-hour cut

jasonzinoman.bsky.social•6 days ago

Thanks. Would make a nice companion to the Todd Phillips cut of Borat. Apparently he’s still in one scene that was too good to cut.

samadams.bsky.social•8 days ago

Oh, that is … very interesting

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply