What Was The Point Of 'Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness'?

Larry David’s Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, which was notably co-produced by the Obamas, comes to an end this weekend, leaving a legacy of reheats, shrugs, and furrowed brows. With all due respect to David’s other creations (Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm), the sketch series makes it seem as though his act is getting pretty, pretty, pretty tired. Specifically because in some instances, it’s the exact same act with period costumes thrown in for the hell of it.

For 30+ years, we’ve been contemplating Larry David’s aversion to having people wish him a Happy New Year past an arbitrary date. First in the season 5 episode of Seinfeld, “The Dinner Party,” then in the season 10 Curb episode, “Happy New Year,” and finally, in the series premiere of this new show. There are other instances (we get it, Larry David respects wood), but it’s also just the optics of yet another very rich and very old white man getting paid to list off his many grievances.

As the soul of a show about neurotic New Yorkers who were not beholden to TV’s usual demand for likability, David’s gripes were manna from heaven. Ditto Curb, with the hook being that this wildly successful man is still a miserable sh*thead even amongst his friends, constantly stumbling into situations and making them worse owing to his absent filter. That was the charm of Curb for much of its run, but at some point, the “social assassin” thing started to feel more like the point of the show. And while it is far more harmless, the “social assassin” thing still has an air of Trumpiness in its aspirational assholishness and the dream of saying whatever you want to whomever you want absent any consequences. Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is a continuation of the idea that the audience is here specifically to hear David whine and mock-shout in frustration, but it feels more and more like a shaky foundation to build a show around.

“What if Rosa Parks decided to go sit in the back of a bus to avoid listening to a version of Larry David Quantum Leaped into 1950s Alabama?” That’s a sketch.

“How about we put another version of Larry as a cowardly soldier being put upon by another soldier’s dying wish?” Boom. Another sketch.

“Can The Boston Tea Party be the backdrop for 18th-century Larry being offended because he wasn’t invited?” You get the picture.

Who is any of this for? It doesn’t even clear the low bar for modern political satire. It doesn’t really try, with the exception being the Jonas Salk/RFK Jr. vaccine bit, which is in the SNL mold of regurgitating the thing a politician is known for and then arching an eyebrow toward the audience to let them know they should be laughing. There’s no real commentary, no inventive humor. Just David publicly removing himself from Cheryl Hines’ Christmas list forever. No more raccoon dick jerky for Larry David.

If you want the best of David’s annoyance humor, go watch Seinfeld reruns on Netflix or check out Curb on HBO Max. If you want to see a comedic take on history, I implore you to go watch Mel Brooks’ History Of The World Part 1. Even the disappointing Hulu sequel series to that has more bite and better laughs than this.

While Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness isn’t as bad as David doing a Super Bowl crypto ad (which, I am just now realizing, also centered around placing David throughout history … Jesus, Larry), it’s not worth his or our time. David’s face is on the TV comedy Mount Rushmore for his past contributions, but he may have run out of ways to stretch an admittedly great routine. Go play golf, go count your money, go celebrate the Knicks championship. The rest of us will have no trouble finding things to complain about.