From our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Larry david has been called everyones favorite curmudgeon. This particular brand of dark observational humor has made him one of the most distinctive voices in comedy. He and Jerry Seinfeld created a show that may television history. Seinfeld ran for nine seasons and it is considered by many as the greatest sitcom of all time. Larry david followed his success with curb your enthusiasm. He is now on broadway. You wrote and stars in fish in the dark. I spent time getting into his head. Tonight, we bring you an hour of those conversations. Look at this. Larry david above the title. What would your mother thank inkn now . She would be doing cartwheels. She would not be able to contain herself. Her son on broadway. It would be a little too much. Could not have imagined this. No never. And you . What does it mean for you . You know i dont look at this and do cartwheels. It could be somebody elses name almost. It is part of the process. Yes, part of it. The opening scene is a man dying. Yet, you larry david the writer, shows that as the opening set piece. For comedy. Explain what is funny . It is dark. It is things you would normally not be able to joke about. So, on some level, that works. Because that is what you have done finding that some level dark, some level unattractive some level revealing and make it funny. Why is it funny for the audience because they see it in themselves or what . That is part of it. And because it is something that they are not used to seeing jokes about. It is surprising. To be irreverent in a situation like that surprises them and i think they like that because they have the same thoughts but they werent expressed. That idea has been very good to you, hasnt it . The idea that people see it and they see thoughts they are not able to express. They recognize it and the recognition is part of the comedy. Yes, yes, that is exactly right. It is good to me and a lot of other comedians. And writers or whatever. That is what comedy is. Do you know why you wanted to be a comedian . Yeah, because i had there was nothing else in the world i could possibly do. There was nothing else i could do. Yeah, i had nothing and it seemed like i was funny so why not try and use this particular skill that i had to make a living . Because there was nothing else i could do. Larry david grew up in brooklyn, new york. He lived in apartment complex surrounded by his extended family. This was my apartment. This is where i grew up. This is where my aunt and uncle and cousins grew up. The swarmy friends on the second floor. You grew up among i was up and down the stairs all the time. Galinsky. [doorbell] hello. Look there. Hello. Hello. Surprise, surprise. We had a piano over here. It looks even smaller than i remembered it. You must be mrs. Galinsky. Hello. Im charlie rose. You must know this man. Hello. You know, he lived here. Look at our kitchen. Look at the size of our kitchen. You had your own room. Yes, this was my room right here. I shared it with my brother. Yeah, there were beds here and here. This is my room. And older andor younger . Older. You shared a bedroom. This is the master bedroom. My parents room. This is the bathroom. This was, by the way, this was a three bedroom. So this was luxurious. This was a dden. This is where the tv was. My father used to sit here on the chair and watch the untouchables. This is the couch. Yeah. Great. But, you knew most of the people in this building . You knew everybody in the building. They all knew you and everybody knew what everybodys business was . Absolutely. You could recite every apartment. You knew who lived in every single apartment. We were the first ones in the building so for 10 years, there was not much turnover. You knew who lived in every apartment. Your grandmother would come down yet, my grandmother upstairs. Would you eat together . Yeah, we would except for my father who came home to late from work to eat with him. He was a clothing manufacturer . A salesman. It seems like this is a good thing. Family, you know, everybody took care of each other. It was good. I remember trying to touch the ceiling to jump and touch it. I was this high. Eventually i got to be able to touch it. To dunk it. Yet, dunkah dunk it. We used to they had a basket that went over the door of the room. And, we play with a big sock. You were never bored as a kid. There was no such thing. We played so many games that we invented. I can take you around the neighborhood. Oh, really . We played with our arms and a ball. Let me ask you this family is everything. You are walking back here for the first time ever. Yeah. Emotions . Not much. Nothing. [laughter] no nothing whatsoever. Thats what i thought. You dont care. No, not doing anything for me. A loving mother grew up with you and raise you along with your father. Give you the confidence to go out and be what you are. Ho,oh, sure. It does not touch you . What kind of part do you have . I am completely devoid of any emotions whatsoever. This is that side of u. S. This moment. This is not the side of loving times. That my friends describe. They said i was going to be surprised and meet a guy that is lovely. He comes to where he grew up became a young adult and nothing. Absolutely nothing. [laughter] i mean memories are everything. You would think i would be flooded by this wave of emotions coming back to my old apartment. This is where it began surprisingly unmoved. A place full of warmth to a cold mansion in l. A. Thats true. When can i go home . When can i go back to that cold mansion that you described . How did this, growing up here your parents were here, brothers in the same room. Your uncle and aunt next door, grandmother above. How much of that did you, and have you dig into thats a right stand up, seinfeld curb your enthusiasm . I wish i could answer that question. I know you are serious. You cannot make that connection . Things stay they have an impression on you and it stays with you and you are just able to tap into it. It is almost a Creative Process you cannot exactly. It was all shaped here, whatever it is. That is as much as you know about how it works. Yeah. But, at the same time the child is the father of the man, they said. Im sure is the same for everyone. You are born the way you are, but if i had grown up with mr. And mrs. Anderson in iowa, what i be the same . It is a combination. Of genetics and the genetics and the other part is nurture. Im not really smart enough to talk about that. It is a connection, the Creative Process. You know it is there. This place where i am standing now yes, it shaped everything. Yeah. In part, it gives you confidence. Where does the word confidence why is that word being mentioned to me . It is not a word you are familiar with . Not in the slightest. I cannot even believe it came out of your mouth. Gave me confidence . Gave me confidence . When . Where was the confidence . Where is confidence . The confidence you found found . Confidence you found and it came and said i want you i didnt have confidence. It does not mean i was confident that i was going to be any good. When did you know you are going to be good . I dont. I dont. Whats wrong with you . His confidence and his sense of humor emerged after leaving brooklyn. You have set on stage happy childhood, happy childhood. Miserable adult, but happy childhood. Mainly because of home . I dont remember being unhappy. I dont remember bounds of depression or anything. I think, yeah, everything up until like college was great. Everything up until maryland. Everything up until i graduated was great. How did you fit in at maryland . It was a completely different experience than high school. In what way . I fit in. I fit in. Why . I made friends, i was popular, i was funny. It just worked, it worked. But why . I dont know. Something came out. My sense of humor came out. Once i got away from brooklyn my sense of humor came out. I sort of discovered who i was. And you can make people laugh. Yes. After college, larry david tried his hand at stand up comedy but success to not come quickly. You have been described as a comics comic. Well, i think to a large part they like to come in the back of the room because very often i would not do well. I would not do well, no. The man who created seinfeld. The man who created curb your enthusiasm didnt think he would do well. I didnt do well very often. Why . Because i did not relate well to the audience. I did not if they like to me, i love them. If they didnt, i had great contempt. When you do stand up, there are requirements. You have to go on stage and say how are you doing . How are you . I couldnt do it. It is even said that sometimes he would take a look at the audience and not the one. You made a judgment about them before you even gave them a chance to laugh. I did that once. I was watching the previous comedian in the back of the room. There was something about him that i didnt like. When they introduced me i got on stage and i looked them over and said i dont think so and i left. Didnt you worry your reputation would be going down . Didnt you worry that the word would go out that larry would not show up . No, no. The club owner seemed to like me. They thought you were a comics cocmic. They put up with me. There is nothing nothing that i can imagine more difficult thann people saying to you to make me laugh. It was tough. I think if i did it now, it would be a lot easier. They would know who you are and you have a persona right now. Then you really then i was trying to act like they were my friends. I was trying to be who i was with my friends, so i would go up and that wouldis what i was trying to do but they were not my friends. You also found out you were better at improvisation. I did take an improv class and i remember in the class, that day i did very well. I felt great doing it. I could interject. I didnt have to wait for somebody to keep talking. I could make up the lines as i was going along. It was not a script. I remember every comment i have gotten since i was five. I remember one of the women came up to me that kind of stayed with me. Years later when i got the idea for curb. Did you have to muster the courage to go up or did you take the audience as you found them doing standup . Yeah, i once had this dream where there was a war going on in my house. I was upstairs sleeping and i heard the sound of cannons and gunfire downstairs in the living room ok . In my dream, i wake up and say what the hell is going on . I go downstairs and there is like a war. People in army uniforms. There are different sides and i went behind the couch. All of a sudden, there is a little stage area with a microphone in the living room. This big house that i lived in it was not my real house but this dream house. Through the fire and the gunfire going over my head, a guy comes up to me, one of the soldiers points a gun at my head and says get up and do a set. [laughter] i said what . Or ill blow your brains out. Do a set . There is a war going on . I cant. I go through the gunfire, get up and i take the microphone this was your nightmare . That was my nightmare. A hell of a way to earn a living. Meanwhile, your friends were doing ok. My friends were doing well yeah. Why are they doing well and you are not . They have got it figured out. They know how to do it. Or you havent found your own . I think a combination of both. Seinfeld was killing them. It was doing great. Did you ever say to yourself that you were not going to make it . This is what i ought to be doing and im not making it . All the time. Ive used to walk around looking for spots no, you didnt. I did. In the event that i became homeless, where what i say where would i stay . I found this great spot in the 40s. There was heat blowing out of it and i said yeah, thats for me. I will always have a home because i discovered this place. Exactly. You not even go one you would not even go on latenight talk shows. Didnt get invited. One time when i was at the improv, coordinator of the tonight show came up to me. I didnt say i would like to go on the show. He came up to me unsolicited and said johnny would not like you. Thanks. [laughter] maybe i dont like johnny. Your wife was once the coordinator for letterman . Yeah, my future wife at the time. And could not get you one. David said . No. Somebody said. [laughter] she said you are not right for my show. So, there were a bunch of people sitting around talking about you and they said that if someone had told them that you would be as successful as you are people would say you were crazy you are crazy to think larry david is going to think this huge star. With seinfeld and curb to his credit. I could see that. I could see how they could think somebody would be crazy, but you know, nobody believed you would be as good as you are then, did they . Well, i did have i dont want to say that i never did well. When i did do well you know, it was enough to keep me going. Enough to make me think i had something to offer. Jerry and i always had a really good comedy repoire. We used to write together sometimes. I would tell himm my stories. Would share information and help each other. When he got the offer from nbc, he approached me. It was just that really. You had written for him before. I had not written for him. You talk about routines. Yeah. And laurie, my exwife like to think the whole seinfeld thing she was responsible for because a comedian friend of ours it was her birthday and for a present for her, i wrote standup material for her birthday present. She was having a party and at the party, she said she did not want to read the material so jerry read it. Jerry got a great laugh. Laurie insists oh well, if not for that lauriie is the one that made jerry read it. And got a great response. It wasnt much of an idea if you examine it. It was about nothing, seriously. He came up to me and mentioned that nbc wanted to do a special with him. We were both living on the west side. We were going to share a cab back. We went into the Grocery Store before to get some stuff and we started just talking about the products, things in the grocery as we were prone to do. As we were talking, this is the show, this is what it should be. This is the kind of dialogue we should be hearing. Why did you create a character, george, who was a reflection of you rather than you playing the role . It never that was never even on the table. It was never, i never said i would like to be in it. I did not want to be in it. I was not interested in acting, really. I didnt want to do that. Even though it had an improv isisation to it . Not really, it was scripted. Written by you. There was no way i could have been executive producer of the show and also been in it at the same time. That would have been impossible. Way too much work to do that. Of the most successful show demands a good executive producer and a great start. You dont have to put on your time and attention. Did it change you . I mean, and gave me money it gave me money. Lots of money. Confidence it gave me something that i did not have, but not in the way that people think that it is a total transformation. I still you know, to this day i could not walk up to what woman in the bar and say hello. I dont have that. Yes, you do. Oh, no. I dont. Charley, dont argue with me on this one, baby. [laughter] come on, all you have to do is go up to the bar and say hi im larry david. Really . First of all, i know she would go who are you . So what . You know better. I would never do that. Because you are afraid of being turned down . Of course. Are you kidding . Are you serious . Today . With all the success . One of your friends said to me, just think about it. He created seinfeld, executive producer. Curb your enthusiasm. He is going to broadway. This is a man who has done something remarkable. Creating three big productions. Well, you are who you are from the time he was born and i dont think that changes. It never did for me. I know externally it give you the confidence to get engaged after yeah. Its not like i never had a date. [laughter] ill not some hermit im not some hermit. I have dates. But, yeah it gave me the confidence at least to ask. She said yes. Im making a living, it is something you can consider. How did larry david growing up in brooklyn become larry david executive producer. . What was it that enabled you to take that huge leap forward and become what you are today . Well certainly, you know, if jerry had not approached me that night there is no way i am sitting here, thats for sure. That started the whole thing that show. So, in terms of the writing aspect of it, i had no writing experience and i think that turned out to be a good thing. I didnt know how things were done in television. I was just kind of guessing. And somehow, it came out and it was good and acceptable. But, i think the idea that we didnt do that show the way shows are done. There is a lot of writers in a room all throwing jokes in and working on a script at one time that is not how it was done at all. It was done basically after a writer would hand in a script the first couple of years, there were a few writers. Mostly, all the rewriting was done by me and jerry. Do you have a unique perspective on life that somehow is funny . Well, i hope. I better. That is what happened. You have the capacity that somehow and the world caught up with you to look at life with a certain edge. I must. I suppose i do. I couldnt articulate it. You dont know what it is . Has anybody ever tried to explain it . Yeah. What do they say . One article i read said i take i make i blow up the small things and reduce it to big things. There is some truth to that. I dont know. It is probably better you dont know. Probably. Who made the decision to end it . I left two years before it was over and jerry went on for the last two years. And he decided that he was working so hard. It would have been nine years for him, seven years for me. Was it hard to leave . I think iti was ready. After you do those shows for a while, the bar is so high that it is almost intimidating to think how am i going to do another 22 shows . It seems impossible. I would go through that same thing every year and then finally i thought that is what the guys from monty python told me. They didnt think they could be that good every year, be that funny. Running against yourself. You are in competition against your previous season. What did you think you were going to do after you left seinfeld . I thought i would do some stand up. What was the state of mind at that time . Leaving seinfeld . Wehen the show premiered in september i remember thinking you idiot. What have you done . Oh my god. All your friends are there, all the fun is there. What did you do . I was upset, yeah. I thought i really made terrible mistake. I have no pride in this question, but were you happy . [laughter] would you look at larry and say, im all right . I dont think like that. But, i do have a much better disposition than people expect. Meaning what . Generally, my mood is pretty good. Before i did seinfeld, i was very bleak. Code wake up in the morning and my first thought was ownh, no. Another day. But, once seinfeld started, all those thoughts were done. Seinfeld did what for you . It gave you it gave me a reason to i dont know. If focused me on something. Success can give you confidence. I guess. Yeah. I dont know. When you are working hard focused, you just do it. You dont really think about it. Im a much happier person than people expect. That is what you think . Im in a good mood generally. [laughter] im much happier postseinfeld. There is no comparison. Is it in part because of success . People said they did it well, this is the greatest sitcom in the history of television. You created along with jerry the greatest sitcom in the hill it history of television, that is what they said. That gives you confidence. [laughter] that gives you something to call home about. Not the way you would think it does. What way . Well you dont have to worry about money anymore. So, that terrible problem is gone. That is a huge deal. That is huge. Once that is gone, you dont really have any right given what your lifestyle is, you have no right to complain. You cannot complain. You have too much, there are too many people who have nothing. I used to have nothing. I was able to complain ok . I was able to be dark and bleak and complain, but once i started making money on that show all reasons to complain were out the window. I had my health. I had money. Could not complain, could not justify it, no way. I could complain to myself, but never to another person. Tell me about the creation of curb your enthusiasm. So now i finished seinfeld. You had a lot of money but not as much as they say. [laughter] right. I was thinking about going back to do stand up. I had not done it in 10 years. Jeff garland who plays jeff green on the show, the funniest guy, he had an Office Next Door to me and said what am i going to do . I set was thinking about going back to stand up. He said you should fill it, film the process of going back after a tenyear absence of doing standup. He said he would directed. It. I didnt want to do that. I dont want the camera following me around. I spoke to my exwife about it. Then, i started to think about it and i thought if they filmed the stuff on stage, that would be fine. It is the stuff that would be off the stage that i would have a problem with because it seemed really boring. What are they going to do i will go to the dry cleaner and they will killfilm me . It seemed boring and i did not like the idea. Then i thought suppose i made up some stuff. Suppose i created a fictional kind of world where i was married and i had a manager and jeff could play the manager. I will create some funny situation that we could film as if it was real. I said to jeff, you dont direct it, you play my manager. I will write it. I wrote this outline. Mainly improvisation. If it is supposed to be a documentary, it cannot be scripted because it would not seem like it was spontaneous. That is how the whole thing started. This is the way larry david on curb your duty as enthusiasm has been described as politically incorrect, unfiltered. I love that. Why du love thdo you love that . That is what a comedian is supposed to be. The main thing a comedian should be is authentic. And funny. I ask you about seinfeld, but why is this connected . Because people somehow deep inside of them, including you, would like to be that character. Would like to be unfiltered would like to see what is on their minds with no consequences. Would like to have no social restraints. That is exactly right because we have to behave a certain way in society and if you dont, we cannot get along. Social intercourse is filled with so many lies and deceit. It is also deceitful that everybody has all these thoughts. Would we be a better world if everybody expressed these thoughts . I dont think so. [laughter] it is a good thing. It is a good chance for us to see it. And sort of find thisf fantasize we could be like that. Every social encounter has anxiety and all kinds of things that are lurking behind it. It is all subjects. Everybody has thoughts they are not expressing about the other person or other things in general. With this show, i was able to express every thought i had. About everything. Yeah. About making love with a palestinian woman. Yeah. [laughter] where did that come from . I just thought i was the kind of guy who didnt care what the womans beliefs were. I could have sex with an antisemi. What do i care . So what . [laughter] if an attractive antisemite won its websites with me, i would do it. I dont care. What would she say while making love . She could occupy me. She made all that stuff up. That is the thing about this improvisation. I cannot write better than but the actors can come up with. She came up with all that stuff. All the actors did. Who came up with the idea of taking a holocaust survivor and a survivor from the Television Show . The mind of larry david. The mind of larry david. All of a sudden, there was a promo for survivor on television. It struck me. I cannot believe nobody put this together that there are Holocaust Survivors who call themselves survivors. Then i thought yeah, i have to get those two in the same room. Who had the worst experience . And make it funny. I also thought that this seems like an idea that is right there for the plucking. We better get this out fast. Does anybody say to you, larry you have gone too far . Yeah yeah. And you ignore it. Yeah. Because you are your own man. Everybody likes something as long as it does not affect their group. What they are part of. Do not dare talk about me. My good friend of mine who loves the show, she loves the show. She would call me up after shows. The most offensive stuff was going on and she could not get enough but as soon as there were something about a dog, nope. You could say that a lot about different people. Was there a point in which you said i have gone too far . There will be too much of a reaction against this . Out of the mind of larry david it is ok . Because i am doing what makes me laugh. If i feel like something is too far, it is probably not making me laugh. Good comedians what makes them laugh and that is what they can create. Yeah. Is ait genius . Dont you do that. What you have. Ridiculous. Is it fun . It is so much fun. Charlie, i just have the greatest time on curb. I was laughing. I dont know if you could tell. Every take, i would have to stop and do like this to the group. Crew. Let me just get my composure back. When jb smoove is talking to you, it isnt impossible to have a straight face. All the actors are amazing. Larry david has lived an extraordinary life, one that even he can appreciate. Hasnt larry david looked out for himself . Charlie, i mean, charlie. What would you change about your life . Yes, your life. That is a tough question. I dont know. I cannot think of anything. It would sound too petty for television. You are editing yourself now. Yeah. I want you to tell me. Somebody has to edit me, you are not going to. Everything i dont want to say i know is going to be aired. I said that . Just tell me. What dont you like about your life . Im very happy with my life. Are you afraid of people thinking that . No. Or are you afraid of them knowing what you dont like about your life . That, yeah. Is it women . [laughter] yeah. Women is one thing. What else . What else . It is women, yes. Are you telling me the truth . Yeah, yeah. Larry david has a woman problem . I wouldnt put it like that. I would say that im relationship challenged. Why . This is why i did not want to say anything i dont want to talk about this. I do though. Im sure you do. I cant talk about it. It is too hard to talk about it. I cant talk about it. Im uncomfortable talking about it. It makes me uncomfortable. It is personal and none of my business. I will tell you when the camera is off. What im try to do is to say this is what everybody watching this wants to know. Who is larry david . You are too much, mr. Rose. You are probing. Where is the probe . Who the hell knows . You do know. Whatever you are singing is to im seeing is who i am. You said you created a character. It is not you. It might be who you want to be but it is not. Who are you. . [laughter] i dont know, charlie. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. You just want to go back into your routine, dont you . Its ok. I want to talk about that right now. Who am i . Im a jerk, that to;ss who i am. Thats an act. How were you a jerk . Lets stop talking about me. This is why i didnt want to do this interview in the first place. Do you think i wanted to do this . I didnt want to do this because i knew you would be asking questions like this. I didnt want to do 60 minutes. Why did you do this . They talk to me into this like they did for the play. So you are a guy that can be talked into inthings. You have no backbone. But the guy you create would be able to say no. You have a character that could say no. You are anot a jerk when you could create a character that could be a jerk because you cant be one. That is good. I like that. How much do you charge . That is better than any therapy i have gotten. Your director just said to me charming dashing, handsome. Yeah yeah. Dashing . Do you feel that . I dont feel dashing. I dont feel dashing. You think i feel dashing . Are you insane . Do you think i have ever had one moment of feeling dashing maybe if i was drunk but no. I dont feel dashing. You know what women say back to women nothing is more attractive into a woman than somebody that makes them laugh. [laughter] thats just utter nonsense. That is such nonsense. Gilbert gottfried did the funniest joke about that. I wish i could remember. No, they might say that, ok but no. What do they mean . I was funny when i had nothing and it did not work, ok . I promise you this is my last question. What do you think women want . What do they want . They want love, security. You must be attractive to them. I could give them one of those. Is there any part of you that says i have conquered television. I have plenty of money. I could go back to Television Anytime i want. They are begging me to do more. I want to do something new. I want to challenge. Well, certainly a want to do something by writing the play. All of a sudden, it was presented to me to be in it. Yes, i did have that moment of this is going to be really challenging. And yeah, i made the decision to do it. And you are glad you did. You are. Yeah, but you are glad you were talking to doing it. Ok, ok. Im glad somewhat. Im glad with reservation. The reservations are the schedule. The schedule . There is a sameness to every day that i find very disturbing. And boring or just disturbing . You like variety every day. Yes. You dont like a script in your life. Exactly. That is perfect. Yes. My life is scripted and it is odd. Its odd. Look, i dont want to complain. With all due respect to lindsey i am campbell brown. Graham, we suggest you controlaltdelete your comment about never having sent an email. We are close to 100 certain that you do not know what that means. Happy National Meatball day sports fans. In our lineup tonight, ayatollahs, ay carambas, and iowa. First, start the official countdown clock. A source said Hillary Clinton might talk about emailgate, emailghazi, email teapot dome within 48 hours