SPOILER ALERT: This interview accommodates spoilers for Episode 4 of “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America,” now streaming on HBO Max.
Larry David weaponizes history to mock his former pal Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his HBO sketch comedy show “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”
In the most recent episode of the Barack Obama-produced series, Larry dresses in drag to portray Dora Salk, the mother of virologist Jonas Salk, who is understood for developing the primary successful polio vaccine. As Jonas tries to get work done upstairs, he’s repeatedly disturbed by his mother, who’s obnoxiously kvelling about his scientific breakthroughs to a neighbor within the yard.
Eventually, one other neighbor appears — a tan-skinned, craggy-voiced man named Bobby (sound familiar?) — who declares, “That vaccine’s gonna kill people. It’s gonna give them heart attacks!”
David, as Dora, doesn’t hold his tongue: “Drop dead, Bobby. You need to die a dog’s death. You don’t know anything about science, you’re not a physician.”
Bobby replies, “If I used to be in charge, I’d be sure that that no kids took that vaccine. That goes for measles, too.”
And Dora fires back: “In the event you were in charge, God help us all! If some idiot, some moron, ever put you in charge, that will be a dark day for humanity.”
David’s thinly veiled attack against the U.S. health secretary has a wealthy backstory. Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, played David’s wife (after which ex) Cheryl on 12 seasons of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” And it’s well-known that David, who was close friends with Kennedy, introduced him to Hines. Despite political differences, they appeared to stay friends through the top of “Curb.” Kennedy, who was running for president as an independent on the time, even appeared on the red carpet for the show’s final season premiere in 2024.
But David’s relationship with the couple fizzled over the next months, as Kennedy endorsed Donald Trump and later joined his cabinet. (David has been a robust critic of Trump and has mocked him in each “Curb” and “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”) Hines said in an interview that she hadn’t spoken to David after the series finale of “Curb” because “I believe he’s mad [that] Bobby’s within the administration.”
David and Kennedy in 2013
Ari Perilstein
Their rift is clear within the proven fact that every predominant forged member of “Curb” has appeared in “Life, Larry” (or a minimum of showed as much as the premiere) apart from Hines. As as to if Hines was made aware of the sketch mocking her husband, “Life, Larry” co-creator and director Jeff Schaffer told Variety, “No idea.” And as for why Hines wasn’t asked to make a cameo, Schaffer quipped, “You realize, it just didn’t work out that way.”
By way of satirizing Kennedy in a sketch set within the Fifties, Schaffer said, “Considered one of the things we attempted to do with the show was speak about things which can be happening immediately, but through a historical lens. Those that forget history are doomed to repeat it. We’re talking about vaccinations, and there’s incredible ignorance about vaccinations occurring immediately.”
To David and Schaffer, that ignorance has been amplified by Kennedy, a number one figure within the anti-vaccine movement who has questioned the security of the COVID-19 vaccines. During his time within the administration, Kennedy has reduced the variety of really helpful childhood vaccines and overhauled the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, because he has falsely linked them to autism.
By calling back to Salk’s groundbreaking advancements, Schaffer said, “It gave the impression of an excellent solution to comment on the stupidity that’s occurring immediately.” The digs against RFK Jr. were simply “too good to pass up.”
The sketch ends as Neighbor Bobby goes on an prolonged tirade about how “fluoride causes gender confusion” and “the Spanish flu is a bioweapon … designed not to the touch Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.” He says “I cut the pinnacle off a whale with a chainsaw,” and there’s even a direct reference to the dead bear he once transported in his automotive. Finally, he’s taken away by two men in white suits, presumably to a psychiatric ward.
“Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness” airs Fridays on HBO. The show places David in pivotal moments in history, from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the trenches of World War I to the bus where Rosa Parks refused to present up her seat. Up to now, the comedy series has been unafraid to take jabs at current-day political figures. The second episode featured the late Rob Reiner playing George Washington in a sketch that skewered Trump as a “sociopath,” “lying asshole” and someone who’s “friends with a pedophile.”