SPOILER ALERT: This interview incorporates spoilers for Episode 2 of “Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America,” now streaming on HBO Max.
A month before he died, Rob Reiner filmed his final role as George Washington in Larry David’s historical sketch comedy series “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”
His appearance within the HBO show was kept a secret until the second episode aired on July 3. The sketch allows Reiner, who was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, to get the “last laugh” against the sitting president, director Jeff Schaffer tells Variety. “It’s coming out on Fourth of July weekend, and if it in any way spoils a tragic octogenarian’s weekend, then oh well!”
As Washington, Reiner gives a speech by which he declares he is not going to be looking for a 3rd term in office, adding that Congress can pass a constitutional amendment to ban future presidents from staying in power.
“Well, what if there’s some asshole in office, some narcissistic prick who doesn’t follow the Structure?” asks Larry David, wearing 1700s colonial attire. And the sketch turns into a protracted bashing session of you-know-who.
Reiner’s Washington stresses the importance of the peaceful transfer of power, and Larry says any hypothetical future president who can’t admit he lost an election is a “sociopath” and “insecure, lying asshole who would even cheat at golf.”
“He could use the presidency to complement himself and his family. He could send troops into American cities to terrorize and even kill Americans, all to distract from the undeniable fact that he’s friends with a pedophile!” Larry says.
Jimmy Kimmel also makes a cameo as a fellow American, arguing, “Are you suggesting that the president would taketh the time to challenge anyone who dare make fun of him? As if he were a giant baby?”
Eventually, the colonists erupt into screaming matches and physical fights over just the considered such a person ever leading the country. The sketch ends on a shot of POTUS Reiner observing the madness. “We’re fucked,” he says, after which the episode closes on an “In Memoriam” card honoring the late actor and filmmaker.
Schaffer, who co-created “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness” and helmed all seven episodes, tells Variety it was a surreal experience directing Reiner because “he’s on the Mount Rushmore of directors.” He and David knew from the beginning they wanted Reiner to play America’s first president, but David had one stipulation: “You may have to shave your beard.”
“Rob was like, ‘Seriously?’ and Larry was insistent: ‘George Washington was clean shaven,’” Schaffer recalls. “Rob was never without his beard, but he really desired to do the sketch, so he shaved.”
They shot the sketch on the Universal lot on Nov. 13, a couple of month before Reiner was killed inside his home alongside his wife Michele. (Their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested and charged for the murders.) Schaffer says he and David were editing the sketch just two days before Reiner’s death. “It’s so incredibly sad,” he says.
The team kept the cameo under wraps, even swapping it for one more sketch on the Los Angeles premiere of “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” at which HBO screened the primary two episodes of the series.
“It just didn’t feel like the suitable solution to show the world,” Schaffer says. “We thought long and hard about where the sketch should air … and ultimately we decided that July 3 was the right time. Just let it come out on the Fourth of July weekend, on the 250th, and let it sink in that way.”