Larry David

He and Jerry Seinfeld pitched NBC in 1988 with a show that barely had a premise. That worked in his favor. As head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons, he turned his own social grievances into 62 episodes, including "The Contest" (1992), which won him a Primetime Emmy and topped TV Guide's all-time list. He left after season 7 (and killing off Susan Ross), returned to write the divisive series finale, and reportedly walked away with $250 million from the syndication deal. Curb Your Enthusiasm was just him doing it again, with his name on the character this time.

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrapped in April 2024 after 12 seasons, on its own terms. The Seinfeld royalties reportedly still pay him $40-50 million a year, which means he hasn't needed to do anything he didn't want to since the late 1990s. The FTX Super Bowl ad in 2022 was the exception. He played a character too skeptical to recognize history's great inventions, earned $10 million for the spot, and watched FTX collapse as a fraud months later. The lawsuits named him too. Playing dumb has never cost him more.

George Costanza was autobiographical. David has said so directly, which explains why Curb Your Enthusiasm feels like a sequel where the same guy gets another decade of consequences. The origin story is consistent: he once walked onstage at a comedy club, looked at the audience, decided against performing, and left without speaking. Richard Lewis and he met at 12 at summer camp and hated each other on sight. They reconnected at the Improv years later and turned the grudging friendship into a running bit across 12 seasons of Curb. DNA testing on PBS's Finding Your Roots revealed he and Bernie Sanders are distant cousins, which makes the SNL impression feel more like an obligation.