SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains 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 latest episode of the Barack Obama-produced series, Larry dresses in drag to portray Dora Salk, the mother of virologist Jonas Salk, who is known for developing the first successful polio vaccine. As Jonas tries to get work done upstairs, he is repeatedly disturbed by his mother, who is obnoxiously kvelling about his scientific breakthroughs to a neighbor in the yard.
Eventually, another 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 should die a dog’s death. You don’t know anything about science, you’re not a doctor.”
Bobby replies, “If I was in charge, I’d make sure that no kids took that vaccine. That goes for measles, too.”
And Dora fires back: “If you were in charge, God help us all! If some idiot, some moron, ever put you in charge, that would be a dark day for humanity.”
David’s thinly veiled attack against the U.S. health secretary has a rich backstory. Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, played David’s wife (and then ex) Cheryl on 12 seasons of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” And it’s well known that David, who used to be close friends with Kennedy, introduced him to Hines. Despite political differences, they appeared to remain friends through the end of “Curb.” Kennedy, who was running for president as an independent at 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 following months, as Kennedy endorsed Donald Trump and later joined his cabinet. (David has been a strong critic of Trump and has mocked him in both “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 think he’s mad [that] Bobby’s in the administration.”
David and Kennedy in 2013
Ari Perilstein
Their rift is evident in the fact that every main cast member of “Curb” has appeared in “Life, Larry” (or at least showed up to the premiere) except for Hines. As to whether 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 know, it just didn’t work out that way.”
In terms of satirizing Kennedy in a sketch set in the 1950s, Schaffer said, “One of the things we attempted to do with the show was talk about things that are happening right now, but through a historical lens. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. We’re talking about vaccinations, and there’s incredible ignorance about vaccinations going on right now.”
To David and Schaffer, that ignorance has been amplified by Kennedy, a leading figure in the anti-vaccine movement who has questioned the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. During his time in the administration, Kennedy has reduced the number of recommended 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 seemed like a great way to comment on the stupidity that’s going on right now.” The digs against RFK Jr. were simply “too good to pass up.”
The sketch ends as Neighbor Bobby goes on an extended tirade about how “fluoride causes gender confusion” and “the Spanish flu is a bioweapon … designed not to touch Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.” He says “I cut the head off a whale with a chainsaw,” and there’s even a direct reference to the dead bear he once transported in his car. Finally, he is 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 give up her seat. So far, 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 is “friends with a pedophile.”