SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains 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 in 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 sad octogenarian’s weekend, then oh well!”
As Washington, Reiner gives a speech in which he declares he will not be seeking a third term in office, adding that Congress can pass a constitutional amendment to prohibit future presidents from staying in power.
“Well, what if there’s some asshole in office, some narcissistic prick who doesn’t follow the Constitution?” asks Larry David, dressed in 1700s colonial attire. And the sketch turns into a long 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 enrich himself and his family. He could send troops into American cities to terrorize and even kill American citizens, all to distract from the 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 big baby?”
Eventually, the colonists erupt into screaming matches and physical fights over just the thought of such a man ever leading the country. The sketch ends on a shot of POTUS Reiner observing the madness. “We’re fucked,” he says, and then 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 start they wanted Reiner to play America’s first president, but David had one stipulation: “You 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 wanted to do the sketch, so he shaved.”
They shot the sketch on the Universal lot on Nov. 13, about a 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 another sketch at the Los Angeles premiere of “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” at which HBO screened the first two episodes of the series.
“It just didn’t feel like the right way 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 perfect time. Just let it come out on the Fourth of July weekend, on the 250th, and let it sink in that way.”