When Jimmy Kimmel introduced last night’s guest Larry David on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he rolled off David’s accolades, saying David was “largely responsible for two of the funniest shows of all time, he recently completed the 12th and final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, all episodes are on Max, he would rather be at home tonight. Please welcome Larry David.”
It turns out that all of those things, including the part about preferring to be at home, are true. The bulk of their conversation included stories that were classic David; bits about uncomfortable social situations that only he would be brave enough to say out loud, like his altercation in the supermarket with a Holocaust survivor who was buying too much ketchup, and his complete disdain for the “heart hands” trend.
But when Kimmel brought up a story about David canceling an appearance on the very show he was a guest on, it ended up being one of the most Larry David moves of all.
Late in the interview, Kimmel told David, “I have a somewhat uncomfortable question to ask you,” and proceeded to refer to a situation that arose last February when David was supposed to have appeared on Live.
“So you were, I don’t know if you remember this, I hosted the Oscars on [a] Sunday night and on Monday you were our guest. We like to have a great guest on Monday night after the Oscars, because it’s a big audience coming in. So we asked you and I was excited you said yes,” he said. “And then sadly, your friend Richard Lewis passed away shortly before the Oscars… your people contacted us and whoever it was said, ‘I’m not gonna go because I’m feeling sad about my friend,’ which I totally understand.”
Lewis, who was not only David’s Curb co-star but also his close friend, died of a heart attack on Feb. 27 at age 76.
Kimmel said that despite declining to appear on Live in the wake of his friend’s passing, David did attend a party around the same time: “And then, I host the Oscars on Sunday, and I went to a party after the Oscars, and who did I run into at that party? Smiling broadly, I might add,” he quipped.
David was clearly entertained by the line of questioning and laughed as Kimmel recalled the story.
“Okay, so you want an explanation? I used the death of my best friend to get out of doing a show I didn’t want to do in the first place,” he told Kimmel, who laughed.
“It’s very simple,” David explained, as Kimmel replied, “I would expect nothing less,” before concluding the interview.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weekdays at 11:35/10:35c.