Key Takeaways
- Larry David’s departure: Larry David left SNL after a frustrating experience with his sketches being cut.
- Outburst details: He expressed his dissatisfaction to executive producer Dick Ebersol just before a live show.
- Return to work: Despite quitting, Larry returned the following week and continued working for nearly a year.
- Connections made: During his time at SNL, he met Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who would star in Seinfeld.
Role: Writer
Time on <em>SNL</em>: 1984-1985
The story of how Larry David quit his job as a Saturday Night Live writer will leave audiences laughing.
“My sketches would do very well at the readthrough, and then they would invariably get cut week after week after week,” the Curb Your Enthusiasm star explained on a 2015 episode of The Howard Stern Show. “And then one night, before the show, another sketch of mine was cut at 11:25—five minutes before the show was to start. I had enough.”
So, Larry continued, he walked over to executive producer Dick Ebersol and said, “This f–king show stinks. It stinks! It’s s–t! I’m done! I’m gone! F–k this! I’m out!”
As he walked home in the cold, he added, he realized what he had done and how much money he would lose. So, Larry returned the next week as if nothing had happened.
“There’s a writers’ meeting every Monday morning, and I walk into the meeting,” he continued. “The writers had heard the outburst, and I sat down. And then he would go around and ask everybody what they were working on for the week. And I was about the fifth one on the couch. And then he got to me and I was like, ‘Well, I’m thinking of doing this circus sketch.’
Larry got to keep his job but stayed for only about a year. But it was here that the Seinfeld creator met his sitcom’s star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Over the years, Larry has hosted SNL twice and made many guest appearances, including playing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
