Larry David is doubling down on the bittersweet fact that Curb Your Enthusiasm is ending.
The beloved star and creator had already announced as much in December and spurred genuinely mournful reactions. However, when asked at the premiere why the show’s impending 12th season would be its last, he hilariously responded: “Because I said so.”
“I’m not lying,” David told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet Wednesday in reference to baffled reactions. “People think I’m lying — I’m not a liar. OK, yeah, 15 years ago, I said it was the last season — that’s what I say when I don’t think I’m going to come up with another one. But, this is it.”
Curb, which chronicles a fictional version of David, has been a flagship HBO series since it premiered in 2000. It notably did away with the three-camera sitcom aesthetic of David’s Seinfeld and used a documentary-style approach that only complemented his premises.
Those premises hilariously concerned David’s rejection of countless societal norms and his interpersonal squabbles with a roster of celebrities that portrayed exaggerated versions of themselves. While this became appointment viewing for millions, David is saying goodbye.
“I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be — the thoughtful, kind, caring, considerate human being I was until I got derailed by portraying this malignant character,” he wrote in December.
David previously took a lengthy hiatus from the show in 2011 without a definite renewal date before returning in 2017. Even his co-stars aren’t convinced, as Susie Essman told the Reporter that David has vowed to retire “since Season 1.”
David told Variety’s Marc Malkin, “Yeah I said it before but I wasn’t 76 when I said it.”
While it seems this is the end, Essman and David’s onscreen wife Cheryl Hines are satisfied with the conclusion — which David said he only cracked while filming “early on this season.” As for what his plans are for retirement, David couldn’t help himself.
“I don’t know, I’ll go into my office,” he told the Reporter, “I’ll patchke around.”