Over the course of its 11 seasons, Curb Your Enthusiasm has featured roles for nearly 1,500 actors. While many of them make one-off appearances—often as foils for creator/star Larry David—a handful have become a part of the small but mighty cast of regulars. Yet few have made as lasting an impact as Bob Einstein, who passed away on January 2, 2019, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.
As The Daily Beast reports, friends and colleagues of Einstein—the brother of legendary filmmaker/comedian Albert Brooks (born Albert Einstein)—have repeatedly described him as the funniest person they’ve ever known, and David is no exception. In anticipation of HBO’s The Super Bob Einstein Movie, a new documentary that premieres today, The Daily Beast is sharing an exclusive clip of David and other comedians sharing their memories of Einstein. David could barely contain his laughter just thinking about Einstein, whom he described as “hilarious.”
“He really made me laugh,” David said. “I’m laughing just thinking about it.”
It was David Letterman who first helped Einstein find fame with the character of Super Dave Osborne, an enthusiastic but terrible stuntman who regularly injured himself—and eventually landed his own Showtime series, which ran from 1987 to 1991. But, as Matt Wilstein writes for The Daily Beast, “David is responsible for introducing the comedian to an entirely new generation as the straight-faced Marty Funkhouser on Curb.”
Einstein was known as someone who could surprise even the most seasoned comedians, and make them break, as seen in the clip below (Jerry Seinfeld really didn’t know what was coming, and the laughter was genuine):
Goodbye Bob Einstein (aka Marty Funkhouser) and thank you for this joke. “I like that guy.” pic.twitter.com/dmOJDx4CT4
— Matt Wilstein (@mattwilstein) January 2, 2019
You can watch the full clip at The Daily Beast here.
The Super Bob Einstein Movie premieres on HBO tonight at 9 p.m.
(Via The Daily Beast)