Unlike many of his fellow standup comedians who got their start in the 1980s, Larry David has never been “canceled.” He’s as surprised as anyone else. While appearing at the Netflix Is a Joke festival, the amusingly cranky Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator was asked by Curb director Robert B. Weide, “How have you not been canceled? How do you get away with this?” As Consequence of Sound noted, David “had just given a run-down of a number of third-rail topics used as comedic fodder in recent episodes of Curb: Incest. Battered women. The disabled and the mentally ill. Homophobia and transphobia. Bestiality. Child molestation. The Holocaust and 9/11. The mentally ill. Stereotypes about practically every race and religion.”
“I don’t know,” David responded. “It’s a very good question. I don’t know why. I don’t like to think about it too much. Well, here’s the thing. There were fans of the show, they liked the show. And they have a good sense of humor. The fans of the show don’t care about political correctness.” He added that “idiots,” like the fictional version of Larry on Curb, “can get away with a little bit more than the more intelligent brethren.”
It also helps when “third-rail topic” jokes are told by a comedy legend like Larry David, not a YouTube edgelord.
Curb Your Enthusiasm will return for a twelfth season on HBO.
(Via Consequence of Sound)