Happy 64th Birthday, Larry Charles! Born today in 1956, this American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and director was a staff writer for Seinfeld for its first five seasons, contributing some of the show's darkest and most absurd storylines.
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Charles was a son to a Jewish family. He was raised in Trump Village, located between Brighton Beach and Coney Island in Brooklyn.
Years later, after graduating from John Dewey High School, Charles attended college at Rutgers University (RU) in New Jersey; the largest institution of higher education in the state. However, he later left school to perform comedy routines.
Charles performed stand-up comedy during the 1970s until he was hired to write for ABC's weekly American late-night live comedy show Fridays (1980–1982), where he worked with Larry David.
This began Charles' career in television writing that included the American syndicated late-night talk show The Arsenio Hall Show (1989–1994). This eventually led to writing for Seinfeld (1989–1998) on NBC.
David was the one of whom gave Charles the job as a writer. David later gave Charles his directorial debut on HBO's American comedy television series Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–present), starring David.
Although series co-creators David and Jerry Seinfeld wrote the bulk of the show's episodes during the first five seasons, Charles was their second in command during this period.
Charles had met "Seinfeld" co-creator David when he was part of the writing staff of the ABC sketch show Fridays, on which David and Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer) were also part of the show's ensemble cast.
However, Charles had been unable to write for the show's first season, as he had been writing for The Arsenio Hall Show.
Charles is noted for contributing some of the show's darker storylines and scenes. In "The Baby Shower" (S02E10), Charles wrote a dream sequence in which Jerry was killed.
Charles' episodes also covered such controversial topics as Nazis in "The Limo" (S03E18), a psychotic stalker in "The Opera" (S04E09) and a hospital patient committing suicide in "The Bris" (S05E05).
A season two episode he wrote, "The Bet", concerning Elaine buying a handgun to protect herself, was never filmed and went unproduced because NBC, some of the cast, and the show's director felt the gun contest was too provocative.
Charles later claimed that his writing on Seinfeld was heavily influenced by American television series Dragnet (1951–1959), Superman and Abbott and Costello.
Charles said he was instrumental in the development of Kramer; he felt that "Jerry and George were so well-defined through Larry David and Jerry, that there was less room for me to, sort of, expand on those personas.
But Kramer was very unformed at the beginning of the show and it gave me an area of creativity to, sort of, expand upon. So I spent a lot of time with Kramer because he was a character that I could have an impact on in the future of the show".
It was Charles of whom imbued in Kramer a distrust of authority (especially in his episodes "The Baby Shower" (S02E10) and "The Heart Attack" (S02E08).
It was also Charles of whom created the character of Kramer's notorious unseen friend Bob Sacamano, named after Charles' real-life friend of the same name.
Most notably, Charles has served as producer on the "The Parking Garage" (S03E06) as well as the "The Boyfriend" (S03E17/18) (also known as "The New Friend"). Charles also served as supervising producer on the "The Contest" (S04E11).
On June 28, 1997, "The Boyfriend" and "The Parking Garage" appeared on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time list. The former was ranked at #4, while the latter was ranked in at #33.
Six years later, Charles directed his feature debut with the 2003 American/British drama/music film 'Masked and Anonymous'.
Charles also co-wrote the screenplay with Bob Dylan (under the pseudonyms Rene Fontaine and Sergei Petrov, respectively).
However, the film received a mixed reaction from audiences and critics alike. It also did very poorly at the box office.
Despite this, Charles maintains that it takes many viewings to get true enjoyment from the film:
"I want the movie to be like a great Bob Dylan song that is listened to over and over and for people to [go] back and see it again and get a lot more things, or totally different things."
Three years later, Charles made up for his loss with his second feature in directing the film of which he is best known.
This was the 2006 American/British satirical comedy/mockumentary film 'Borat' (or 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan').
The film was co-written, co-produced and stars Sacha Baron Cohen as title character, the fictitious Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev.
'Borat' is the second of three films built around Baron Cohen's characters from the British satirical comedy television series Da Ali G Show (1999–2004).
Todd Phillips ('The Hangover', 'Joker') co-conceived the story along with Baron Cohen, as Jay Roach ('Meet the Parents') co-produced along with Baron Cohen as well.
Upon release, 'Borat' was very well received, both critically and commercially. On a budget of $18 million, it grossed $262 million worldwide.
The following year, 'Borat' was nominated an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. However, the film did not win. This occurred at the 79th Academy Awards in late February 2007.
In a later interview, Charles discussed how, because of the nature of the mockumentary process, he had to act as well, even if none of his performance made it to the screen.
He said: "We all, especially me, had to play a character as well. I wasn't Larry Charles when we were on the road.
We all had to be in character, and we had to balance that with our aesthetic and logistical needs to produce the movie properly [...] The director also had to act."
The following year, Charles' third film was the 2008 American documentary/comedy 'Religulous' — a film about American comedian, political commentator, and television host Bill Maher.
The film relays Mahr's take on the state of contemporary religion. The film's title is a portmanteau derived from the words "religious" and "ridiculous".
On June 15, 2009, a revised list of TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time was published. This time, only one Seinfeld episode appeared on the list, this being "The Contest" ranked in at #1.
Among his credits, Charles is also known for directing 'Brüno' (2009), 'The Dictator' (2012), and 'Army of One' (2016).
In February 2019, the American documentary television series Larry Charles’ Dangerous World of Comedy premiered on Netflix. The series explores the varying definitions of comedy in different cultures around the world.
Charles himself travels to locations from Russia and China to India and Iran to speak with some of the unlikeliest comics to discover how dangerous and meaningful the world of comedy can be.
Among Charles' interview subjects is a veteran of whose combat injuries fuel his stand-up routine.
Charles rarely performs live, but has appeared at Un-Cabaret, a Los Angeles-based alternative comedy company that produces live, television and web projects. Charles can also be heard on several of its podcasts.
Charles is one of the more subversive figures in late 20th century and early 21st century comedy; a former stand-up who brought a sense of enlightened anarchy to such groundbreaking series.
Charles is a bona fide counterculture figure who had struck gold as one of the most successful and lucrative comedy writers in the history of show business.
A provocateur whose skill at intelligent, absurdist humor was matched - or countered - by his penchant for gross-out gags. Charles' creations amassed a huge fan base that elevated him to the forefront of the comedy scene.
Not every project matched "Borat" and Seinfeld in popularity, but when Charles struck pay dirt, it invariably made headlines and furthered his status as one of the industry's most creative figures.
Charles has been active from 1991–present.
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