Joe Rogan - Larry David's a Genius

The warmer and the more interesting the person is, the more I give them of myself. How does Larry David handle it? He's not bad. Yeah? Yeah, I'm a big fan of it. Oh, thank you. You know, how about that? It's not... It's a good impression. Yeah, thanks. I've seen him go through because it was... I saw him become famous. You know, he was on Fridays. He created Seinfeld, but that still wasn't the fame that he has now. So I saw him, through Curb Your Enthusiasm, become truly iconic. So he's had trouble figuring out how to... People want to take a picture. People, you know, how do I do it? And it's always changing. He's never an asshole. It's truly one of the greatest comedy shows of all time. Well, thank you. A hundred percent. And I have to say, the new season we're about to film in October, the storyline may be my favorite and it's really subtle and fun. It's like one of those things like, oh, I... It's like, I think people watching it will feel that they're living a fantasy. And after the first one airs, I'm happy to come back and talk about it. You know what I mean? Because that premise of where we're going is delightful. I love how HBO gives him sort of carte blanche. They're like, you know, take a couple of years off. Do whatever the fuck you want. Like... Yeah. Takes him... Pretty great. Yeah. Well, for Larry, it's not about the money. Of course. It's about, can I do another good show? It makes us different than most shows in history. Yeah. And he only wants to do good work and enjoy himself. Otherwise there's no reason. Yeah. And HBO is smart that way. They're genius. I mean, look, if you think about the show, Sopranos, fucking Game of Thrones. Yeah, no, they've got some good work. They know how to let a show be a show. From what I understand, they give a lot of notes on their pilots, but once you become a series, they kind of leave you alone. That's amazing. You know, whereas when you're doing a network show or from other paid sources, I've heard that the notes never stop. Well, when I was on his radio... And comedy is the easiest thing to ruin with notes. Drama can survive notes. Comedy cannot. Because it's like the... Doing comedies like the Dominoes, and if you take one of those and just move it a little to the left or the right, you're screwing up the whole thing. That's a very good point. Yeah. When I was on news radio, we weren't successful, and that is when you get the notes. My friend Lou Morton, who is one of the writers, he would wear a shirt every Monday after the ratings would come in with a number on it. He would take a white t-shirt and write it, and one day he came in and the number said 88. I go, fuck, dude. Really? 88. I'm like, fuck. I was like, goddamn, I'm going to save money. That was out for three years, right? Five. Five years. So the point being is, that was an immensely successful show. Barely. Barely. Barely made it. If you stay on the air, that's pretty great. No, no, no, for sure. It's definitely better than being canceled. But the point being is that we were never a hit, so we always got notes. We're constantly getting notes. Like, we need a gay neighbor. We need a black guy. We need a... We need a this. We need a that. We need a love interest. I'd watch that show, by the way, the gay neighbor and the black guy. If that was the name of the show, I'd be in. That's probably a good name of a sitcom, the gay neighbor and the black guy. Yeah, just the black guy lives next to a gay neighbor and it's the problems they hear. There's a lot of sitcoms and I don't want to name names, but I watch them and I know they're very, very, very successful and I watch them and I'm stunned. I don't understand it. It's like they're speaking a different language. I don't get it either. I don't. I don't, but I don't watch comedy, man. I watch drama. But I think it's middle America. I think there's something going on with tired people. No, you know what it is? There is something that I noticed. This is something that's recent too. That audiences now respond to what they think is supposed to be funny. Like real comedy fans dug news radio. Like people who dug comedy, I think dug news radio. People who did comedy dig curb. Do we have other kind of fans too? Yes. I find that comedy fans really do get comedy, but everybody likes to say they like comedy or they watch comedy and they may not have any sense of humor. So I find there was a show, I'll give you an example, and this one was like the specific and I don't care if I'm slamming it. It was the something in the girl in the apartment B or the bitch in something B. It was lead actors, very talented, but I watched the show and the rhythms were this is what comedy is. It wasn't funny. It didn't have a natural vibe to it. It had no reason for me to keep watching it, but it was done in a style that other shows have done since where this is how comedy is done. This is the way we spin a line or do a situation. And I don't know why, but it always involves a lot of that putting the spin on the ball or what is it, dancing in English. It has a lot to do with that because even if you watch a lot of Nickelodeon shows or Disney shows, they tend to do that. They put the spin on it. It's never funny enough just to have. Here's the thing about comedy, TV comedy. I think for the most part, you're supposed to be enthralled with the situation. So the situation, Lucy got into a situation and you laughed at Lucy dealing with the situation. I really, I bet in the entire time Lucy ran on the air that there might have been 12 great jokes that she said in the situation. You're laughing on how she deals with the situation. When you look at any great comedy and that's what it is, it's Larry David dealing with the situation. And by the way, one thing Larry and I are very proud about with Curb Your Enthusiasm, if one of us says something funny to the other one because we improvise, we laugh. So these shows you see, people say these lines written by writers and then the audience laughs if it's on stage, but yet the actors don't laugh at one another. That's wrong. Right, it doesn't make any sense. So on a lot of levels, it's just not right. And then there are shows now that I've watched for maybe five minutes where I cannot believe how terrible they are and yet they're successful. Hugely successful. Hugely successful. Don't get it. Yeah. When you guys do a show, you don't really have like a full script in terms of exact- No, we have a very tight outline. We have seven pages written. Larry has written the story. And in that story, maybe a half dozen things are like, he says this or she says that. Because you have to move the story a little. Yes, for story purposes, not because it's a great joke. And then I play it every time differently. Unless I'm told by the director or I'm one of the producers, we have a meeting of like, we need to get this across. This is not coming across and I'll make an adjustment. But in general, I try and do it different every single take. That is so crazy. And how many takes will you do? Well, if it's Larry and I, just us, he and I alone in the scene, we can have a scene done in less than an hour. But if there's a bunch of other people, could be three hours. Wow. And the idea is just like, this is what needs to take place. We have to figure out how to get across the fact that the refrigerator's broken and we're going to have to go buy ice and who's going to buy the ice. I don't want to drive to buy the ice. And then you're all just talking. It's more in depth than that. The story is really there. But yes, how we approach it and sometimes that can change. But that's one of the reasons why the show is so good because it seems so organic when you guys are talking. It is. Well, that's what I get out of it. We don't rehearse. That's amazing, too. Zero rehearsal. The Goldbergs, we don't even do a lot of rehearsing, but I have to stick to the script. If I want to improvise on the Goldbergs, I have to let the producers know, not to get permission to let them know this take, I'm going to do something different. And I have to let my fellow actors know. That's interesting. I have to let my fellow... Is it hard for you to adjust to go from two different styles? I don't know that it's difficult, but I find the curbier enthusiasm way more enjoyable. Oh, I'm sure. But I'm really proud. The Goldbergs is the number one show on TV that families watch together. So I'm very proud of that. And I get why people dig it. It's not my style, but when I watch it occasionally, I don't watch it very often. I get why people dig it. I'm not confused by the show. Right. You know what I mean? Like these other shows we're talking about, I'll be confused as to why they're successful, why they're on the air. But other ones I watch, like I watch Modern Family, I get why people dig it. It makes total sense to me. So it's much more enjoyable during the curb thing. It's edgier and all that. But I still dig the Goldbergs. And I also dig the crew, and I dig the people I work with, and I dig the writers. So it's a very positive, wonderful experience. And I'm lucky. I'm on one of the most popular network comedies, and I'm on the most popular alternative comedy. How'd you get to be so lucky? By the way, I'm grateful. I keep on getting told in therapy, don't say lucky so much. Why does he tell you that? Because grateful. Because I do have something to do with it, but not from an ego standpoint. I've worked hard, I've done this, I've done that. So I'm just incredibly grateful. You're lucky too. I think I'm lucky too. You're lucky too. You're grateful and you're lucky. And by the way, what if I told you I'm not kidding? That dude has taught me so much. That might be the only thing I disagree with him on. Yeah, he doesn't know shit. No, lucky is good. Now, Roger, don't. Ha ha ha.