On Thursday night, perhaps the funniest man alive, Larry David, visited “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Ostensibly to promote his sketch comedy series “Life, Rally, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” which skewers historical events to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and premieres on HBO on June 26, the legendary comedian happened to appear on the same day that nearly 2 million New York Knicks fans celebrated the team’s first NBA title in 53 years at an uplifting ticker-tape parade in Manhattan. David was courtside during the team’s miraculous Game 4 win against the Spurs. The Knicks fought from a 29-point deficit and snatched the victory from the brink of defeat on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, completing the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history. (Fortunately, David wasn’t able to trip up any Knicks players like Shaq that night.)
When Kimmel asked David why he was so excited about the fateful Knicks game, he launched into a lengthy explanation that only he could give.
“It’s funny, it’s only in games like that that I feel like I’m really human because I’m doing what everyone else is doing. “Because I can’t stand it,” he explained, adding, “But I have to say… it’s very stressful. Very stressful. That game took years of my life. The whole playoffs took years of my life.”
“Do you talk bad about players on the other team?” Kimmel asked.
“What I do is try to make eye contact. I was on the bench – right next to the Spurs bench -” Cue David began talking about how he tried to psychologically influence Spurs star Victor Wembaneyama. So I look at the players and try to make eye contact, hoping they might recognize me, and I say, “Hey, Wenby’s looking at me,” and Wenby goes, “Hey, Larry David!” I really like your show! That’s it. I’m rooting for the Spurs. That’s it. That’s all you need! One Spur recognizes me and switches right away. ”
Thankfully, he was unrecognizable at Spurs.
Later in the show, Kimmel welcomed Henry Louis Gates Jr. onto the show. If you recall, David was one of the most memorable guests on Gates’ show, “Finding Your Roots.” When David learned that his great-grandfather owned slaves, he exclaimed, “Oh, I did it! I did it! I knew it! I knew it! I can’t believe it! Hey, hey, hey!”
When Kimmel asked Gates (with David sitting next to him), “Did anyone get that excited and enthusiastic about finding out their great-grandfather was a slave owner?” Gates replied, “He thought he was safe because, you know, he’s a descendant of Jewish immigrants…There was a Jewish movement that came to the South from Bavaria in the 1850s, and his great-great-grandfather’s name was Henry Bernstein. He immigrated from Bavaria to Mobile, Alabama, joined the Confederacy, and owned two slaves.”
Gates added that Kimmel also has relatives from Germany, and Kimmel offered, “But just for the record, my family didn’t have slaves, whereas Larry’s family was slave owners.”
To this, David replied with a smile: “Oh, I guess that makes you better than me, doesn’t it?”
