Larry Charles (born February 20 , 1956 ) is an American writer, director, and producer. He is best known as a staff writer for the American sitcom Seinfeld , contributing some of the show's darkest and most absurd storylines. He also directed the films Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan , Religulous and Brüno .
Early career
Born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family, Charles performed stand-up comedy in the 1970s until he was hired to write for the short-lived sketch comedy show Fridays (where he worked with Larry David, who would later give him a job as a writer on Seinfeld and director on Curb Your Enthusiasm ). This began a career in television writing which included The Arsenio Hall Show and eventually Seinfeld .
Seinfeld
Although series co-creators Larry 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 Larry David when he was part of the writing staff of the ABC sketch show Fridays , on which David and Michael Richards were also part of the show's ensemble cast. He had been unable to write for the show's first season, as Charles had been writing for The Arsenio Hall Show , during its production.
Charles is noted for contributing some of the show's darker storylines and scenes; for example in the season 2 episode "The Baby Shower" Charles wrote a dream sequence in which the title character, Jerry Seinfeld, was killed. Charles said that with this sequence he was interested in creating "the Quentin Tarantino version of a sitcom". Charles's episodes also covered other controversial topics, such as Nazis (in "The Limo") and a psychotic stalker (in "The Opera"). In fact, Charles wrote an episode in the second season called The Bet concerning Elaine buying a handgun to protect herself, that was never filmed because it was felt by NBC, as well as some of the cast and the show's director, that the gun content was too provocative. Despite these darker influences, Charles has claimed that his writing on Seinfeld was also heavily influenced by Dragnet, Superman and Abbott and Costello.
Charles was also especially instrumental in the development of Cosmo Kramer; as he felt that "Jerry and George were so well-defined through Larry 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 who imbued in Kramer a distrust of authority (especially in his episodes "The Baby Shower" and "The Heart Attack"), and who created the character of Kramer's notorious unseen friend Bob Sacamano, after his real-life friend of the same name.
Charles also has a cameo in the episode titled "The Parking Garage", which was written by David.
Mad About You
In 1995 Charles left the writing staff of Seinfeld to join that of another hugely successful mid-1990s sitcom: Paul Reiser's Mad About You .
The Tick and Dilbert
Charles served as executive producer on two critically-acclaimed but short-lived programs, The Tick (where he wrote two episodes), and the Dilbert animated series, which he co-developed with Scott Adams and co-wrote the following episodes:
Curb Your Enthusiasm
In 2000 Charles began his first job as a director, on Seinfeld creator Larry David's follow-up series Curb Your Enthusiasm . To date he has directed 13 episodes of the hit HBO show; on September 9 , 2007 , he directed the opening episode of the show's sixth season.
Entourage
More recently, Charles served as an executive producer and writer on the hit HBO show Entourage for the first two seasons. The episodes that he wrote were:
Film
Charles's feature debut was Masked and Anonymous (2003) which he directed, and co-wrote with Bob Dylan (under the pseudonyms Rene Fonatine and Sergei Petrov respectively). The film has received a mixed reaction from audiences and critics alike, although it has been gathering somewhat of a cult following. However, 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 back and see it again and get a lot more things, or totally different things."
His second feature film as director, the critically acclaimed Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan , was much more successful. Charles was asked to take over when original director Todd Phillips left the production after creative differences between Phillips and Sacha Baron Cohen, the star of the film, forced Philips off the project. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, 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: "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 properlyThe director also had to act." The film was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes.
Charles's third film was Religulous - a documentary about Bill Maher's take on the current state of world religion, which was released in October 2008.
Filmography (Director)
- Masked and Anonymous (2003)
- Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
- Religulous (2008)
- Brüno (2009)
Live performances
Charles rarely performs live, but has appeared at Un-Cabaret and can be heard on several of their podcasts.
Further reading
- Parker, Robin (31 July 2008). "Larry Charles: Anarchy in the USA", Broadcast Now , EMAP. Retrieved on 7 August 2008.
References
- ^ Larry Charles is turning his razor-sharp wit on world religion - and no one will be spared
- ^ a b Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Notes about Nothing - "The Baby Shower" . . Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. November 3, 2004.
- ^ Donlon, Brian (October 2, 1991). "Seinfeld hits stride // Stand-up sitcom finds its following". USA Today : p. 1D.
- ^ Alexander, Jason. Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Inside Looks - "The Bet" . . Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
- ^ Cherones, Tom. Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Inside Looks - "The Bet" . . Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
- ^ a b c Charles, Larry. Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Audio Commentary - "The Baby Shower" . . Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. ...
Baby Shower Theme | Baby Shower Ideas | Baby Shower Party Theme
Baby Shower Themes ... Baby Shower Theme Ideas We put together this page of "Ideas" that coordinate and compliment each other!!
Baby Shower Games, Baby Shower Favors, Baby Shower Invitations ...
At Baby Shower Stuff.com, you deal with a company of fanatics who personalize favors, invitations, games, banners and gifts -- so your shower is a slice of heaven instead of the ...
Baby Shower Favors, Baby Shower Invitations, Baby Shower Games
At SimplyBabyStuff.com, you'll find the perfect gifts to make your baby smile, burp or giggle. Simply put, we LOVE babies!! We have original baby shower favors, baby shower ...
Amazing Baby Shower Newsletter - Baby Shower Express
We only release one newsletter a month, so don't worry, you won't be bombarded with lots of baby shower stuff. If you've just been asking, why should I subscribe, what's in it for me
Baby Shower Supplies at MumStuff.co.uk
Baby Shower gifts, Essentials, partyware, and fun products for mum to be at her baby shower
America's Favorite Birth Announcement Company, Birth announcements ...
Birth announcements, christening invitations, baby shower invitations, communion invitations, birthday invitations, photo birth announcements
Baby Shower Decorations
Magically transform any ordinary setting into a baby shower wonderland when you purchase your baby shower decorations here! Mark off your checklist as you find everything you will ...
Baby Shower Planning Timeline
Some weeks may have more time consuming tasks while others may have just a half hour of baby shower stuff required towards planning. This will also vary depending on how large ...
Dodgeblogium » Baby shower stuff…
Strumenti e risorse per le nuove forme di comunicazione ... bloggers who combine a taste for heavy metal music with a taste for heavy metal politics…