Larry David brushes off Obama’s notes on new HBO show

Barack Obama tried to weigh in on Larry David’s new HBO sketch series, but David dismissed the notes, turning a behind-the-scenes exchange into part of the show’s promotion and its larger political irony. The limited series, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America, premiered on HBO on June 26 and is set to run seven episodes through Aug. 7.

The project was built as a salute to the United States’ 250th anniversary and reunites David with HBO after Curb Your Enthusiasm ended its 24-year run in 2024 after 12 seasons. Jeff Schaffer co-created the series with David and directs all seven episodes. Higher Ground, the production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, is among the executive producers, alongside Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Ethan Lewis and Vinnie Malhotra. Barack Obama also appears on screen in a sketch, joining a cast that includes Curb regulars and guests such as Jeff Garlin, J.B. Smoove, Susie Essman, Bill Hader, Kathryn Hahn, Jon Hamm, Sean Hayes, Vince Vaughn, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Henry Winkler, Joe Manganiello, Jane Krakowski, Greg Kinnear, Alan Tudyk, Rita Wilson, Jerry Seinfeld and David Seinfeld.

Schaffer said Obama was trying to give notes on the show when David brushed them off. He recalled Obama becoming defensive and saying that in the Oval Office he had taken advice and listened to his advisors because he was president of the United States. The exchange fit the premise of a series that sends David through American history as a parade of selfish, petty, unfiltered men, a setup designed to make authority figures look absurd rather than revered.

Obama’s on-screen role also gives the show a sharper edge. In an early teaser, he joked that while he had faced difficult world leaders, nothing had prepared him for working with Larry David. David, for his part, said Obama’s comedic timing was “perfect” and described acting opposite him as “really trippy,” adding that Obama was good at ad-libbing.

The series was first described in July 2025 as a six-episode American history sketch comedy before settling into its current seven-episode form. With a former president in the credits and on camera, HBO has turned a premium-comedy rollout into a test case for how far post-presidential branding can travel inside entertainment.