Larry David turns America’s history into an HBO sketch series

Larry David’s new HBO sketch series premiered Friday night on HBO and HBO Max, a seven-episode comedy built around America’s 250th anniversary and the comic’s long-ago history major. Titled Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, and also billed by HBO as Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America, the project gives one of television’s most recognizable satirists a national canvas.

HBO’s logline made the premise plain: “Those who don’t know history… are doomed to watch Larry David repeat it.” David has said the show imagines him inserted into major historical moments, blending real events with inventions and treating the country’s founding myths as material for comedy rather than reverence. That approach lands in a country where public arguments over memory, identity and patriotism have only sharpened, making the series feel less like a pageant than a joke about who gets to tell the story.

Warner Bros. Discovery said the project was originally conceived to honor America’s 250th anniversary and celebrate the nation’s history, before David’s involvement changed its direction. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions produced the limited series, linking the production to a broader civic milestone that is already drawing cultural and political attention. The company’s framing puts the show squarely inside the America-at-250 conversation, but David’s version pushes it toward self-parody and civic irreverence.

The series also arrives as a follow-up to Curb Your Enthusiasm, which HBO’s shop describes as a 12-season, 24-year, 120-episode cultural touchstone. HBO said the new show includes a mix of Curb actors and notable guest stars, and first-look footage was released at SXSW in Austin, Texas. New episodes are rolling out weekly through the finale on Friday, Aug. 7, keeping David’s return in view as the country counts down toward its semiquincentennial.