Until you rewatch the early seasons, it’s easy to forget that Leon Black wasn’t always part of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David‘s permanent houseguest, played to delirious perfection by comedian J.B. Smoove, feels like a supporting player the show couldn’t exist without, yet he joined the cast in Season Six, crashing the David home along with relatives displaced by a hurricane in New Orleans (even though he already lived in L.A.).
Smoove didn’t know back then that after the rest of his fictional family packed up and left, Leon would stick around for another six seasons over 14 years (the twelfth and final batch of episodes kicks off on Sunday). Over that run, he’s become Larry’s domestic partner in all but title, offering the irascible, mostly-retired TV writer “good-bad advice” throughout his many travails in Hollywood and beyond. Just as often, he coins a sublime piece of slang, brags about his innumerable sexual exploits, and butts into other’s conversations while raiding the fridge. Throughout so many scenes, Smoove’s improvisational chemistry with David leaps off the screen as only real-life friendship can.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, he talks about Leon’s endless dick jokes, his favorite scene partner besides Larry, the art of “getting in that ass,” making an outrageous character seem real, and how his wife manifested the role for him.
I just finished the first episode — great to see you back!
You know what man, I’ve been blessed to be a part of my favorite show. You come on to a show that you’re not sure if you’re just there for a season, next thing you know you’re part of a cast of people who have been together six seasons before you got there. Larry connected on that level. And I think it was a natural transition to add me to the show. So I’m happy that happened.
To me, there are two distinct eras of the show: Before Leon and After Leon. You’re the turning point. How did you change Curb?
I gave Larry another ear to bounce things off of. And it’s a different lifestyle that he’s not used to. Not to mention, adds a little chocolate to the show. I think you add a little lane for Larry to play in. The most successful TV shows to me, that I’ve always loved, always had a duo, and I feel like you need a duo because we can agree to things, you can disagree with things. You have two personalities that are yin and yang to each other. It works for these two characters to be friends, even if it feels like Leon is bogarting his way into Larry’s house. Leon is still Larry’s go-to and vice-versa. When we’re shooting, because the show is improvised, I go through my process of, “Do I go with Larry in this scene, or against him?” I’ve got to use my comedy instincts and try to figure out, what am I gonna get more mileage out of? Going against him, of course, creates the argument, but going with him also creates an argument because, you know, I want to give him good-bad advice. The trick is trying every season to give Larry something he didn’t know about Leon, and that gives me something to play with also. It’s just been amazing, man, these past six seasons with them. I can’t believe we made it to 12. When I first met Larry, I asked him how long he was going to be doing this. I said, “You gotta pick a good number. You gotta pick a number that means something to you.” I don’t know what 12 means to Larry. But I told him, “Think about your box set.”
When did you know you were going to be on the show for a long time? Do you remember that conversation?
I do not remember it, man! You know, the show is put together like a puzzle, so we shoot, shoot, shoot. All I remember is when [Leon’s] family left, it became a scene, something Larry came up with: Leon doesn’t leave. Because he kind of imposed his will when he went there. Some things you say, as we say in New York, become “word is bond.” It means I’m going to make truth out of this. I think you force your will upon people — that happens in your personal life and in your business and professional life — and the possibilities are hilarious. You’ve got to go with it. When I read that scene, with Larry saying everybody left, and “I guess you’re gonna be…” and Leon’s like, “About to go eat this Chinese food in my fuckin’ room.” That’s when it sunk in as, he wasn’t going nowhere. I think he felt like he actually needed that damn crazy Leon around.
What can we expect from Leon this season? Is he going to keep tappin’ that ass?
Man, Leon will be tappin’ ass forever, baby. This season’s going to be amazing. I really can’t overemphasize how amazing these people are, and how smart Larry is. He has a way to tap into human nature. Some people who love the show will say it’s sort of cringeworthy because Larry taps into this thing that bugged people, you know, some people don’t like to be reminded of a pig parker or chat-and-cut person, or whatever it is. But Larry finds his way of making it funny, and this season is no exception. It feels weird talking about “the final season” of Curb Your Enthusiasm because, you know, Larry did take off five years one time. He did his play, he did his movie. But you never know what’s gonna happen in this world. I know that he’s 76 years old, but who knows, man, what Larry’s going to do. It’ll be nice to put a bow on the series and ride into the sunset. I’ve been on flights where I’ve seen people watching Curb in a row ahead of me — I don’t think this show will ever go anywhere. You can rewatch this stuff over and over again and still laugh because these are such funny, likable characters. The show is locked in, to me, as one of the best improvised shows on TV.
The first time in this season premiere that I really burst out laughing was when Leon claims that because he keeps his phone in his front pocket, he accidentally “dick-dials” people. Was Leon ever going to run out of dick material? I feel like he could go forever.
[Laughs] It is so funny. So we’re at a friend’s house for dinner, he says, “Larry’s here,” I say, “Oh, great!” We have dinner, talking about all kinds of stuff. My wife loves Larry, oh my god, and she loves me and Larry together because she told me I was going to be on this show one day. She had always thought that me and Larry would make a great duo. Larry was about to leave and she said, “I know I tell you this all the time, but J.B. loves you, and thank you so much for making him a part of Curb Your Enthusiasm. And Larry says, “Are you kidding me? This guy?! I don’t know where he gets all this shit from! He never runs out of shit to say!” I mean, Leon is never going to run out of dick jokes. You can’t blame a man for tappin’ that ass, man. Just can’t blame him. What are you going to do? It’s the rules of the game: only say what your character would say. Then it just comes to me naturally. Leon finds a way to make everything relatable, all the things that he loves about life — girls, his Big Gulp with his name written on it so Larry don’t put his lips on the straw, his peanut butter and jelly’s, his Mountain Dews. All this shit that he loves makes him this real. He becomes someone that’s recognizable, and it’s completely opposite to Larry and anyone else on the show. Leon has created a playground in Larry’s head. But he also likes to paint a picture and overexplain things to Larry. The execution is in the details. I think that’s what makes Leon uniquely hilarious in his process.
People ask if Leon and I are alike and I say, nah, I would never wear that bullshit he wears.
You’re talking about how different Leon is from the rest of the cast. I notice that when the rest of the characters are melting down, he has this ability to remain just totally unbothered. Is that how you are on the set?
Yeah, man, that’s exactly how I am on set. You could probably count on one hand how many times you’ve seen Leon laugh. Leon doesn’t crack, he just gives it to you straight, good or bad. He’s going to give it to you straight how he sees it. Once I’m locked in, I’m locked and loaded. And sometimes I can’t wait to say something. Sometimes this anticipation of things I’m about to say makes me kind of smile — a little bit of under-undertone smile. I think you’ve got to have that when you’re actually giving a character life. People ask if Leon and I are alike and I say, nah, I would never wear that bullshit he wears. I can see people saying the cadence, maybe. But as far as what he talks about, and things he does, we’re zero alike. He’s someone I can turn on and off. Even when they say “cut,” I’m J.B., shit.
You say Leon doesn’t crack, but was there ever a time you shot a scene you couldn’t get through without laughing?
Oh, my God. Yes, man. It was with Vince Vaughn. Two seasons ago, we did the “pussy tea.” It was a bit I had in my comedy book that I was going to use someday, and I said, “I’m going to use this shit today.” We were shooting with Vince and he had this kit that keeps your tea warm. I had all these inventions, and I said: “Pussy tea — the taste of pussy without the commitment.” And I couldn’t get that shit out, man. What happens is, I know I’ve got Larry on his heels, right? Because of his fucking lip. He starts to smirk. He smirks to the left — the left side goes up a little higher. And he starts to nod up and down like he’s trying to get what you’re talking about. He’s nodding his head and his fucking lip just goes up a little bit and I know I got him. And we fucking both started laughing, man. I just kept trying to do it again. It’s very rare that I break, but Larry breaks so much. Larry breaking makes me break. So I would change it up. Because, I mean, after Larry figures it out, he’s just in the scene. I would say something totally different, give him a choice to make in the edit room. I would just give him another crazy damn idea. It’s like you’re really in a conversation with somebody — no one’s heard what you’re going to say. Even when we do rehearsals, or blocking, we don’t do our lines. We just say blah, blah, blah, because we don’t want to give it away. When you use something for the first time, you can’t help but fucking lose it. Then our writers and producers and directors would chime in, and we would just punch it up a little bit more. You’re putting it together based on the outline, but there’s so many things that you say that become part of the season, like doing a callback in stand-up — you say something and then it makes sense three episodes later to say it again.
Earlier you brought up all the advice that Leon gives Larry, which I think is a great part of their relationship. What’s the best advice Leon ever gave him?
It might be the legendary “get in that ass.” Larry didn’t even know what getting in that ass was. When I first did it in the scene, Larry had never even heard the term. Larry was looking at me like he didn’t know what the fuck I was talking about. That’s why, in the scene, I explained it to him. But there’s like five different versions of that, changing it every time I did it. But it always involves getting in someone’s ass and defending yourself. One example involved lighter fluid and matches — you know, setting that whole ass on fire. Or, like, you trash a hotel room, you trash that ass. That was the first season of Larry and Leon. That became the pace car for who Leon was going to be. My first day working with Larry, I came from being a writer and doing some sketches on SNL, my own sketch show, and Cedric the Entertainer Presents. So my background was a lot of sketch. The first scene we ever did was the stain on the blanket: was it come, was it gravy, was it juice? We started the scene, and then Larry said cut, cut, cut. He said, “Do the character more real and less sketchy.” And when he said that, I understood it completely. I said, “Ohhhh, I got you.” He only had to tell me that one time. I made that adjustment. And man, that was it. I was off to the races.
J.B. Smoove in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’
John Johnson/HBO
Leon definitely feels real. But you’ve also got to do ridiculous stuff. In the first episode this season, did you feel bad fat-shaming a Corgi?
Oh yeah! [Laughs] Oh, my god, I love it so much. It’s so crazy. I’ll tell you something: there are so many lines that don’t make it. It can be hilarious, but it has to fit the whole season’s storyline. You’re like, “Fuck, it didn’t make it!” That scene was so much funny shit, it’s nuts, man. That goes for every season. Larry has so much stuff that I told him, “After this season right here, you need to just have the editors cut up all the bloopers from 12 seasons and do a season of nothing but Curb bloopers. Oh my fucking god. Call it Curb: The Edit Room Floor. Sometimes I would ask the editors and writers, “Hey man, if you guys don’t use that bit that I just said, let me know, because I’m gonna use that shit in my stand-up.” Any time I would shoot, I would be driving home, and my wife would call me on the phone and she asked how my day was. “Oh, great, I had a great day shooting.” And she would say, “What did Leon say today?” And I would talk as if I’m not fucking Leon! I would talk about the scene and what Leon said. And she would say, “Oh my god, Leon is crazy!” I would laugh at that because… am I Leon? You know what I mean? Shit. I would tell her about him like he’s somebody different, like I was watching from the sidelines.
What he says is always such a great surprise, but sometimes he doesn’t even have to say it. Leon’s reaction to meeting a white South African was priceless — it’s just the look.
Did they use the part where I was talking about Huckleberry Finn?
Yeah, Leon can’t remember the name and is describing him as a kid who looks wet all the time.
Larry fucking lost it, man. There was another scene when Larry had an itchy asshole, I was talking about the little Dutch boy, the dam was leaking, and he had to put his finger to hold the water from flooding the town. I said, “You gotta put a finger in your ass, man, like that little Dutch boy with a little ruffled shirt and little knickers, in little leather shoes and shit, little beanie cap on.” And man, Larry thought that shit was so goddamn stupid. You think of the most outrageous thing you could say, and Larry pulls you back or he encourages it. I just paint this silly picture of what the fuck I’m trying to say to him, make it as ridiculous as Leon would make it, over-exaggeration and over-explaining. Sometimes Larry will say, “I don’t get it! I don’t know what the fuck that is.” Then me re-explaining the over-explaining is even funny. I’ve got to give him a different angle. It’s kind of like a few seasons ago when Larry came to the bungalow that I was staying in and asked about constipation. The lady who works for him [called out of work due to] constipation and he asks, “Would you not come to work because you were constipated?” I said, “Fuck no. You know how many times I’ve been constipated? Shit, I was in hot dog-eating contest, constipated. I put in a 5K marathon, constipated.”
Besides Larry, who was your favorite person to do a scene with?
I didn’t get a lot of scenes with him. But man, Bob Einstein. Funkhouser? That motherfucker, man, holy shit. Legendary status in my eyes. Bob Einstein, Funkhouser, Super Dave could not do wrong. The scenes I did have with him? Fuck, man, we were freaking hollering. I can’t even explain to you how amazing that dude was. I remember the scene we did where he brought his nephew over, the little guy who was valedictorian and all that shit. He was telling us how amazing his nephew was, the things he’s done and all this shit. And then I said, “I don’t want to bring this young man down, but can’t nobody do all that shit. Who the fuck is he, Forrest Gump? That motherfucker did some shit.” Then I said, “That motherfucker lived a life.” That’s one of Larry’s favorite things to say, that and “Can a motherfucker live?” Larry said he says that at least twice a day — like, in his civilian life. He said, “I just can’t get that out of my head.”
So you’ve changed the real Larry, not just Larry on the show.
I’ve changed him in real life, too, man. That and the word “touché.” I used “touché” in a scene and Larry says, “I say ‘touché’ and I say ‘can a motherfucker live?’”
Was it hard to say goodbye to this character? Or will Leon live on somehow?
Yo, it’s hard to say goodbye to the character. I think every character actor dreams of a spin-off. Who wouldn’t want to dream of a spin-off? If anybody could spin it off, I think Leon could spin it off. Who knows, man. You’ve got to put things into the universe and hope one day they materialize. Maybe I’ll have my wife say I’m going to get a spin-off just to put it into the universe, like she did the first time and got me on the show.
She can manifest.
“You’ve got to manifest again! Hey baby, I need you to re-manifest!” We had a blast, and we’ll see what happens, man. Enjoy the season. It’s classic, classic, classic Curb.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
