Larry Charles (born )
is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He was a staff writer for the sitcom ''
Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...
'' for its first five seasons. He has also directed the documentary film ''
Religulous'' and the mockumentary comedy films ''
Borat
''Borat'' (also known as ''Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'') is a 2006 mockumentary directed by Larry Charles, which stars Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev, a fictional Kazakhs, Kazakh jou ...
'', ''
Brüno'', and ''
The Dictator''. His
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
documentary series ''
Larry Charles' Dangerous World of Comedy'' premiered in 2019.
Early life
Charles was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York City, and raised in a Jewish family in
Coney Island
Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...
.
He attended
Rutgers University
Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
, but dropped out to pursue writing and comedy.
Career
Early career
Charles performed stand-up comedy during the 1970s until he was hired to write for the short-lived sketch comedy show ''
Fridays'', where he worked with
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...
. This began Charles's career in television writing that included ''
The Arsenio Hall Show
''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall.
There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989 ...
'' and eventually ''Seinfeld''. David gave him the job as a writer on ''
Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...
'' and his directorial debut on ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...
''.
''Seinfeld''
Although series co-creators
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...
and
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a semi-fictionalized version ...
wrote the bulk of the show's episodes during the early seasons, Charles was their second in command during this period. Charles had met ''Seinfeld'' co-creator David when he was part of the writing staff of the
ABC sketch show
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...
''Fridays'', on which David and
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor and former stand-up comedian. He achieved global recognition for starring as Cosmo Kramer on the NBC television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' from 1989 to 1998. He began his career as a ...
were also part of the show's ensemble cast.
Charles had been unable to write for
the show's first season, as he had been writing for ''
The Arsenio Hall Show
''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall.
There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989 ...
''.
Charles is noted for contributing some of the show's darker storylines and scenes. In the season two episode "
The Baby Shower" Charles wrote a dream sequence in which the title character, Jerry Seinfeld, was killed. Charles's episodes also covered such controversial topics as
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
(in "
The Limo"), a psychotic stalker (in "
The Opera") and a hospital patient committing suicide (in "
The Bris"). A season two episode he wrote, "
The Bet", concerning Elaine buying a
handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...
to protect herself, was never filmed because
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
, some of the cast, and the show's director felt the gun content was too provocative.
Charles claimed that his writing on ''Seinfeld'' was heavily influenced by ''
Dragnet'', ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'' and
Abbott and Costello.
Charles said he was instrumental in the development of
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to simply by his surname, is a fictional character in the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998) played by Michael Richards.
The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David' ...
; he felt that "Jerry and George were so well-defined through Larry David 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
"The Heart Attack" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American sitcom ''Seinfeld'', and the show's 13th episode overall. It aired on NBC on April 25, 1991.
Plot
While Jerry dozes on his couch, his television shows a science fi ...
"), and who created the character of Kramer's notorious
unseen friend
Bob Sacamano, after his real-life friend of the same name.
Film
Charles's feature debut was ''
Masked and Anonymous'' (2003) which he directed, and co-wrote with
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
(under the pseudonyms Rene Fontaine and Sergei Petrov, respectively). The film received a mixed reaction from audiences and critics alike; it did poorly at the box office.
Charles maintains 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
oback and see it again and get a lot more things, or totally different things."
His second feature film as director, the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
''
Borat
''Borat'' (also known as ''Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'') is a 2006 mockumentary directed by Larry Charles, which stars Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Sagdiyev, a fictional Kazakhs, Kazakh jou ...
'', was much more successful; it "set new records in terms of profitability; on a budget of 18 million dollars, it grossed in excess of 261 million dollars."
In an interview, 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 properly...The 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
William MaherStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', January 12, 2016, PBS; on a series that lists "Jr." and "Sr." distinctions, Bill Maher's birth name was listed simply as William Maher, while his father was William Aloysius Maher Jr., and his pa ...
's take on the state of contemporary religion—which was released in October 2008.
Charles directed an unreleased biography of
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...
, set to be released on March 1, 2022, titled ''The Larry David Story.'' The film was postpostponed a few hours prior to its scheduled release; according to HBO, this was at David's request. In a podcast appearance with
Marc Maron
Marc David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' and appeared more than forty times ...
on October 5, 2023, Charles described the documentary as the result of a four-hour conversation, adding that he had not spoken to David since the release was canceled.
Live performances
Charles rarely performs live, but has appeared at
Un-Cabaret and can be heard on several of its podcasts.
Filmography
Film
Television
''Seinfeld''
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
Paul Reiser (; born March 30, 1956) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He played the roles of Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom ''My Two Dads'', Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom ''Mad About You'', Modell in the 1982 film ''Diner (1982 f ...
's ''
Mad About You''.
''The Tick'', ''Dilbert''
Charles served as
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
on two short-lived programs, ''
The Tick'' (for which he wrote two episodes), and the ''
Dilbert
''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satire, satirical office humor about a White-collar worker, white-collar, micromanagement, micromanaged offic ...
'' animated series, which he co-developed with
Scott Adams and co-wrote the following episodes:
''Curb Your Enthusiasm''
In 2000, Charles began his first directorial job on the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
series ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', Larry David's follow-up to ''Seinfeld'' (which David co-created). Charles directed 18 episodes of the hit show.
''Entourage''
Charles served as an
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
and writer on the HBO show ''
Entourage'' for the first two seasons. The episodes that he wrote were:
Personal life
Charles has been married at least twice, to Barbara DeSantis and Sheryl Charles.
Charles has a daughter,
Pearl Charles, who is a singer-songwriter.
References
External links
*
* in 2008
Larry Charles judged The Film of the Month competition in July 2009 on the independent filmmakers networking site Shooting People.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Larry
Place of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth uncertain
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
American comedy writers
American male comedians
American male screenwriters
American male television writers
American stand-up comedians
American television directors
American television writers
Comedians from Brooklyn
American comedy film directors
Film directors from New York City
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish American comedians
Jewish male comedians
Jewish American screenwriters
John Dewey High School alumni
Living people
Mass media people from Brooklyn
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Screenwriters from New York (state)
American television show creators