Life, Larry, And The Pursuit Of Unhappiness “Farewell”

Well, this episode sure did hit the news, probably not in any way that anyone would have wanted it to…

Yes, this episode got what was probably Rob Reiner’s final acting performance after he and his wife were tragically murdered by his mentally disturbed son.  Now, Reiner wasn’t exactly shy about his politics, and neither is Larry David.  So, having Reiner play George Washington giving his farewell address–which I believe was, in reality, a letter and not a speech–only to be constantly questioned about what would happen if some hypothetical future president came along and was everything Washington said was awful and would never happen, complete with Jimmy Kimmel as a doubter who thinks no president would be such a big baby to complain about a comedian making jokes is too unlikely, and yes, it is very obvious who the target of the sketch is.  Reiner’s final line, spoken to the camera, really works.

It may or may not help, depending on your perspective, that the target of that sketch attacked Reiner after his murder.  Arguably, it does make it look like Rob Reiner might have gotten the last word in without trying very hard.

However, there were other sketches.  There’s Larry as Samuel Tilden, who won the popular vote but lost in the electoral college.  He did not take it well.

There’s Larry in the Great Depression, trying to get some soup, dealing with line cutters, accusations of being a line-cutter, a lack of salt because he is a choosy beggar, a lack of bread for some other reason, a buddy (Larry Wilmore) who shares how he got out of the Great War, and a window (Kaley Cuoco) that doesn’t appreciate Larry’s asking her out while in a soup line.  Or anywhere.  She is clearly out of his league.

But I had a fondness for the first sketch where Merriweather Lewis (Larry) had to explain to his wife (Rita Wilson) how he has to go explore the Louisiana Purchase with his best friend and fishing buddy William Clark, mostly because Clark was played by Jerry Seinfeld, and those two guys do bounce off each other very well.  The sketch itself also works for a wide variety of reasons, like discussions of what words they can call the Indians, how much fishing they’re going to do when Mrs. Lewis is out of earshot, and the fact that neither of them know how to explore and aren’t even sure how to get back to Clark’s house after convincing Lewis’s wife to let them go just tickled me the right way.

Fun times for me there.