That’s when we started to tell people that this was going to be the final season, because redoing the “Seinfeld” finale only works if it’s the “Curb” finale. So the comedy of the story forced the ending.
ESSMAN So when you started working on Season 12, you weren’t aware that it was going to be the final season?
SCHAFFER He was talking about that it was going to be, but I wasn’t sure I believed that. I mean, every season, we’re writing together, he’s looked at me: “Maybe we’ll only do eight [episodes] this year!” That was the normal cosmic wave background of Larry realizing that writing is hard. None of that really registered. But when we did this, this is planting the flag for the right reason, a comedy reason.
Then we went back — just to answer your question, which I rarely do; I’m sorry — we went back and started seeding things about the finale, about “Seinfeld,” I think not realizing that once we said the word “trial,” everyone was going there anyway. And that was OK. It was OK for people to go, like, “They’re really doing this!” It was like watching any scene of the show: Oh my God, I can’t believe he’s doing this. He’s going to talk to the gay guys about whose semen it is. Oh my God, he’s going to talk about the suicide. Oh my God, oh my God. Same thing, just writ large for the season. I like that we got people all the way to the edge.
One thing Larry has talked about, as his comedy philosophy, is taking something big, like death, and treating it like a minor thing, and blowing something small way out of proportion. Is that a philosophy that you can see others getting attached to?
ESSMAN I would not recommend that people use Larry as a role model.
SCHAFFER Larry always says that it’s more fun to play Larry David than it is to be Larry David. Because if the real Larry David did what the TV Larry David does, the real Larry David would be in jail and have a broken jaw from getting punched repeatedly in the face. That’s why he does the show.