Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007-present)Leon
JBS: Man, Ima tell you how Leon started. Leon is a weird story, man, and this is all about a journey, and its all about [how] you really dont know how you prepare yourself. I would jump back a little bit. Because the first thing I ever did when I wanted to do stand-up was, I took an improv class at the Improv Comedy Club in New York, just before they closed down. That summer, I took an improv class. Because I wanted to find out who I wanted to be onstage, and my presence onstage. I remember Marty Freeman was the teacher. And I took that class not even thinking remotely connecting that one day I would be on one of the greatest improv shows ever. You know, I just took the improv class just for my stand-up.
What happened was, I was working at SNL in 04, 5, and 6. Season four of my contract, I didnt get renewed. So Im just sitting at home, watching Curb. I mean, we would always talk about Curb before we started writing on SNL, and I loved the show. And I was sitting on the couch one day, me and my fiancée at the time, shes my wife now, and we were just talking about the show. Im sitting there laughin my ass off at Larry David. I said, I love this damn show! I would love to be on this show one day. Then my wife said, You know what, you gonna be on that show one day. You would be so perfect on that show. Chris Williams played that character Krazee-Eyez Killa [in the episode], and were sitting there laughin our ass off, man. So Im lookin for a new agent, Im tryin to find a new agent, right? I met these guys from APA, and then they came to New York, and then I went on the road to do some stand-up. And Im in Atlanta, and I found out that a buddy of mine had passed away in L.A. He was a producer and he did the song, I know you know the song, This Is How We Do It. Its a party song. So I said, You know what, I gotta go to L.A. for at least a day or two, because they had a jam session here for him.
While I was in L.A., I said, You know what, Im gonna meet with my new agents. They want to meet me, and I can tell them what I want to do for the future, since Im a new client. So I came in town. That same night, they had the jam session for my buddy who passed away. So I go, the next morning, I go to APA. And they assembled a bunch of people, so Im in the office of the head guy, and were talking about what I want to do for the future. And I say Ive been on the computer for a while. I think Im gonna step out from behind the computer, right in to get back in front of the camera. So then while were talking, an agent comes in late, right? And he says Hey, Im sorry Im late. Good to meet you, JB. I have an audition, are you free? I said, Well, Im just in town because a buddy of mine passed away. I leave town in the morning. He said, Well, I have an audition
Do you think you could make it over there now? I said, Yeah, I can go right now. Whats it for? He said, Curb Your Enthusiasm. I said, What?! Fuckin man! Youre fuckin kidding me, right? I fuckin love that show! They said, Man, they got a character
a Katrina family moves in with Larry. I said Man, I can go. I can go right now. Im on a redeye tonight, but I can go right now and get in there.
So I head over there. Theres tons of other actors and stuff in there going in for the Vivica Fox role, going in for the Leon role. I saw two comics I knew, I said, Damn. You know Im thinking like, once I read the signs, I said, Man, I know exactly who this dude is. I know exactly who Leon is, because I know people like Leon. And Leon comes in all shapes and colors, man. You know, Leons a dude that lives day to day, whos looking for the come-up. You know, some people are in a certain place in their life where they need a little nudge to get going? So I said I know this dude. So I waited around, they called me in the room, and Im thinking Im gonna go on tape. You know, the producers put you on tape, and they review it later on, and they give your agent a call if they want you to come back for a callback. I had no idea what the situation was. So I get into the room, and Larry is standing in the middle of the room. And they say, All right, JB, now you gonna improv with Larry. I said, Oh shit! I have this thing I do where I always come into the room as the character I want to portray. So that way Im already turned on. I come into the room as the character all the time; they get an initial feel for who the character is before I even read the signs.
So I came in the room as Leon, basically. I came in there doing the Leon head-tilt, the little Leon hand-on-the-chest thing, you know, that little one-eye-halfway-closed, wrinkles-above-my-eye look. You know what I mean? That skeptical look and shit. So Larry immediately started to smirk, right? I said, Okay, I got him. I said I got his ass now. He already smirking, so I already know that what Im giving off before I even say anything is fuckin funny to him. So I said All right, Larry, you want improv, right? Lets do this shit, Larry. Thats exactly what I said. Lets do this shit, Larry. I said, I dont know what the fuck gonna happen, Larry. I may fuck around and slap you. I dont know, man. Its improv. Anything can fuckin happen. Larry just started busting up laughing, right? So I sat down in the chair and were gonna start the scene. And I just sat in the chair, and he just stared me for like, it mustve been two to three minutes, he just stared at me fuckin laughing. And he said, This guy is fuckin crazy, right? And from then on, we had the funniest fuckin audition Ive ever been in, man. We laughed. There was one point that was so fuckin funny, Larry had to turn around and walk into a corner and turn his back and say All right, gimme one minute, gimme one minute. Everybodys getting mad at Larry, Come on, Larry! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! This guys killin me! And from then on, it was like a match made in heaven, man. Leon and Larry hit it off, man.
AVC: The speech a lot of people point to with Leon is, You gotta get in that ass and spray-paint it.
JBS: [Laughing.] Get in that ass is words to live by!
AVC: Because of that audition, is that why he let you go off and be all the Leon you could be?
JBS: I think so, man. The first day of work, we had the funniest fuckin day. We did the cum-stained-blanket scene, where theres cum on the blanket and Im like, I gets mine, Larry. You know, the ejaculate scene. And that day, we had a break, and he told me, he said Man, it feels like weve been working together for years. He had no idea who Leon was. I heard from one of the writers that Larry had no idea who Leon was until walked into the room. Sometimes I guess when youre casting, you really dont know what youre gonna get until someone gives it to you. Sometimes you have an idea of a character, but you dont know the character behind the character. So theres a character behind the character. They had signs that, the description of what type of character they wanted. They wanted someone to play Lorettas brother who lived in L.A., who came over because he heard that this family from New Orleans were living in Larry Davids house. And from then on, I played it like I didnt know who the fuck Larry David was. I didnt know who the fuck Seinfeld was.
I played it like I didnt know shit about anything, but the come-up. You know, we call it the come-up. You know, I get a chance to live in a mansion, I get the chance to just walk into a white mans house and take over, and live there. So for me, it was okay, once we started working together, it became like Larry just allows Leon to be Leon. I think thats what was genuine about our scenes. It is an improv show, and because we do get an outline, I dont find out anything. I kinda prefer it that way. I prefer coming to work that day, I dont get sides sent to me early, I dont get outlines sent to me, I dont get shit. I like coming to the set, getting my Leon clothes, my Leon wardrobe, I like walking to the set, I like getting on the set, I like finding out what the fuck is going on, and action! You know what I mean? I dont want to overthink it. I go from, once Im Leon, I automatically start thinking like Leon. I dont think about anything else. I just come on set and I automatically, I am Leon once I put those dirty sneakers on, them jeans, and a tank top. You know what I mean? So for me, once Larry found out who Leon really was, he allowed Leon to be Leon. Which I think is a smart way to do it.
AVC: How much of what you say as Leon is Leon, and how much of it is JB? How much is your life philosophy in there?
JBS: Most of the time, its Leons philosophy. Once I get the character in my mind, I can only, while Im taping, I can only speak like Leon for some reason. I just automatically channel him, and I just automatically think how he would think, or I would say something, or I would act how he would act. I mean, once I start walking around that house in those slippers, and Im like taking over Larrys house, Im in take over Larrys house mode. My brain can only think about drinking out of a milk carton, and hanging out, and giving Larry fucked-up advice, or fucked-up takes on what he did today, or ask him why he did something when he shoulda done this. Or how Leon woulda done it. You know? Oh, I wouldnt done it like that. Heres what I woulda did. You know what I mean?
AVC: Is it a surreal feeling to be on this show that you enjoyed for the first half of its run, and now youre on the show and people have become fans of yours because of Leon?
JBS: Yeah! Yeah, its a great feeling that for some weird reason, this character connects with a lot of people. And a lot of different types of people. I mean, I get stopped by businessmen in first class who fucking live by Leon. They absolutely get it, and they say they apply what he says to their life, it feels like. One guy told me, he said before he goes into meetings, the first thing he thinks of is gettin in that ass. He said it just puts him in the right frame of mind, because he knows that at any point, all that shit could be over. So he just feels like, if he goes in there full-throttle all the time, he can take that philosophy of going in high and having someone pull you back a little bit rather than going low and try to turn it up. Its harder to turn it up than it is to turn it down, for some reason. If someone says Turn it up, you dont know how high. You cant gauge how high. Then you go so high that you irritate them. So if you already come in high and they say, Fall back a little bit, you can. Then they get you.
AVC: Where did that speech come from, the Get in that ass speech?
JBS: Get in that ass is just something that, you know what? Ive had like, I write down little things I think of during the day, right, and I put it in my Blackberry, or Ill put it in my little notebook. And Ill say, you know what, One day Ima be able to use this get in that ass. Im gonna use this one day. I think I did it onstage maybe once ever. Like somewhere way out in a comedy club somewhere real far, where I needed it. Because Im also a comic who flies on never going onstage with a plan. I like going onstage with bullets in my holster, but I also like to have my mind open. I always had it in my book. Then, you know, I was on set and we were about to do this scene, and I said Larry let this skinhead call him a Jew faggot. So immediately, Im thinking like, first of all, Youre a man. Right? Youre a man first. Then youre Jewish. And then you gotta defend who the fuck you are. First. First of all, youre a fuckin man. So first of all, you gotta get in his ass for disrespecting you as a man. Then you gotta get in his ass for calling you a faggot. Then you gotta get in his ass for calling you a Jew faggot. So all these different things Larry had to work with. So the first thing that came to my mind was, Larry gotta get in that ass.
Now Im gonna tell you, that scene is funny because Larry had no idea what get in that ass meant. A lot of times I surprise Larry with shit, and its a natural reaction on camera to what he thought about it. We dont go over this shit beforehand. We dont do any rehearsal. All we do is block the shot. And all we do is say blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We dont say anything. We just hold it, right? So when the scene started, the first take on that was, You gotta get in that ass, Larry. And Larry was like, What do you mean? You open his ass. But then he caught on. So the way I would explain it to him, he knew. He caught on that you gotta defend yourself as a man, you know. Although I said it in a metaphoric kind of fucking phrase, a Leonism way of seeing it, how I thought hed explain it to me, Im taking it how I woulda handled it and how I see it. And he, that first take was, his face looked like he didnt know what the fuck I was talkin about. [Laughing.] Which is fuckin hilarious to me. A lot of people didnt know what get in that ass meant until I started explaining it and breaking it down to them. But he caught onto it, and the second take, he knew what the hell I was talking about.
