Larry David is ready to say goodbye to his hit show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
After 12 amazing seasons on air, David is taking his final bow on Sunday night to the sitcom that he created back in 2000. Now 76 years old, David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the series, tells Willie Geist on the April 7 episode of "Sunday Sitdown" the real reason behind his decision to end his beloved series.
"You know, I’m kinda old. Let’s not beat around the bush,” David said to Geist for the 8th anniversary episode of “Sunday TODAY.”
“You’re not old,” Willie interjected.
“I’m too old to really be on camera every single week now, to act the way I do on this show. How can I continue to act like that? It’s insane,” he laughed. “I’m not going into the 80s acting like that.”
When Geist asked the comedian-actor if he was at all sentimental about the end of "Curb," David quipped, "Maybe a shred, the slightest shred."
"Well, nothing’s really hit me yet, so I can’t say that I’m sentimental about it," he added.
For "Curb Your Enthusiasm," David says he used material from his real life to develop his character on the show.
"I’m doing this character, Larry, who is really me, but a me who can’t really be in society ‘cause I’d be arrested or beaten up every day," he said, laughing. "But here, I have the license to really be who I am, which is that guy."
"So what you’re saying is, in real life, you are the 'Curb' Larry David, but you’ve got to pull back the reins a little bit," Willie said, and David agreed.
"Yeah, because everything the character Larry David is saying, I’m thinking," he noted. "Although, the more years I’ve been on the show, the more I’m pushing it."
However, David explained that the real beauty of the show is the fact that it's not scripted at all.
"That’s what makes it so much fun," he said. "The actors and the cast, they kill me. I couldn’t imagine ever having more fun in my life than I did doing that show."
While reflecting on early career, David said he never thought he would be so successful as a comedian. Growing up in Brooklyn, he said his mom wanted him to become a mailman, sharing that he never really set big goals for himself.
"I loved comedians, I loved watching them, but, I mean Willie, I didn’t think I was capable of doing anything," he said. "The fact that this has happened to me is miraculous. I can’t even believe it."