Jimmy Kimmel mocks Larry David for having relatives who own slaves
On Thursday night, Larry David, perhaps the funniest person alive, visited “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Ostensibly to promote “Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” his sketch comedy series celebrating America’s 250e anniversary by merging events from history and premiering on HBO on June 26, the legendary comedian also happened to make an appearance on the same day that approximately two million New York Knicks fans celebrated the team winning its first NBA title in 53 years during a euphoric ticker-tape parade in Manhattan. David, for his part, was courtside during the team’s miraculous Game 4 win against the Spurs, where the Knicks battled from 29 points down to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on an OG Anunoby tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, capping the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. (Thankfully, David failed to trip any Knicks players that night like he did Shaq.)
When Kimmel asked David if he was that excited about that fateful Knicks game, he launched into a long-winded explanation as only he can.
“It’s funny, in a game like that, that’s the only time I can really feel like a human being, because I’m doing what other people are doing. And most of the time I’m outside of what other people are doing, because I can’t stand doing what people are doing,” he explained, adding, “But I have to tell you something… so stressful. So stressful. That game took years off my life. The whole Playoffs took years off my life.”
“Do you talk to the players on the other team?” Kimmel asked.
Cue David talking about how he tried to psych Spurs star Victor Wembanyama: “What I do is, I try to make eye contact. I was sitting right on the bench – I was standing right by the Spurs bench – so I’m looking at the players and I’m trying to make eye contact, hoping that maybe they recognize me from the TV, and I say, ‘Hey, Wemby’s looking at me,’ and Wemby says, ‘Hey, Larry David! I really like it.’ your show!’ That’s it: I support Spurs. That’s it. That’s all it takes! One Spur recognizes me and I switch immediately.”
Luckily, no Spurs recognized him.
Later in the program, Kimmel welcomed Henry Louis Gates Jr. on the show. As you recall, David was one of the most memorable guests on Gates’ show “Finding Your Roots.” When he found out that his great-great-grandfather owned slaves, David exclaimed, “Oh, you did it! You did it! I knew it! I knew it! Unbelievable! Boy. Boy, boy.”
When Kimmel asked Gates (with David next to him) if anyone had “ever been so excited and eager to find out that their great-great-grandfather was a slave owner,” Gates replied, “He thought he was safe, you see, because he was descended from a Jewish immigrant… There was a movement of Jews from Bavaria moving south in the 1850s, and his great-great-grandfather, whose name was Henry Bernstein, migrated from Bavaria to Mobile, Alabama.” joined the Confederacy and owned two slaves.
Gates added that Kimmel also had relatives from Germany, to which Kimmel offered, “But for the record, my family never owned slaves, while Larry’s family were slave owners.”
At that, a smiling David shot back, “Oh, I guess that makes you better than me, right?”
