The first authorized biography of legendary comedian Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld and star and creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm, featuring exclusive interviews with Larry himself as well as his family, friends, and colleagues.
A lively, intimate, sometimes surprising look at the creation and development of Mr. David’s two iconic television comedies ... Harris...doesn’t entirely avoid hagiography. He portrays Mr. David, for all the comedian’s considerable idiosyncrasies, as an indisputable comic genius, a doting father and a loyal friend ... Focused on Mr. David’s career, Emperor of Nothing gives short shrift to Mr. David’s romantic history.
It ain't bad ... To call this hagiography would be a stretch because David is so constitutionally profane and self-derisive. But a hatchet job it’s not. More like a relay race of sources passing the baton of Larry-love to one another and occasionally flinging it joyously in the air ... Over-thorough in parts, the book has some weird gaps ... The lackadaisical footnotes make it hard to pinpoint how much of Harris’s material is fresh.
The hefty book is concerned with the divide between Real Larry and Screen Larry, if there is one, with a seemingly endless well of sources ... Full of tiny gems...but the book would have greatly benefited from a stern edit ... A delight.
