Steve Bannon is a 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Fan
by EG
When your TV series' main character's trademark is being rude and treating people with very little respect, it turns out that you run the risk of attracting questionable fans. Former Donald Trump chief advisor Steve Bannon revealed over the weekend that he thinks Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm is a "genius." That didn't sit well with the show's producers, who'd like to think that they're ideologically polar opposites of Bannon. But maybe they should use the revelation as motivation to carefully examine the tone and impact of their work.
Larry David has found himself a surprising fan in Steve Bannon.
The former White House chief strategist to President Donald Trump has returned to running Breitbart News, and though he was too busy to catch last week's episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bannon has since said he's flattered about being mentioned on the HBO comedy. Even if the name-drop came amid a raunchy sex scene.
During the episode, titled "The Pickle Gambit," TV Larry reconnected with an old Muslim friend in hopes that she could help him out with his current fatwa situation. After an insulting impression of Iran's Ayatollah, the comedian was issued his own death threat and the storyline is still playing out. Shara (played by Anne Bedian) — who is best known for wanting to "fuck the Jew" out of Larry in the memorable season eight episode "Palestinian Chicken" — returned last week to Larry's bedroom. During their sex scene, Shara encourages him to blaspheme to her like he "blasphemed to the Nation of Islam!" and Larry's response is to rattle off Republican names until he climaxes, screaming: "Donald Trump, Steven Bannon, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence, Kellyanne Conway, Mitch McConnell — and Rudy Giuliani!"
In an exchange with The Daily Beast over the weekend, Bannon said via text message that he heard about the episode and that David is a "genius."
When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last week, Curb executive producer Jeff Schaffer explained that they had to re-edit the scene every time there was Trump turnover. Though they ended up cutting Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus' names from the final edit, the ousted Bannon stayed in because he was "still a dark force that needed to be mentioned."
But Schaffer, who was surprised to hear Bannon is a fan, says the response makes him feel "a little dirty." He told THR, "That is one fan I’d be very happy to lose. You want to be funny and you want to make sure everyone enjoys the show, but no one wants to be the guy that made Hitler laugh."
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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