Jewish Comedian Makes a Splash on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
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by Alan Zeitlin
Larry David is not just a pretty, pretty good guy, according to a Jewish comedian who was thrilled to make his first appearance on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on November 7th.
“He is a mensch,” Elon Gold said when speaking of the “Curb” creator.
Gold, whose special “Chosen & Taken” can be seen on Amazon Prime, said he was ready to come out swinging with jokes after a gut punch from last season, when he was selected as a guest star, filmed it, but it wound up on the cutting room floor.
“Larry was such a mensch that he personally called me to tell me I was cut,” Gold said. “He said, ‘I’m so sorry.’ Most people wouldn’t [care] about the feelings of a guest star. That’s just show business. It happens, and people don’t have time to reach out. [David] was the complete opposite of his character on the show, and the nicest guy.”
Gold, a Los Angeles resident who has loved the HBO show since its premiere, said David made him a promise: “He said he was gonna find something for me in the next season. But you know, you never know if there is a next season.”
Gold said he relished the show’s format, which is improvisation. He was told to do as much Jewish stuff as possible. In the episode, Jeff Garlin asks Gold’s character to explain the word tachlis, for example.
Gold was a natural fit for the show.
“This was really in my wheelhouse,” Gold said. “Memorizing lines is tedious and sometimes difficult. It’s much more fun to improvise. How do you explain improvising with Larry David? It’s like you’ve been accepted to the Harvard of half-hour comedies, and the pressure is on. It’s like tennis with [John] McEnroe. You hit the ball hard, but then he smashes it. You’re sparring with the best.”
Gold’s character — a TV executive — is involved in a surprising twist toward the end of the episode, and Gold said he had one way to know if he’d done a good job.
“It was all about making Larry and Jeff laugh, and making Larry break the scene,” he said.
Gold said he felt like he belonged on set, though at the same time, it was unbelievable.
“It was like being in Disneyland and getting to hang out with Walt,” he said. “They were a pleasure to work with, and it was really a huge compliment to be asked.”
Gold is a master impressionist who can do the voices of Howard Stern and Jackie Mason like nobody else. He has appeared on HBO’s “Crashing,” and America can look forward to seeing him on the show later in the season.
The author is a writer based in New York.
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