J.B. Smoove on beingCurbs biggest fan turned star.
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J.B. Smoove is the breakout star ofCurb Your Enthusiasm.
And hes done a lot of that over his career.
The comedian has been as good for the show as being part of Davids world has been for him.
I think you might be the best hat guy in the game right now.Hat means business right here.
[Tilts his hat to the side.]
Sometimes I throw a little tilt on like that.
Its weird when you walk in a room like this, but people get it.
Do you do the tilt a lot?Depends on how extremely tilted I feel.
This is a little straight hat.
Sometimes I just do throw a little something like that on him.
I respect that kind of tilt right there.
I walk in a room, everybody spills their drink.
You know what I mean?
Thats how tilted I am.
Not to change the subject so drastically, but I wanted to offer my condolences.
Im surelosing Richard Lewiswas hard for you like everybody involved inCurb.What a great guy, man.
I used to listen to him onHoward Sternwhen I was in New York.
I used to work in this perfume company small little company, so I had to multitask.
Sometimes Id fill bottles, sometimes I would box em, put the caps on em.
Very few people get a chance to have an after-school job where theyre a perfumer.
What a legend, man.
After season six was over, he called me hecalledme and we talked.
He said, You are a fucking rock star.
Youre like Jimi Hendrix; no one can touch you.
Youre playing this shit like a fucking guitar, man.
I fucking love watching you.
Andthisis a legend saying thisto me.
Because I came in season six.
But my wife always told me, Youre going to be on that show one day.
A lot of these guys go way back.
[Smoove shakes his head in disbelief for a solid 15 seconds.]
Richard Lewis could call you andtalk.He could talk his ass off.
You needed an intermission talking to his ass, man.
Amazing man, but damn, got me a fucking hostage and shit.
But the shit he was saying was fucking brilliant.
The jokes and him being honest about how he felt about you its mixed in there.
So good that you were fucking captivated by his delivery and how he writes.
Hes sitting in the corner by himself with his little book out.
I just start staring at him, and he looks up and starts staring at me.
Were staring at each other for ten minutes.
And people are loving it, man.
Theyre at a live version ofCurbright there.
He was like fucking Dracula, man a nice Dracula.
Im really sorry about this.
I can get blood out of places.
I dont need your blood.
You know what I mean?
A prince of darkness, that motherfucker, man.
Just an amazing man.
He added a lot to the show just likeBob Einsteinadded a lot, both from the early days.
I dont talk like Leon does or do what Leon does.
Im improvising within a character as opposed to improvising myself.
But I almost got to not think about what Im saying.
Its a Zen thing.Yeah.
If I think about it, then I think I overthink it.
Wow.I felt like I wouldnt be in the moment.
I want it to feel natural as opposed to me thinking about it days before.
But thats my dude right there.
We didHistory of the World, Part IItogether.
Let me tell you: Ike is so goddamn funny.
There is much shit from that buffet scene that didnt even make the cut.
The Leon bits this year have been pretty spectacular.The piss car?
Only Leon would think of a car that runs on piss.
It just goes down the drain to the ocean.
Got to be someone that thinks of a car that runs on piss, man.
Get your dick in the damn gas nozzle, and refill your car and drive.
Its a game-changer.Its a great idea, but they wont do it.
Itll fuck the economy up.
You cant just fucking make a piss car.
You cant do it.
They can barely make the electric car happen.If you build a piss car, theyll take your ass out.
You and your piss.
You pissed away the economy.You did that.
You told everybody a car can run on piss.
What have we found out today?
A car could run on piss, and nobody told us.
The whole world changes, man.
Somehow it leaked that piss can run a car.
You imagine that shit?
Do you think hes a philosophical guy?He might be the most philosophical character on Earth.
The things he thinks of really dont make no goddamn sense, but itmakes sense.
Its galaxy brain.No, I call it stupid sense.
You know how many times I pissed on a Gatorade bottle?
You know how many times I pissed on a Gatorade bottle and I drunk that shit?
You cant do that shit twice.
You cant have that same mistake happen again.
Thats the philosophy of a fool.
Thats what I feel like.
I think Im the sum of its parts.
First thing I ever did before I started doing stand-up was I took an improv class.
I said,Im going to see who the fuck Im going to be onstage.
And who am I?
Ive always been the life of the party.
Im the dude that makes people happy in high school.
Im the dude that makes you fucking laugh.
But Im also daring and fearless.
So how do I take that and make that real?
How do I take this shit and make it fit what I need to do?
So I started doing everything commercials, voiceovers, anything.
I really became well-versed in a lot of different things.
Im a fucking salesman.
I can sell any fucking thing, and I take a stab at put energy behind everything.
Is that the approach you take with Leon?
He does a good job selling Larry on some crazy ideas.Think about every Leon scene.
Have you ever seen that motherfucker laugh?
I can count on maybe one hand.
If you take out the silliness of what hes saying, hes giving Larry real shit.
Take the silly part out, and thats a drama scene.
Has the improvisational nature ofCurbhelped you with interviewing people?
I love the way you converse with guests on your MSG online grid showFour Courses With J.B. Smoove.
I might petition for you to become a late-night host.Man, I would shake up late night.
I love interviewing people.
What happens when Im doing that is things that I forgot come back to me.
It makes me think of something that is relatable to what their story is.
He has a very civil-rights movement look.
And I said, Damn, think about that.
There are 12 seasons ofCurb, but its been on nearly 25 years.
These people are real friends, and they have locked themselves into a culture that keeps moving.
You know how hard it is to remain relevant with characters who are also aging?
Its some real shit to think about.
I go back to watching the show, sitting there in awe and laughing my ass off.
And I go from that to being on it, and I go from that to leaving it soon.
I didnt know what my characters purpose was.
No way in hell would I have thought that I was going to be there in season seven.
ButCurbends like that sometimes.
Larry died one season!
A lot of people are going to miss it, because its honesty through humor.
I just tap their shoulder, and I say That motherfucker is funny.
They do a double take: Oh shit!
Im not totally sold its over.
I fucking get it.
But God, you cant say you aint been even having fun.
