10 Best Times Actors Played Themselves

Larry David’s second great sitcom has become a case of life imitating art imitating life. The Seinfeld creator initially used his Curb Your Enthusiasm character to say some of the things he wished he could really express, but admits that, over time, he has become increasingly like his curmudgeonly TV persona.

TV Larry David is a walking id, a ticking social timebomb who is incapable of having a thought he doesn’t immediately express. He is, more often than not, in the right, railing against petty unjustness or hypocrisy, but he goes about things the worst way possible, making no end of enemies on the way.

David’s performance is a masterpiece. He can say and do the most dreadful things - screaming at a teenage girl to stop singing while he tries to sleep, penning an obscene obituary for his wife’s aunt - but he remains endlessly likeable.

In fact, he’s downright aspirational. It’s easy to see some of ourselves in Curb’s David, but at times he’s the person we wish we were, saying what we’re thinking with the full courage of his convictions. Larry David has turned himself into a superhero.