Marty Short Tells the True Larry David Story That Turned Into a Seinfeld “George” Storyline
Everyone remembers the episode of Seinfeld when George Costanza quit his job, regretted it immediately afterward, and then just showed up on Monday like nothing ever happened. Well according to Martin Short, that storyline came from a real life Larry David story, when Larry was a writer on Saturday Night Live
Short was a cast member on Saturday Night Live for one season in 1984-5 along with other cast members, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Some people have an easier time than others on Saturday Night Live. Martin Short was not one of those people. Because he only had a one year contract, there was constant pressure and after three episodes, he said, he wanted to quit the show.
Larry David was a writer on the show that year, and he also had a difficult year. Short said that Larry David would write about three sketches every week, and none of them would make the live show, and it would make Larry furious. After 15 weeks, Larry was ready to lose his mind, and at a party one night, just blew up and told Dick Ebersole that he quit. But immediately after quitting, Short said Larry realized that he wouldn’t get paid for the rest of the year, and times were tight back then. So he decided on Monday morning to just show up for work like nothing happened.
He pulled it off. George did not.
