Book Review - Comedy Samurai

In Comedy Samurai, Larry Charles pulls down the curtain on perhaps the most controversial national anthem rendition of all time. In Borat, which is almost twenty years old, Sacha Baron Cohen caused an uproar at a rodeo when he took the mic and sang, well, incendiary gibberish. It's just one of the many off-the-wall scenes that Charles provides insight on. 

Who's Larry Charles? 

Some of Charles’ resume highlights over the last four decades: he was one of the top writers on Seinfeld before becoming a showrunner for Mad About You, and he went on to direct episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sacha's trifecta: Borat, Bruno and The Dictator.

With Comedy Samurai, Charles delivers a ginormous window into the high stakes world of television and film. No, it’s not all sunshine and laughter. Charles doesn’t pull punches, particularly towards Larry David and Sacha. However, Charles saves many knives for himself. In general, I had a sense of foreboding, somewhat like Sunset Boulevard. Like Sunset’s protagonist screenwriter, Charles often seems lost. Over the course of the book, which is just under 400 pages, Charles reveals his myriad frailties. Comedy Samurai is a book about comedy, but it has a lot of serious.

Charles grew up in Brooklyn, Trump Village, to be exact, not far from Larry David’s beginnings. Charles, Larry (and Michael Richards) wound up working together on Fridays, the sketch show modeled after Saturday Night Live. After two seasons, Fridays was cancelled, and Charles got a job for Arsenio Hall’s late night talk show. However, Charles’ darkish comedic leanings (Nazis, rude disabled individuals) didn’t jibe with the show’s soft tenor. Not surprisingly, Charles was soon let go. Fortunately, Seinfeld was just getting its legs, and Larry brought Charles in. Larry’s motto for Seinfeld:  “No hugging, No learning.” Alas, Charles’ darkish tone had a home. In this portion of the book, Larry's quirky behavior stands out, specifically regarding writing credits. At one point, Charles mentions that Larry resented Jerry Seinfeld, however, he doesn’t elaborate. If you’re interested in going deep on Seinfeld, I also recommend Michael Richards’ memoir. Moving on. Props to Charles. He could’ve probably ridden the Seinfeld train into the sunset, but he spread his wings and became a showrunner (Mad About You).

The best portion of the book are the pages about working with Sacha. Charles took over Borat directing duties from Todd Phillips (The Joker), who was fired and supposedly made Sacha cry. How many people did Borat make cry? Anyway, Borat was the honeymoon period for Charles and Sacha. After that mega hit, everything went downhill. Charles provides ample insight on working with Sacha. However, as far as how much was staged and/or rehearsed, it’s confusing. I recently rewatched Borat and my favorite scenes were the Pentecostal meeting and the driving instruction ones. In both, for a quick moment, all appear to be in the joke. I was less enthralled with the naked fight scene. Bruno and The Dictator are less accessible, which is for the best.

Some of the book’s best episodes are about Charles’ lesser-known work. Masked and Anonymous, which he collaborated on with Bob Dylan, and Army of One, which starred Nicolas Cage, are fascinating read. Charles’ cut of Army of One is available on his YouTube channel.

Ultimately, everything comes full circle when Charles interviews his mentor, Larry David, for his YouTube channel. Ultimately, HBO winds up being interested in showing it to the world and what follows is fodder for a Curb episode. I won’t give too much away, but there’s no hugging.

Jon Hart is @manversusball