As anybody who's watched Curb Your Enthusiasm lately would know, JB Smoove likes to talk. We asked the veteran writer and performer — best known as Leon Black, Curb's breakout character — how he got the gig and we got out of his way.
“It was an amazing process, man. I used to work on Saturday Night Live, and while I was working there, I would watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. I was sittin' on a couch one day watching Curb, and I was tellin' my wife, who was my fiancé at the time, how much I loved the show. I said, 'baby, I would love to be on this show one day, I think this show is so funny!' And she said, 'you're gonna be on that show one day'.
“I didn't get renewed for my fourth season of SNL, so I got rid of my old agent, got a new agent, and I went on the road and did stand up. I was in Atlanta when I got a phone call that a buddy of mine had passed away in LA… he produced that song, 'This Is How We Do It'. You know that song? It goes like this: 'This is how we do it…'
“So I told my wife, 'I gotta go to LA, baby, because my friend Oji [Pierce] has passed away'. I was only going to be in LA for two days, because I didn't have much time. So when I got to LA, I decided to see my new agent while I was in town. My agent came in late and he said, 'hey, man, sorry I'm late, but I'm working on this TV show, trying to get you this audition'. He said it was for Curb Your Enthusiasm. I said, 'what? Man, I love that show! I was just talkin' about that show last month!'
“He said, 'man, you should go over there right now, because they're doin' auditions right now'. I wasn't even supposed to be in town! So I get over there, and all kinds of actors and comedians are in the lobby, because they're all gonna read for the same part I'm reading for. But I knew who that guy was. I knew who that character was.
“When I go to auditions, I always go in the door as my character. I always feel like I need to immediately let them know who the character is, as opposed to just turning it on when they ask for it. So I came in the door as Leon. I had my hand on my chest, I did the Leon head tilt, I did all the Leon-isms, and I just started mouthin' off at Larry David… I'm nose-to-nose with Larry, and I say, 'I might slap you in the face, Larry'. He just laughed his ass off.
“I left LA the next day and I went to do a show in Pittsburgh. I got to the show and me and the club owner got into an argument about the material. He wanted me to do a clean show, and I said, you know, 'you booked me, I don't work clean'. I look at the bar and people are smokin', people are drinkin'. I said, 'wait a minute, this is a smokey bar! Why would you tell these people, smokin' and drinkin' beers, that you only do clean shows here? You're in the wrong business, man!'
"So we got into an argument but I decided to do my show as best I could. Afterwards, he was like, 'look, man, you're a little too dirty for my crowd'. I said, 'I'm too dirty? Your crowd is filthy!' So I leave the club, man, and then it starts snowing.
"I start drivin', and the snow is everywhere. It's pouring down. So I'm goin' 15 miles an hour on the highway, right, when my agent calls me. And I'm thinkin' he's callin' me about the show, right? I said, 'oh man, I'm sorry, man, but that guy was a piece of work'. And he says, 'oh, don't worry about him, because you got Curb Your Enthusiasm'.
“So I drove 15 miles an hour on the highway all the way back to Pittsburgh in a blizzard, man, thinkin' to myself, 'all I've gotta do now is get my ass back to the airport safely without skiddin' off the road, and I got Curb Your Enthusiasm!''
“I flew back to LA and started workin' the next week. My first day on the set, after we finished shootin', Larry turned to me and told me it felt like we'd been working together for years. That was a great compliment, and we just hit it off immediately.
"Now, this is where it gets weird. We did that whole season of Curb, and then we had our wrap party, where they played a gag reel with all the funny moments from the season that we didn't use. Guess what the theme song was on the gag reel? 'This Is How We Do It'.
“I got a chill up my spine, man, like you would not believe. I thought about it. If my buddy didn't pass away, I wouldn't have even been in LA. And then his song is playing on the gag reel, man… that was the craziest thing in the world, man. The craziest story in the world. But that's what really happened!”
JB Smoove will call The Gift at Meredith Music Festival this weekend, before playing the following venues:
JB Smoove Tour Dates
Fri Dec 14 — Factory Theatre (Sydney)Sat Dec 15 — The Thornbury Theatre (Melbourne)
Sun Dec 16 — Sit-Down Comedy Club (Brisbane)*
*This is JB's birthday; he assures us he'll be "bringin' the ruckus".
