'Curb Your Enthusiasm' finale director explains 'Seinfeld' echoes: A 'big middle finger'

It seems you can’t teach an older David new tricks.

Larry David, co-creator of the hit NBC sitcom “Seinfeld,” reached for a pretty, pretty well-known playbook when it came to ending his 12-season HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Sunday.

The heightened and more onerous TV version of David declared in the finale: “I’m 76 years old, and I have never learned a lesson in my entire life!” This is a fact that would seem very obvious to any viewer who watched the 1998 “Seinfeld” finale, too, as it was part of that series' "no hugging, no learning" mantra.

In the widely criticized finale, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander) and Kramer (Michael Richards) are sentenced to one year in jail for failing to intervene as they watched a man get car-jacked. Before a jury delivered their verdict, they heard the testimonies of those the four had wronged over the series nine seasons.

On "Curb," Larry stood trial for violating Georgia’s “Election Integrity Act,” by giving Leon’s aunt a bottle of water while she stood in line to vote. Jeff Schaffer, a director/writer/executive producer for “Curb,” and Susie Essman, who played caftan queen Susie Greene, talk about that surprising Lori Loughlin episode, their late friend Richard Lewis, and how the finale served as “a big middle finger.” (Interview edited for length and clarity.)

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Question: What was it like on set when you stopped filming the finale, and it was all over?

Susie Essman: It was surreal, really. We all knew that it was done. We've been doing this for so many years. We're all so close. I knew Larry wasn't going to say anything; it's just not in character for him. In typical Larry fashion, I spoke to him the next morning and then we talked about it, but he's not one to do it in front of everybody. I'm the same way. We just talked about our love for the process and just how much we loved it and how great it was.

Jeff Schaffer: Did I shoot extra takes? Yes. Because you knew that once we said “cut,” it was done. And there was definitely part of me that didn't want it to end, either.

As a fan, there's a sense of relief in the show wrapping before we lost Richard Lewis in February. What was it like working with him?

Essman: It was difficult for all of us the past two seasons seeing Richard being unwell. We were all tremendously concerned for him, and we were all so happy when he was able to come back this season. (Last season) he had been written into a whole lot, and then he wasn't able to do it. So we were all so happy that this season he was well enough to come and be back. And everybody was thrilled that he was able to be there through the very end.

It was three weeks before he died that we did the reshoots, and none of us knew — he was not that kind of sick, you know. He had Parkinson's, which is degenerative, of course, but none of us were expecting him to die. That was a shock to all of us.

Schaffer: And in fact, those reshoots that were three weeks before he passed, he looked great. He was vibrant, and he was in great spirits.

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The “Curb” finale mirrors the end of “Seinfeld” so closely. What was the motivation behind that?

Schaffer: We knew we were starting with the water and “the crime” in Georgia. So when you have that, one of the potential outcomes is there's going to be a trial. But we hadn't really figured out what we wanted to do.

This whole thing came from (us) talking about a little story where Larry doesn't want to get caught up in a kid’s lesson. And as we were talking about that, we realized hey, Larry doesn't ever learn anything. He keeps making the same (expletive) mistakes. What if we just owned that? What if we just told the world that Larry's never learned a lesson? Beat that into everyone's head, and then just redo the “Seinfeld” finale?

We're commenting not just on “Seinfeld” or “Curb,” but on Larry. On Larry sticking a big middle finger at everyone who didn't like the “Seinfeld” finale going, “Hey, you know what? I've never learned a lesson in my life. I don't care what you thought. I’m doing it again.”

But “Curb” had a different ending, with Larry being freed from prison. So did anybody have any regrets about the “Seinfeld” finale?

Schaffer: I never had a problem with the “Seinfeld” finale. I thought it was funny. So to me — and for Larry, too — it wasn't about us trying to right some wrong, because we didn't think it was wrong. This is more about owning the fact that Larry's never learned a lesson and we're going to go right back in it. We're going to steer the Titanic right back at the iceberg and (f-bomb) everyone!

And how does everyone feel about the “Curb” finale?

Essman: I loved it. I was thrilled by it. I thought it was absolutely the perfect ending to 12 seasons of this crazy show.

Schaffer: Endings are super hard. You're breaking up with your audience and for what's been 12 seasons, 24 years. For a lot of your audience, (it's) maybe the longest relationship they've ever had in their life. And all of a sudden you're leaving them. So there's always going to be this weird feeling. It's like, how do we tie a bow on the series but also make sure it's a funny episode of “Curb”? And that's what I'm proudest of, that we made a funny episode of “Curb,” and were able to wrap up “Curb,” and maybe wrap up “Seinfeld” in a way, too.

I have to ask about this season’s episode in which Lori Loughlin made fun of her involvement in the college admissions cheating scandal. Was that an easy sell for her to play that role?

Schaffer: She said yes immediately, and she was awesome! She was so game. She did everything we wanted her to. She really went for it, and she was great. It was great for people to see one, she's really funny, and two, hey, she's willing to make fun of herself. The story wouldn't have worked if we had an actor playing (her). It only worked with her.

Essman: The power of making fun of yourself is such a great thing. People should be able to do that more.