Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness may be over for the season, but the laughs aren’t over for star Larry David and executive producer Barack Obama, who are shown joking around in newly released footage from behind the scenes of their Oval Office sketch.
As fans witnessed in the finale episode’s closing sketch, the former president stepped in to play himself for a historical look back at the divisive tan suit he wore to a press conference once upon a time. In the two-and-a-half-minute segment, the footage sees Obama step onto the set as he admires the crew’s recreation of the Oval Office.
“Nice job on the recreation. You even have the apples; it’s fantastic,” Obama complimented as he pointed out the finer details. But that’s when he took the opportunity to take a dig at his successor, Donald Trump. “Although I do wanna point out, there’s no gold sign on the outside that says Oval Office. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that,” he added with a touch of sarcasm.
While he never says Trump’s name, Obama is undoubtedly referring to the current president, who had signs posted outside of various sections of the White House, most prominently outside of the Oval Office. Although Obama may have been making a joke, he quickly followed it up with a “Thank you, everybody, this is pretty magnificent.”
The behind-the-scenes footage also reveals the former commander in chief’s penchant for ad-libbing as he delivers some off-the-cuff lines that ultimately made the final cut. One particular moment from the sketch sees him refuse Larry David a sip from his smoothie glass, explaining he doesn’t want the comedian’s “old lips” on his glass.
The resulting laugh from David is quite boisterous as the lead star can’t contain his reaction to the improvised line. Executive producer and director Jeff Schaffer, who can be seen in the footage, also told TV Insider, “President Obama was not in the Groundlings, but he’s still a really good improviser.”
He went on to share, “Larry David cannot take credit for old lips. ‘Old lips’ is 100 percent pure Barack Obama. And when he said that, Larry laughed so damn hard… All of a sudden, now, we’re doing the scene with the president just like we do any Curb scene.”
Check out the full video above, and let us know what you thought of the sketch and behind-the-scenes teases in the comments section.
Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, HBO Max