Seinfeld Writer EXPOSES the “Israeli Propaganda Machine”

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Larry Charles, who’s worked on some of comedy’s most influential and successful projects, from Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm to Borat and Bruno to The Arsenio Hall Show, tells everything about his forty years of blood, guts, and laughter in the new book Comedy Samurai.

Including the juicy stuff, which he shares with us on Useful Idiots: as an activist against genocide and for Palestinian rights, what is it like to work with notorious Zionists Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Bill Maher? And as a Jewish writer in Hollywood, how did he escape the Israel propaganda machine when his friends didn’t?

Useful Idiots: You're very political. Do you ever struggle with making sure your politics don't get in the way of comedy?

Larry Charles: Well, I think my bottom line is it needs to be funny. And I bet I've been exploring that relationship between things that aren't supposed to be funny that I would then rise to the challenge of trying to make funny. And of course, political issues are amongst them.

Working on Fridays as my first job plunged us into the political world. Some sketches were more successful than others in terms of funniness and/or in terms of insight, but we were not at all censored. And I never have felt since that time that I was censored in terms of exploring politics through comedy. I love the idea of trying to bring those two worlds together, even when they're not on the surface supposedly funny, because there's always an angle.

I was a big political cartoonist fan and I did political cartoons in high school. So I've always been looking for that juxtaposition, that interesting synthesis between politics and humor.

Useful Idiots: You have visited Palestine, and you've been very vocal on the issue, especially since Israel started attacking Gaza after October seventh. Now, you've worked with some people who have made some of the most influential comedies ever: on Seinfeld with Jerry Seinfeld, Borat and Bruno with Sacha Baron Cohen, and others too who have very different views than you when it comes to the issue of Palestine. I'm curious how you navigate that, how incredibly creative partnerships can not transcend to being in alignment on really fundamental political issues.

Larry Charles: The propaganda machine is able to seduce you, you get sucked in very easily. And you believe that Israel is your birthright. And those kinds of things were not questioned at all when I was a kid. And I'm sure for Bill Maher or for Jerry or for