Comedian Larry David reportedly clashed at times with former President Barack Obama while the two were filming a new HBO series, with the disagreements centering on creative direction and comedic timing.
According to Variety, the director of “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness”—a new HBO project produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions—said the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator was reluctant to take direction from the former president during production.
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“[Obama] gave a few notes about something, and Larry went, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got it,” Jeff Schaffer told the entertainment outlet.
Schaffer said Obama responded by recalling his time in the White House.
“I spent half an hour talking about how funny everything is. I give you one note, and you get into a defensive crouch,” Obama reportedly told David.
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Obama then added: “When I was in the Oval Office, I took advice and listened to my advisers, and I was the president of the United States.”
David reportedly gave Obama a lighthearted comedic response, saying, “Yeah, but I’m the president of this.”
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Schaffer went on to joke that Obama could try to invoke his executive authority on-set.
“Using a presidential veto to get more money would have been amazing,” Schaffer told Variety.
“I wish I’d thought of that. ‘The president needs an extra three days of shooting. He demands it.’ We should have done that,” he said.
Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is a sketch comedy miniseries that commemorates America’s 250th anniversary by satirizing people, events and moments from throughout U.S. history.
The series stars Larry David and features appearances from a number of well-known actors, entertainers and public figures, including the former president, playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda and actor Jon Hamm.
David and the former president have maintained a long-standing friendship leading up to the show’s release, with Obama humorously teasing the 78-year-old comedian in a promotional video for the series.
“[I’ve] sat across the table from some of the world’s most difficult leaders and wrestled with some of the globe’s most intractable problems,” Obama said.
He added that “nothing has prepared me for working with Larry David.”
Meanwhile, the Obama Presidential Center officially opened last week with all the pageantry one would expect from a project built to memorialize America’s 44th president.
Former Presidents Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden attended the dedication ceremony.
Hollywood celebrities, political figures, musicians, and Democratic Party royalty filled the crowd.
The event was designed to celebrate legacy, leadership, and community investment.
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But away from the spotlight, a very different story is still developing.
According to reporting from Fox News Digital, multiple subcontractors who helped build the Obama Presidential Center say they are still fighting to recover millions of dollars they claim remain unpaid after years of work on the project.
For some contractors, the dispute is not merely a business disagreement. They say it threatens the survival of their companies.
Mike Owen, owner of Adamson Plumbing, told Fox News Digital that his company is nearly $4 million in the red after working on the project.
“That is a hole that no subcontractor, small business can survive,” Owen said.
According to the report, several contractors described years of delays, repeated design changes, costly rework, scheduling disruptions, and compensation disputes that remain unresolved even as the center opens its doors to the public.
The allegations are particularly striking because the Obama Presidential Center was promoted as a model project for minority-owned businesses and local contractors.
The project was presented not only as a presidential monument but as an economic engine designed to create opportunity for businesses that historically struggled to access major construction contracts.
Yet some of those same businesses now claim they have been left carrying enormous financial losses as well.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
