Larry David has said he was “so relieved” to be uninvited from Barack Obama’s 60th birthday earlier this month that he “screamed”.
The Curb Your Enthusiasm star was originally included in a 475-strong guest list to attend the former US president’s bash, but Obama scaled back the event in response to rising Covid cases in the country.
Obama’s spokesperson Hanna Hankins said the move to cut back on numbers was due to “the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week”, adding that Obama is “appreciative of others sending their birthday wishes from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon”.
In a statement to The New York Times, David has now said he had feared he would be asked to perform comedy at the event, but with only three days to prepare jokes good enough for Obama and his guests, the comic found himself with no material.
“I was pretty glum when I finally called back his assistant,” David explained, before revealing that the call ended with him being cut from the guest list.
“When he told me I was eighty-sixed from the party, I was so relieved I screamed, ‘Thank you! Thank you!’ He must have thought I was insane,” David said. “Then I hung up the phone, poured myself a drink and finished my crossword puzzle.”
According to the publication, TV hosts David Letterman and Conan O’Brien also didn’t make the cut, and neither did many former members of Obama’s White House administration.
The party, which was held at Obama’s $12m family residence in Martha’s Vineyard, was attended by Jay-Z, Beyoncé, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.
