Ted Danson Admits He Thought ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Pilot ‘Sucked'

Curb Your Enthusiasm star Ted Danson admitted to co-star J.B. Smoove on the latest episode of his podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name that he initially thought the improvised sitcom “sucked” and “felt sorry” for creator and star Larry David.

Danson played a smug, self-serious version of himself throughout all 12 seasons of the improvised HBO series, which starred David as an equally exaggerated version of himself who often gets into hot water due to his inability to keep his mouth shut. Smoove played fast-talking Leon, a New Orleans expat who comes to live with Larry in season four and never leaves.

Curb Your Enthusiasm began as a one-off “special” before becoming a series the following year. “I thought it absolutely sucked,” Danson said of his reaction to the hour-long pilot, “and I felt sorry for my new friend, Larry David.”

Danson’s wife, Mary Steenburgen, echoed his feelings. But not wanting to seem rude, Danson offered themselves up as guest stars. “In trying to be an encouraging kind of thing, I said, ‘If you ever need us to play ourselves, we’d be happy to.’ And in that sort of idiocy, I ended up being part of something that changed my life.”

Danson and Steenburgen ended up essentially being co-leads for the first four seasons, serving as the foils to Larry and his wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines). The second episode of the first season is entitled “Ted and Mary.” In the later seasons, Danson and Steenburgen divorce (though they remain married in real life); and Danson woos Cheryl after she and Larry split up.

“Curb really did change my life,” Danson told Smoove, “because it reinvigorated my desire to be funny.” Danson indeed went on to many comedic roles after debuting on Curb, including the NBC comedies The Good Place and Mr. Mayor. He’s currently starring in Netflix’s comedic caper Man on the Inside.