As “Curb Your Enthusiasm” prepares to bid farewell after a 24-year run and 12 seasons on HBO, star J.B. Smoove argues there’s one mystery left unsolved that he’d love to see get the spin-off treatment: What was Leon Black up to before he met Larry David?
“I’d be a fool to say I wouldn’t be open to a spin-off,” Smoove told TheWrap. “I think this dude has levels to him. We don’t know what he does when he’s not with Larry, we don’t know where he came from. I think there’s something to this guy that’s really interesting in how he sees things.”
Leon first appeared in “Curb” during Season 6 when he decides to take refuge at Larry and Cheryl’s house after his family is displaced by a hurricane — and proceeds to never move out. Over the subsequent seven seasons, he went from being a supporting character to a main character that serves as Larry’s expletive-filled sidekick who always keeps the 76-year-old writer/actor/comedian on his toes with his unconventional wisdom.
One of Smoove’s most notable Leonisms over the years is when he told David to “get in that ass” when dealing with bullies.
“It became like this mantra, especially for someone who never knew what getting that ass meant. In that first take, if we look at Larry’s face, he’s looking like he’s trying to understand what getting that ass meant but when we said cut, he was like, ‘I’ve never heard that before,’” Smoove said. “He didn’t know that getting that ass was a defense mechanism against someone else who’s trying to punk you.”
Smoove’s other memorable lines and scenes include “the president of hitting that ass” and a “croissant filled with motherf–king champagne,” as well as talking about peeing in a Gatorade bottle, telling Larry that toast can’t be paused and “loses its essence” if it goes back into the toaster, telling Suzy that he likes a woman with a “smartass mouth” and giving a cop the fake name, Willie Nobody.
“Leon could be hiding some real s–t. Leon could be on the run for all we know. He just came out of nowhere, shows up at Larry’s house. We don’t know where the f–k Leon came from. We still don’t know where Leon came from. To this day, Larry has never actually asked Leon where the f–k did he come from that day,” he noted. “There’s origins to this dude that we don’t know and it would be fascinating to find out who this dude was before he came to their door.”
In addition to Smoove and David, the Season 12 cast of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” includes Jeff Garlin (“The Goldbergs”), Susie Essman (“Broad City”), Cheryl Hines (“Suburgatory”), Richard Lewis (“Anything But Love”), Ted Danson (“The Good Place”), Vince Vaughn (“Wedding Crashers”) and Tracey Ullman (“Tracey Ullman’s Show”).
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is executive produced by David, Garlin and Jeff Schaffer, with Laura Streicher and Jennifer Corey serving as co-executive producers.
New episodes air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and stream on Max.
