Alex Edelman on ‘Just for Us’ + ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Series Finale!

The Last Laugh

The Daily Beast

Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Interviews, Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Tv, Movies, Film

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Alex Edelman was having a hectic week before an unexpected earthquake briefly knocked out the internet in his New York apartment just before our podcast taping. “I feel crazy every day,” Edelman admits on the eve of his solo show, ‘Just for Us,’ premiering on HBO. “But also, this is what a comedian wants for his work. I’m very verklempt.” In this episode, the 35-year-old Jewish comic shares the unique challenges of bringing his story about attending a white supremacist meeting in Queens to the stage and screen, including the sudden death of his director just before opening on Broadway and how performing a show about antisemitism changed after October 7th. Edelman also discusses the surreal experience of getting notes from comedy heroes like Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal, tells a story about the time he baffled Mel Brooks by calling him “woke” to his face, and teases his next stand-up hour on the Israel-Gaza war.

But first, Matt and Allegra break down the series finale of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ including an unsentimental goodbye to Richard Lewis and a surprising twist on the infamous ‘Seinfeld’ ending.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Last Laugh. I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast. On today's episode, we have my interview with Alex Edelman,
0:12.4	whose one-man Broadway show Just For Us, premiered as a special on HBO this past weekend and is streaming now on Max.
0:19.6	But first, my Daily Beast colleague, Allegra, is back,
0:22.9	and we are ready to dive into the Kirby Enthusiasm series finale. Allegra, welcome back.
0:29.0	Hello, happy to be back to talk about a historic moment in television. It really was. And I think
0:35.7	we have to start with the fact that you really nailed your
0:38.1	prediction last week about how this would play out because you noticed a bunch of references to the
0:43.9	Seinfeld finale throughout this final season. And that really paid off in this final episode.
0:50.1	Yeah. No, I mean, I think it feels a little obvious to me that he was going to just, you know, reference one of his biggest finale ever. I mean, one of the biggest finales ever and one of the biggest things Larry David has ever done. But it was kind of fun to see how he threaded that in with just sort of the subtle references. But the last episode really went so hard on it.
1:12.5	It was kind of just a redo in a lot of ways. Yeah, I mean, it was obviously on his mind, I guess, as he was thinking about how to end a show and the previous time he ended a show and how that went and how it was received.
1:24.2	And so, yeah, it was definitely interesting to see him very much doubled down on it as sort of the way that everyone's been talking about it, but also kind of try to fix it.
1:34.1	And I think we'll get to that final scene in a minute.
1:36.7	But, you know, just in terms of the episode overall, it was an extra long one, which was, I guess, should have been expected.
1:43.7	And I thought it was just packed with like lots which was, I guess, should have been expected. And I thought it was just
1:44.7	packed with like lots of little, obviously cameos and guest stars and pretty big name cameos,
1:51.5	like Greg Ceneer and Allison Janney, and then a lot of other little people popping up,
1:57.2	including Jerry Seinfeld, of course. But then just like so many, I feel like he was like trying to work in all of the like little ideas and jokes that he hadn't gotten in yet before it was too late.
2:07.6	So I don't know.
2:08.2	For you, was there a moment or sort of even one of those smaller moments from earlier in the episode before we got to that major Seinfeld finale part that stood out for you?
2:18.9	Yeah, I mean, in general, I thought it was so funny how Larry was kind of blasé about all of it.
2:26.0	Like, I was, he got more worked up about Richard Lewis's girlfriend for a while, which
2:33.5	like Allison Janie cameney cameo that was so
	...

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