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How Larry David Faked a Mental Health Episode to Leave the Army One Year Early
Military.com ^ | 1/7/2022

Posted on 01/10/2022 5:22:22 PM PST by nickcarraway

Although he's now one of the most lauded comedians in Hollywood, Larry David never saw himself becoming a writer or a comedian. After graduating from the University of Maryland in 1970, he was lost and had little direction from his parents, who wanted him to take a job as a mailman.

The future writer for "Saturday Night Live," co-creator of "Seinfeld" and creator of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" joined the Army Reserve for one very important reason: to avoid going to Vietnam. He regretted it almost immediately.

He had never held a weapon, and he was terrible at push-ups and sit-ups. Basic training did not go well for David. That wasn't even the worst part of it, he told Howard Stern in a 2015 interview.

"I had an apartment in New York and I would go to Brooklyn for the weekend, stay with my parents, and spend all Saturday and Sunday at Floyd Bennett Field in a freezing airplane hangar," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...


TOPICS: Humor; Military/Veterans; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: army; comedy; costanza; larrydavid; military; vandelay
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1 posted on 01/10/2022 5:22:22 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I think I read that Sidney Poitier did something similar...


2 posted on 01/10/2022 5:25:02 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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To: nickcarraway
Somehow I don't think this faking it works any more...


3 posted on 01/10/2022 5:26:59 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
That's the way to move up the ranking.

This story does sound like something the character based on him in Seinfeld would do.

4 posted on 01/10/2022 5:27:54 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Gee that wasn’t mentioned in the Finding Your Roots episode about him


5 posted on 01/10/2022 5:43:54 PM PST by jmaroneps37
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

6 posted on 01/10/2022 5:55:13 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase

LOL...excellent!


7 posted on 01/10/2022 5:59:38 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: nickcarraway
While we were swatting crocodile sized jungle bugs he was bitching about doing push ups in a cold hangar. Then faking mental illness. Well that's a career move military times could have skipped.

They need to tell you stories like my adopted brother, Rick, that came home scarred for life if you want to hear about psychological problems associated with the military.

8 posted on 01/10/2022 6:01:31 PM PST by pfflier
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To: pfflier; All

The Left has been glorifying avoiding military duty as a resume enhancer for decades.


9 posted on 01/10/2022 6:05:52 PM PST by marktwain (Amazing people can read a persons entire personality and character from one photograph.)
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To: nickcarraway

Kramer was based on an actual Kramer. Who was Larry David supposed to be.?


10 posted on 01/10/2022 6:12:36 PM PST by Trumpet 1 (US Constitution is my guide.)
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To: nickcarraway

Never mind all his abortive efforts at comedy ...when the origonal SNL krewe left, so did I. never watched seinfeld, lived on Long Island, that was druish enough. what was the other show about?

he sounds about as neurotic as woody allen!


11 posted on 01/10/2022 6:17:14 PM PST by Terry L Smith
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To: Trumpet 1

Some self-centered schnorrer a’hole...


12 posted on 01/10/2022 6:17:34 PM PST by CletusVanDamme (Well I'm all broken up about that man's rights...)
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To: Trumpet 1

George.


13 posted on 01/10/2022 6:18:49 PM PST by ealgeone
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To: Trumpet 1

Elaine.


14 posted on 01/10/2022 6:20:55 PM PST by rfp1234 (Comitia asinorum et rhinocerum delenda sunt.)
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To: pfflier

Man I wish I could give you a heartfelt hug right now. I feel your pain, I really do. I hear you loud and clear, I agree with you my brother. There is nothing I can say that would show my true and utter contempt for Larry and the Times right now. I want to hear the stories from those men and women who have valor that reaches far beyond the heavens.


15 posted on 01/10/2022 6:24:29 PM PST by New Perspective (#NotMyPresident -Proud father of a son with DS & fighting to keep him off biden's death panels.)
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To: marktwain
The Left has been glorifying avoiding military duty as a resume enhancer for decades.

I don't care that people did whatever they did to shorten their time in the service, Lord knows the military isn't for everyone and it's more honorable to stand up, try, and fail than everyone who was fully capable and never got off the couch.

If someone is in the military and they can't be motivated through legitimate means to honor their full contract, we should thank them for trying and send them home. Better to find out that they don't have what it takes in a dank airplane hanger than a foxhole.

With that said, and borrowing a Seinfeldesque non sequitur, what's the deal with these military rags celebrating it? A cowardly scheme trashing the reserves and showcasing a multimillionaire comedian maligned to avoid military service isn't a story for military.com, or at least it shouldn't be. Especially these days when servicemen are being persecuted for liking the "wrong kind" of humor.

16 posted on 01/10/2022 6:24:46 PM PST by jz638
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To: New Perspective

You could probably tell that my wife had to pull me off of the ceiling after I read that crappy article.


17 posted on 01/10/2022 6:46:11 PM PST by pfflier
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To: Trumpet 1

George.


18 posted on 01/10/2022 6:46:54 PM PST by pfflier
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To: nickcarraway

No wonder I never instinctively liked him - or his work.


19 posted on 01/10/2022 6:48:20 PM PST by Gaffer
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To: pfflier

“While we were swatting crocodile sized jungle bugs he was bitching about doing push ups in a cold hangar. Then faking mental illness. “

Yeah, in my branch of the service I sure never saw anyone from his ethnic group in SE Asia that I was aware of. Same with stateside duty either mid-late 60s. It was a standing joke at the time, their invisibility.


20 posted on 01/10/2022 6:49:47 PM PST by doorgunner69 (Let's go Brandon)
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