“Leon’s a very particular guy, man,” Smoove assesses. “You have no idea what he’s been through. He says things in the moment that make sense, I call it stupid-sense,” he laughs. “The character is so funny, and you can’t help but have a little bit of that guy in you. I think we share a lot of stuff, but there are certain things that he says that are ridiculous, but so innate. Like I said, it’s stupid-sense. Even when I get to the set to shoot, I speak about him in the third person. It’s me, but it’s not me. On Curb, we get an outline for the show. I don’t like reading the outline of the show, because I feel I would over think it. So what I’ll do is get to the set, go to my trailer and get dressed in my Leon clothes. We are two different people – me, I like to dress. I can wear shades, I can look cool. But Leon doesn’t have a lot of clothes. He has a certain kind of outfit, he’s not the most well-dressed person. He gets by on his hustle, his confidence. He gets by. He gets the women, all this stuff. He could start a fire with his voice – he’s that guy. But I’m totally different,” Smoove reasons. “But in order for me to get into the character of Leon, I have to get dressed as him, go to the set, find out from a writer or Larry what exactly we’re doing today. I’m better off the cuff. After I shoot all day and I’m driving home, I call my wife and she’ll ask, ‘How did today go?’ And I’ll say ‘Leon is crazy’. I’m JB and I play Leon, but I’ll speak about Leon as though it’s not me. That’s the only way I can process what he says. I step out of myself to become Leon. I go blank, I literally go blank. When I watch the show, because it’s improvised, it’s new to me. It’s a weird thing to say, but I honestly don’t remember half of the stuff Leon says. I’ll watch the show like a new viewer. I motormouth sometimes as Leon. I see it and I’ll be laughing my arse off, thinking, ‘Oh shit, I don’t remember that’.”
Seasons six through eight of Curb are rife with some of the series’ most definitive moments – from the Seinfeld reunion narrative arc to Larry David’s Michael J Fox-instigated eviction from New York. As is the case with many of the show’s fans, Smoove struggles to narrow his favourite moment down to a singular episode. “I like the one where Larry and Rosie O’Donnell are competing for the same woman. I can tell you all of my favourites, but every one of those favourites has at least five different versions. Larry picks the one which works best. But that one, where Leon is giving Larry the Viagra to beat Rosie O’Donnell – ‘You want me to juice?’ ‘I want you to win’ – I love that one,” he recalls while laughing as if it was the first time viewing the episode. “I love the Michael J Fox episode, I think that is classic Curb Your Enthusiasm. There is one bit I think is so damn funny, where Larry gets a soda from Michael J Fox and it sprays up in his face, then Leon says ‘good thing it wasn’t a dick, because it would have shot sperm in your face’. Just ridiculous. That’s the thing with Leon, he’ll give you a stupid example. It’s so silly, but it makes stupid sense. That’s what Leon does.”
With the finale of each season of Curb comes the question, ‘Will it return?’. Each of the late seasons’ arc concludes with a satisfactory wrap, barely leaving the door ajar for a follow-on run of episodes. As for whether we will see a season nine, Smoove remains optimistic. “That, I don’t know. Right now, I just finished my last day on a movie I’m doing with Larry called Clear History. We shot that in Boston. They’re still shooting, but I’ve finished my parts. It’s not a Curb movie, but it’s improvised. It’s as loose as Curb. Jon Hamm is in it, Eva Mendes is in it, Danny McBride is in it. A lot of cool people are in the movie. I’ve been asking Larry what he plans on doing, but there is no answer as of yet. Here’s what I think will happen. I think he’s gonna get this movie out of the way, edit it, give it to HBO, then he’s gonna get bored, then he’s gonna think about how he wants to come back. I think he’s gonna come back late 2013. You might not see anything until 2014, but I think he’s coming back. We only do ten episodes [per season], but it’s hard. Here’s what I will say, I did put a bug in Larry’s ear. I said, ‘Look Larry, I like your work, but if we don’t come back, why don’t we spin-off Leon and do a TV show called The Ruckus. Come on man, what the hell. Let’s do a spin-off, let’s do this baby’,” he reveals. “I’d watch The Ruckus my damn self. But here’s what I don’t know, whether it would be a prequel to Curb saying where Leon came from, or the first episode is Leon at the door saying ‘thanks for everything, Larry’ and walking away. What sounds better to you?.”
Long before his breakthrough as Leon Black, Smoove honed his craft as an onstage performer. “You know what, my style is very different and very unique. As a stand-up comedian, I’ve been doing it for a while. But let me tell you man, I’m one of the comedians that breaks every rule in comedy. I don’t consider myself a stand-up comedian, I consider myself a comedic performer. I’m not a one-liner guy, I dive into a topic – no matter what it is – I stay in that little pocket until I get the most laughs I can get and move on. I improv a lot onstage, so I’m entertaining myself as well as the audience. There are no rules. I think as a performer, you have to perform for that particular audience. I don’t like doing the same show over and over again, I like opening my brain onstage,” he muses. “I hate robotic, I bore myself. It’s kind of like doing Curb, there’s no script. If you see me laughing onstage, it means I’ve never said that before in my life. It’s like making love to your lady – out of the clear blue, you pull a new position. They’ll be like, ‘Wow, where did that come from?’ That makes a good night. That’s what I do.”
Where Leon Black is a proponent of stupid-sense, Smoove is philosophical when it comes to his own success and motivation as a performer. “We aren’t just comedians, we are therapists, we are counsellors, we are all these different things,” he ponders. “When we’re on stage, there’s someone in that audience feeling bad about themselves, someone that’s been through a whole lot – if we can even touch one of those topics that they’ve been through and make them laugh at it, make them think ‘damn, I never thought about it that way’, that to me is something. No-one can say what it is that makes it special to someone else. No comedian writes a joke for themselves, these are given away to the people. We don’t hold onto them. I’ve always felt like success is how it translates to other people. You could write jokes and tell bits forever, but anyone can tell a joke. It’s what’s behind the joke that is special. Is it the joke, your presence, the things you say to motivate people – what is it? We are sort of like motivational speakers in a way. But depending on who you are, what you’re going through, it’s going to reach you in a different way. Which is always fine with me.”
While in the country for his stand-up tour, Smoove will also make the trek to Meredith Music Festival to perform commentary duties for the venerable Meredith Gift. “I did hear there’s gonna be some naked folks runnin’ around,” Smoove exclaims. “That’s gonna be fun, man. If there’s anyone that can judge and speak about naked people, it’s myself. It’s gonna be beautiful. I’m gonna be bringin’ the ruckus man. Hell, I could get naked my own damn self, who knows.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
