The Larry David Show

David savors misfires, even in casual talk. "I do love to see things fall apart," he says, "and not necessarily come back together. It must be some kind of anarchistic impulse I have." A movie gives David the leeway to include the irrevocable breakup of long-term relationships as part of his basic repertoire. "In the show," he explains, "we always tried to avoid fights between the characters where they're not speaking. Although the characters would have arguments with each other, we never did one episode like that because you would know, at the end of the episode, that they'd be talking again.

"We wanted to keep people interested in the story, and one way was to keep the outcome unpredictable. We did one episode that opened things up in a way, and that was the Junior mints episode. Up until then the comedy was still grounded in reality. But [in that show] Jerry and Kramer go to watch this operation and the Junior mint falls in the body, and all of a sudden that opened us up to do some crazier things." Things get even crazier in Sour Grapes. Without giving anything away, let's just say the action includes a unique form of double-jointed fellatio and the transformation of a TV heartthrob into a fluttery soprano. David says, "It's a black comedy; you don't want any sentiment or people in the audience feeling sorry for anyone on screen. You just want people laughing.