Larry David Biographer Blake J. Harris Reveals Five Unproduced 1984-85 Saturday Night Live Sketches

Author Blake J. Harris shared the premises of five unproduced sketches Larry David wrote during his turbulent 1984-85 season on Saturday Night Live—alongside new details on David's secret 1975 audition for the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players—in a November 9, 2026 interview with Andrew Buss on LateNighter.

Drawing from his biography Emperor of Nothing: The Making of Larry David (published October 20, 2026 by Dey Street Books), Harris explained how David repeatedly clashed with executive producer Dick Ebersol after transitioning from a performing role on ABC's Fridays to a writers'-room role at Studio 8H, where he championed fellow writer Andy Breckman for 'The Flying Zambonis' and wrote material for castmates Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Billy Crystal. Two years after leaving SNL, David staged an hour-and-15-minute revue of his cut-after-dress sketches titled The Bosun's Mate and Other Stories at Who's On First and Sunday nights at Caroline's.

The five rejected 1984-85 sketches detailed by Harris are 'Radio Interview with Superman' (which finally aired seven years later when Jerry Seinfeld hosted SNL in 1992, though Seinfeld wore the Superman suit against David's original note), 'The Bosun's Mate,' '6 Miles to Pottersville' (featuring a lazy Abraham Lincoln), 'The Pope's Tailor,' and 'Making Shirley Temple Cry.'