Strange Encounter
According to a new biography, Seinfeld showrunner and Simpson both ate breakfast at Riviera Country Club on June 12, 1994
Larry David has built one of the greatest careers in comedy out of his own hyperfixations, particular neuroses, and the surreal situations these often lead him into. Reading Blake J. Harris’ upcoming biography of David, Emperor of Nothing, it’s hard to go a few pages without some anecdote or story triggering the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme music in your mind. Maybe the most unnerving example, though, is this one: Larry David crossed paths with O.J. Simpson the day Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were killed.
As outlined in Emperor of Nothing, the bizarre chance encounter occurred June 12, 1994 at the posh Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, which David joined following the success of Seinfeld. That morning, David had invited his friend and fellow comedy writer, Alan Zweibel and Zweibel’s wife, Robin, to join David, his wife Laurie, and their new baby Cazzie for breakfast at the club.
As it happened, that same morning, Simpson was getting breakfast at the Riviera Country Club, too.
“[We] saw him in the dining room the day of the murder!” David exclaims in the book.
It’s actually Zweibel who has an even more vivid recollection of that encounter. He spoke to Simpson that morning, after Simpson recognized him in the dining room. The two had met in 1978, when Simpson hosted Saturday Night Live, where Zweibel was a writer. A huge fan of Simpson from his time as the star running back for the Buffalo Bills, Zweibel spent a lot of time with Simpson that week and wrote a bunch of sketches for him. Years later, they shared a mutual friend in Los Angeles and occasionally bumped into each other at parties.
Even more bizarre, Zweibel says he saw Simpson a second time that day: at a middle school dance recital where both their daughters were performing. Zweibel remembers telling Simpson, “I have nothing new to tell ya. I told you everything [going on with me] this morning.”
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He then cracks, “What I should have said was, ‘Stay home tonight! Order in! Don’t go out!’” (Simpson was acquitted of murdering Brown and Goldman at a criminal trial, but found responsible for their deaths in a civil suit brought by their families.)
Emperor of Nothing is the first authorized biography of David, and is based on extensive interviews with him, as well as his family, friends, and collaborators on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s set to be published Oct. 20.