Smoove Moves

“No matter what you do as an actor, as a comedian, as a producer, as a director – I think you're doing it to make a body of work that people can relate to later on, and in the moment,” JB Smoove shares, and you'd swear you were in conversation with the character he plays on Curb Your Enthusiasm. “So I try to do that: I try to write things and do things that I feel like – I'm like a motivational-speaking comedian almost. I think I do a whole lot of motivational speaking when I'm on Curb… you know? Even though Leon [Black]'s making crazy dumb sense – stoopid sense, in some ways – what he's saying is absolutely right, but it's just how he presents it to Larry [David] that makes it funny.”

Leon Black's phrases are very quotable, which a quick Google will ascertain even if you're not familiar with the comedy series. Smoove has a particular soft spot for 'get in that ass'. “'Cause that is, to me, the most amazing metaphor for life in general,” he elaborates. “It's just so powerful to me. I remember the first time we did that scene. Larry had no idea what 'get in that ass' meant – no idea. His face was so baffled, like, he didn't know what the hell I was talkin' about, which is so damn funny to me.” In case you're still perplexed, Smoove offers: “[It] doesn't mean physically kickin' the man's ass, it's a metaphor for, 'Defend yourself and make him feel as bad as he made you feel.'”

Smoove actually entered the Curb Your Enthusiasm audition room in character. “I kinda already knew who the Leon character was in my head and I was all over Larry from the moment I walked in the door,” he tells. “'Cause I had no idea that I had to improv with Larry directly, I just thought I was gonna go on tape and that was gonna be it. But I walked in the room and Larry David's standing in the middle of the room and they told me, 'Okay, you've gotta improv with Larry'. I said, 'Oh, cool! Let's do this, Larry.' I said, 'All right, my man. Let's sit down, Larry.' And once he started laughin', that gave me an indication that he liked what I'm doin'.”

Within a few days, Smoove was hired. “Certain things worked for me: if I had gotten renewed for SNL [Saturday Night Live] in season four, I wouldn't have been [at the audition]; if my buddy didn't pass away, I wouldn't have been in LA. So some things had to get out the way in order for new things to come in,” he reflects.

As far as his stand-up goes, Smoove points out, “It's like what I do on Curb: I'm a motormouth, I talk. My act is very physical so, for me, I just put a funny spin on situations, you know? Anything as simple as how to meet a woman, or I could do 15 minutes on a sneeze!”

When asked what makes him guffaw, Smoove answers instantly: “I just like real, genuine stuff. Like, for me, I can put in an old Peter Sellers movie and just be lovin' it to death even though I've seen it ten times.” Does he love The Party? “I loooove The Party! If someone gave me the opportunity to do a movie over, and it wouldn't hurt the original, I would do The Party.”