"Life, June 26 -- Larry David has spent the better part of three decades on television playing a version of himself who finds ceremony intolerable, sincerity suspicious, and patriotism vaguely embarrassing. Tonight he begins seven weeks of playing that same character across American history, at the invitation of Barack Obama, in a show designed to celebrate the 250th birthday of a country David has made a career out of finding maddening.

"Those who don't know history. are doomed to watch Larry David repeat it." Variety reported the full cast when HBO confirmed the title and premiere date in April.

The connection to Curb is not cosmetic. Schaffer and David built that show on structural outlines rather than finished scripts, with actors i...