Rob Reiner used what would be his final onscreen role to bash Donald Trump as the late actor-director posthumously appeared on the latest episode of Larry David’s new HBO show.
Reiner, who was killed along with his wife Michele in December 2025, portrayed George Washington on the July 3 episode of Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, a role that was kept secret until the episode aired Friday night to kick off the Fourth of July weekend.
In the sketch, Reiner’s Washington delivers a speech specifying why he wouldn’t seek a third term as president, which serves as a foundation for those in the audience — including Larry David and Jimmy Kimmel — to serve up their own barbs aimed at a future president, an “insecure, lying asshole who would even cheat at golf.”
“Well, what if there’s some asshole in office, some narcissistic prick who doesn’t follow the Constitution?” David’s character asked of a hypothetical president. “He could use the presidency to enrich himself and his family. He could send troops into American cities to terrorize and even kill American citizens, all to distract from the fact that he’s friends with a pedophile!”
Kimmel’s colonist added, “Are you suggesting that the president would taketh the time to challenge anyone who dare make fun of him? As if he were a big baby?”
As the colonists argued among themselves, Reiner’s Washington sighed, “We’re fucked.” The episode then closed on an “In Memoriam” title card for Reiner.
In an interview with Variety, Life, Larry director Jeff Schaffer called Reiner’s appearance a “last laugh” at his nemesis Trump. “It’s coming out on Fourth of July weekend, and if it in any way spoils a sad octogenarian’s weekend, then oh well,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer said Reiner shaved his trademark beard for the sketch, which filmed on Nov. 13, just a month before Rob and Michele were killed inside their home; their son Nick was arrested and charged with the murders. When the first two episodes of Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness were screened at a Los Angeles premiere, the Washington sketch was swapped out to keep Reiner’s role a secret until it aired Friday.
“It just didn’t feel like the right way to show the world,” Schaffer said. “We thought long and hard about where the sketch should air … and ultimately we decided that July 3 was the perfect time. Just let it come out on the Fourth of July weekend, on the 250th, and let it sink in that way.”
Reiner’s Washington sketch on Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is streaming now on HBO Max.
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