In February, a Reddit user named Aromatic_Zebra_9601 appeared in the “Seinfeld” forum with an interesting tidbit: They had come across an unproduced Larry David screenplay on eBay called “Prognosis: Negative,” bought it, and now were uploading it for the world to see.

The existence of the script had long been known, but this appeared to be the first time someone had made it available for public viewing. It’s not clear when David wrote it, but this version is labeled a second draft and dated May 3, 1983 — years before he helped create “Seinfeld” and, later, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Jeremy Smith, a 24-year-old Redditor from Rochester, New York, had found the eBay listing though a Google search. It had been put up for sale by an account offering several unpublished scripts; it was not clear how the account obtains them, and its operator declined to comment.

Through an HBO publicist, David also declined to comment.

“It was truly cool to be the one to post this lost piece of history onto the internet,” Smith said in an interview.

“Prognosis: Negative” centers on a man named Leo Black, who finds it impossible to commit to women. But when he learns an ex-girlfriend is dying, he reignites a relationship with her. After all, she’ll be gone soon.

The top-rated comment on Smith’s post reads: “‘My ex is dying, it’s finally safe to commit’ is the most Larry David thing ever.”

The script is a window into a comedy savant’s early work. Even then, David, now 78, was trading in particularly dark humor and fixated on mundane irritations. David later repurposed several bits from the screenplay for his two famous shows, and he turned a fictional film called “Prognosis: Negative” into a running gag on “Seinfeld.”

One of the early readers of the script was Robert Weide. At the time, he was the head of development for an agency run by Hollywood talent managers Jack Rollins, Larry Brezner, Buddy Morra and Charles Joffe, who were known for shepherding the careers of A-list comedians. David, then a fledgling stand-up comic, was writing for “Fridays,” ABC’s answer to “Saturday Night Live.” Its cast included the future “Seinfeld” star Michael Richards.

“Prognosis: Negative” was “probably the funniest script that I read during my tenure there,” Weide, 66, recalled in an interview.

The Script

The script has elements that have since become hallmarks of David’s comedic style.

— Leo gets into an argument with a laundromat owner about ruined underwear. The owner argues the underwear itself is defective. Leo says it’s the machines.

— Leo is irritated that an attractive couple are being affectionate at the table next to his at a restaurant. “Don’t get me wrong,” he says. “I don’t mind seeing two people in love. Give me two fat people. Give me two bad dressers. I like that. It gives me a warm feeling. But this …”

— Leo, seeing “a chance to do something heroic,” chases after a mugger who has taken a woman’s pocketbook. The mugger “realizes he’s running from a guy he could have between two pieces of rye bread” and ends up chasing after Leo.

— After he is intimate with his old flame, Leo says to his brother: “I don’t just have sex anymore. I make love. And I even take my clothes off. What a difference. And I moan. I never used to moan. Now I make all kinds of sickening noises.”

Taken with the script, Weide urged the agency’s partners to meet with David. According to notes from the meeting, which took place Jan. 12, 1983, the partners said that the script had potential, but that it was not ready for them to present to studios.

“The basic problem, it was stated, was that the main character, Leo, is not at all likable,” according to the notes, which were shared by Weide.

Weide recalled Brezner asking David if there was a way to make Leo more sympathetic.

“Larry David was thinking about it and sort of weighing it in his head,” Weide said. “And then he looked at Brezner and said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ And that was it.”

Seinfeld Changed Comedy

Six years later, in 1989, “Seinfeld” changed comedy by centering a network sitcom on four vain, self-absorbed characters who were not exactly paragons of morality. One, George Costanza (Jason Alexander), was famously based on David himself.

After “Seinfeld” went off the air in 1998, David reached out to Weide about his next project: “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” a sitcom in which David played an exaggerated version of himself as a curmudgeon consumed with petty grievances. Weide became an executive producer of the show and directed dozens of episodes.

Several ideas — big and small — from “Prognosis: Negative” made it into “Curb” in some form. In one storyline, David tries to break up with a girlfriend (Vivica A. Fox) who has cancer. In the “Prognosis: Negative” script, Leo is aghast that no one on a city bus will break a dollar so he can pay the 75-cent fare. David has a similar experience in “Curb,” astounded as passersby ignore his pleas for help changing a flat tire. In both cases, a character in need of a good Samaritan is treated as if he were invisible.

One idea came from Weide himself.

In “Prognosis: Negative,” Leo thinks he is dying because of a bump on his head. A doctor points out that the bump is simply his occipital bone, and that he is not actually dying. A delighted Leo responds, “Do I have to pay for this?”

A similar exchange between David and his doctor found its way into a first-season episode of “Curb” after Weide reminded David of the “Prognosis: Negative” scene between takes.

“Leo Black is Larry David,” Weide said. “Just as George wound up being Larry David on ‘Seinfeld’ and then Larry would up being Larry David on ‘Curb.’ There’s a definite through line. It’s the personality. It’s his attitude about life. It’s about not suffering fools gladly.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Sopan Deb/Benjamin Norman
c. 2026 The New York Times Company