A bona fide counterculture figure who later struck gold as one of the most successful and lucrative comedy writers in the history of show business, Larry Charles grew up in a Coney Island housing project designed and built by Fred Trump (father of Donald), and attended Rutgers University in the early '70s. Harboring a serious interest in a career as a full-time writer, Charles took a professor's advice by dropping out of college and hitting the standup circuit as one-half of a two-man comedy act that regularly opened for a Top 40 cover band. (Throughout, Charles authored many of the routines.) When that gig flopped due to payment disputes, Charles hearkened back to New York and wrote satirical sex stories for Al Goldstein's Screw magazine (then in full swing), then later took a job as an author of porno novels in a Gotham sweatshop.

It was only upon moving to the City of Angels, however, that Charles' fortunes began to shift; he began to hang around outside of comedy clubs and sell jokes to various standup acts, one of whom happened to be Larry David. David offered Charles an assignment writing for Fridays (1980-1982), ABC's now-forgotten answer to Saturday Night Live, which Charles…  » Read more