SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers for episode 4 of “Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: A Almost History of America,” now streaming on HBO Max.

Larry David uses history as a weapon to mock his former friend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his HBO comedy show “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”

In the last episode of the series produced by Barack Obama, Larry dresses as a woman to play Dora Salk, the mother of virologist Jonas Salk, known for developing the first successful vaccine against polio. While Jonas attempts to work upstairs, he is repeatedly disturbed by his mother, who nastily complains about his scientific advances to a neighbor in the garden.

Finally, another neighbor appears, a tanned-skinned, gruff-voiced man named Bobby (sound familiar?), who declares, “That vaccine will kill people. It’ll give them heart attacks!”

David, like Dora, doesn’t bite: “Die, Bobby. You should die like a dog. You don’t know anything about science, you’re not a doctor.”

Bobby replies, “If I were in charge, I would make sure no child got that vaccine. This goes for measles, too.”

And Dora responds, “If you were in charge, God help us all! If some idiot, some idiot, ever put you in charge, it would be a dark day for humanity.”

David’s thinly veiled attack on the US health secretary has a rich backstory. Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, played Cheryl, David’s wife (and later ex), on 12 seasons of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” And it is well known that David, who used to be a close friend of Kennedy, introduced him to Hines. Despite political differences, they seemed to remain friends until the end of “Curb.” Kennedy, who at the time was running for president as an independent, even appeared on the red carpet for the premiere of the show’s final season in 2024.

But David’s relationship with the couple foundered over the following months, when Kennedy endorsed Donald Trump and then joined his cabinet. (David has been a strong critic of Trump and has mocked him in both “Curb” and “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”) Hines said in an interview that she hadn’t spoken to David after the series finale of “Curb” because “I think he’s angry.” [that] Bobby is in administration.

Their breakup is evident in the fact that all of the main “Curb” cast members appeared in “Life, Larry” (or at least attended the premiere) except Hines. As to whether Hines found out about the sketch mocking her husband, “Life, Larry” co-creator and director Jeff Schaffer said. Variety“No idea.” And as to why they didn’t ask Hines to make a cameo, Schaffer joked, “You know, it just didn’t work out that way.”

In terms of satirizing Kennedy in a sketch set in the 1950s, Schaffer said, “One of the things we tried to do with the show was talk about things that are happening right now, but through a historical lens. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. We’re talking about vaccines, and there is incredible ignorance about vaccines that are going on right now.”

For David and Schaffer, that ignorance has been amplified by Kennedy, a leading figure in the anti-vaccine movement who has questioned the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. During his tenure in the administration, Kennedy reduced the number of recommended childhood vaccines and overhauled the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel because he falsely linked them to autism.

Recalling Salk’s groundbreaking advances, Schaffer said, “It seemed like a great way to comment on the stupidity that’s going on right now.” The allegations against RFK Jr. were simply “too good to pass up.”

The sketch ends with neighbor Bobby launching into a long tirade about how “fluoride causes gender confusion” and “the Spanish flu is a biological weapon…designed not to touch Ashkenazi Jews or Chinese.” He says, “I cut off a whale’s head with a chainsaw,” and there’s even a direct reference to the dead bear he once transported in his car. Finally, two men dressed in white suits take him away, presumably to a psychiatric ward.

“Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness” airs Fridays on HBO. The show places David at crucial moments in history, from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the trenches of World War I to the bus where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. So far, the comedy series hasn’t been afraid to attack current political figures. The second episode featured the late Rob Reiner playing George Washington in a sketch that criticized Trump as a “sociopath,” a “lying asshole,” and someone who is “friends with a pedophile.”