Larry is so passive-aggressive and anal retentive and whiny. Ari is so alpha male and in your face and intimidating. They’re both entirely about themselves.
Jeremy Piven only plays an asshole; Larry David actually IS an asshole.
From what I have read, Piven is the opposite of the Gold character. David’s character is an extreme exaggeration of how he is in real life.
As for the characters, David had no redeeming characteristics at all. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone. Gold, deep down inside, does care about and love people.
Aside from how they are in real life, which character is the bigger asshole?
I answered Larry, but I’m already re-thinking. Larry whines about people, but Ari sometimes destroys them, and he threatens them on an hourly basis.
How is Larry an asshole? Larry is rarely mean. Ari Gold always is.
Larry is a completely self-centered sociopath who has never once shown any kind of empathy or feeling for other human beings.
Ari is bombastic and type-A, but does love his family, his friends and even Lloyd.
Ari is a Type-A personality with rabies, but he has shown that he really does care for people.
They’re not painting a very pretty picture of Ari’s wife this season (character-wise. she’s still a steaming pile of cougar). I hope Ari gets hitched to Dana. Always liked her.
I agree. In particular, he’ll do anything for his children. There was one episode in which he had completely antagonized the headmaster of a private school and then his son asked him, “Can I go to [school name]? Because my best friend is going there and I really, really want to be in the same school.” So Ari had to eat crow and beg the headmaster to admit his son. It was hilarious.
As for him getting together with Dana, I agree that they could work well together. But this is the final season, so my guess is that he will make up with his wife so that all of the characters have a happy ending.
Ok, he cares, but not at the expense of his anger and acts of intimidation. He tries, but he always loses it and just buries himself deeper.
Larry doesn’t even try, but he is so lame that his bullshit can be pretty easily brushed aside. Disclaimer – I haven’t seen a whole lot of the show because I find Larry’s character so distasteful, but most of what I see involves him saying inappropriate things at parties and meals.
I wouldn’t give either of them the time of day.
Really? She should have dumped him long ago, IMO. Ari just cannot control his rage, and cannot give up any control for any reason to anyone for any length of time at work. So he always fucks up his family responsibilities to deal with work issues.
I would have inserted the words “with Tourette’s syndrome” after the word ‘sociopath’.
Ari seems to be in the process of redeeming himself; I don’t think that Larry ever will.
Did you see the last episode? He blew up … again … at his wife. They are toast, unless…
The only conceivably realist ending that leaves them both together is if Ari does in fact give up the business in order to keep his family. But he seems more concerned about losing the business than the family.
How about an agency that ends up being run by Babs and Lloyd?
Most of you have Larry pegged completely wrong. He’s not a sociopath or an asshole. He just has a view that social intercourse should have rules, and he’s only trying to make sure people follow those rules. The problem, of course, is that most people don’t know or care about these rules.
He wants people to apologize when they’re wrong and be considerate of others. Yes, he’s a jerk at times but it is rarely because he’s trying to hurt someone.
I don’t watch Entourage but everything I’ve seen of Ari Gold suggests to me that he is in fact an asshole.