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Larry David gives Matt Lichtenberg the Variety Business Manager Elite Award at Variety's Business Managers Breakfast
Variety
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11/19/2024
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Transcript
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00:00
All right. It was May 1984. I had just moved back to New York from Los Angeles
00:09
because I'd gotten a writing job on SNL. I was standing outside the Improv when I
00:16
was approached by some guy with black horn-rimmed glasses who looked like an
00:23
accountant. And what do you know? He was an accountant. Isn't that something? It's
00:31
amazing how that works. Anyway, he introduced himself as Matt Lichtenberg
00:36
and said he'd love to get together to discuss becoming my business manager. My
00:45
business manager. You know, I told him I didn't really need a business manager. I
00:52
didn't have a business and there was no money to manage. But he was obnoxiously
00:59
insistent that we meet. I said, yeah, okay, sure, fine. So, okay, we met and he was
01:13
quite persuasive. And I thought, okay, you know what? He'll pay my bills, what the
01:19
rent, the electric, whatever. So, we shook hands and made it official. Then in a few
01:27
months, the SNL season was over and I was out of a job. For the next four years, I
01:36
didn't earn a penny. Matt continued to pay the bills, file my taxes and to earn
01:44
nothing doing it. Nothing. You know, I started to feel I started to feel badly
01:51
about it. I don't like charity. You know, I called him up and said, look, you're
02:01
wasting your time with me. Nothing's going to happen. My mother's told me a
02:08
thousand times. Let's just end this business relationship. We'll still be
02:17
friends. I don't care. It's not a big deal. I can pay my bills. Matt said to me, no,
02:29
I'm going to stay with you. I think there's something there. I told him he was crazy.
02:41
Believe me, there's nothing here. He said, I'll take my chances. A month later, I wrote
02:54
the pilot for Seinfeld. For 40 years, we've had a great business relationship and friendship.
03:04
He's a confidant whose good judgment I rely on in all matters, personal and financial.
03:10
A few years ago, I was offered a Super Bowl commercial for a crypto company. And they
03:22
gave me the opportunity to get paid in cryptocurrency. I thought, wow, this crypto thing, yeah, maybe
03:36
I'll take a quarter of my fee in crypto. Matt was completely opposed to it. Begged me not
03:48
to do it. Tried his best to talk me out of it. But I spoke to some people. People I trusted.
04:00
My mind was made up. I'm going to do it. Of course, after the company went under, taking
04:11
my crypto with it, I told him how stupid I was. How I should have listened to him.
04:24
But Matt said to me, yeah, yeah, you were stupid. Fortunately, I wasn't. Because I didn't
04:35
listen to you. Now, that's my idea of a business manager. Ours is one of the few relationships
04:47
that I never had any regrets about. And going with him turned out to be one of the smartest
04:54
decisions I've made in my life. I'm very pleased to present to him the 2024 Variety Business
05:00
Manager of the Year Award.
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