Larry Charles, ex Seinfeld writer, has had a long career in Hollywood. He took the time to reflect on his tenure while highlighting a very specific era in showbiz: the 1980s, when cocaine was regularly circulated through La La Land. And, even more specifically, why it was common to find the drug among various TV show staffs.
While today’s 2025 TV guide may have just as great of offerings as the primetime lineups four decades ago did, many internal structures within Tinseltown have changed. Larry Charles shared with Page Six that at the beginning of his career, he started writing for Fridays in 1980 (a knock off version of SNL). The industry standards and “absurd deadlines” of the time were tight and not realistic without some intervention. He shares that’s why the stimulant voluntarily found its way into writers rooms:
That’s how the work got done. In the beginning, when you first started doing coke, it gives you incredible energy, it gives you incredible confidence.
What an interesting take on an experience that was so normalized back then! It's understandable how writers in the industry would have reasoned this thought into professional settings to avoid feelings of insecurities and burnout. I still just can’t believe how widespread it all seemed to be, although the prop substance that emulates cocaine on sets more recently reportedly has a kick!
Charles expanded on the behind-the-scenes usage, noting that higher ups were regular users. He also reiterated that the initial positivities of coke made it so commonplace and normalized (a la Gwyneth Paltrow reflecting on wilder times in the '90s) that none of it was all that out of the ordinary. He shared:
It was the producers themselves. [They] were also completely indulging at the same time, it was such a persuasive thing in the ’80s, especially in Los Angeles.
As someone born just after the decade and missed the full height of the drug's open regularity in showbiz, I'm a little blown away. Don't get me wrong – being a fan of Hollywood with its endless projects and stars, I know that the substance exists on screen and off. It’s just wild to get an inside look at the inner workings of a different time and place when it comes to the drug, especially comparing it with present day’s usage, including its involvement with the expansive Diddy trial.
The ex Seinfeld writer continued on the topic, sharing that even beyond the walls of any TV writers room, you could find the stuff in virtually any normal context. Charles said:
You could go to a restaurant [and] you’d see people doing lines at the table. It was a public display. There was no hiding it, and everybody was doing it.
It’s absolutely a snapshot of a time and place. The commonality and the leisureliness of finding it anywhere from your favorite restaurant to a beloved show’s writers room is mind-boggling. Of course, Larry Charles then went on to explain the side effects after the stimulant’s initial stages, and considers himself lucky he was able to go cold turkey.
Thankfully today, there’s plenty more resources and informational tools along with movies about sobriety and recovery to help educate. It's certainly fortunate that the rampant regular cocaine usage has left ultra-popular sitcoms and series writers' rooms like on Seinfeld, which is now available streaming with a Netflix account.
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