The 2007 Pilot of Kanye’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’-Style Show Has Leaked Online Again

Abel Tesfaye, the artist soon to be formerly known as The Weeknd, may be the rapper currently gracing our screens every Sunday night in Max’s The Idol, but he’s not the only one who has worked with the network. Back in 2007, Kanye West shot a pilot for HBO, which was inspired by his love of Curb Your Enthusiasm and his appearance on Entourage that same year. 

Unfortunately for Ye, the network shelved the project, aptly titled A Little Inappropriate, leaving us with only rumors and musings on what the show would have been like — until this weekend (weeknd?).

The pilot, which was directed by Larry Charles, was briefly public on the Borat director’s Vimeo before going dark — but not before YouTuber Gearashi could rip the video and upload it himself in an effort to prevent the 30-minute episode from becoming “lost media.” Much like Larry David in Curb, the pilot sees Kanye portraying a heightened version of his rap persona and finding himself in unhinged situations — e.g., a meet-and-greet with awful aspiring rappers and horny women and having to interact with a conniving Make-a-Wish kid who doesn’t like any of Kanye’s music. 

The pilot also boasted an ensemble cast that included the comedic talents of Kym Whitley, J.B. Smoove, Jeff Garlin and Wyatt Cenac, a deliberate, incredibly smart choice on Kanye’s part. While by no means a Razzie-worthy performance, it’s evident that Kanye didn’t come up through The Groundlings. During a stand-up show back in 2013, Cenac surprised his audience with an earlier cut of the project and shared some insight on the production process. “Kanye knew he wasn’t a good improviser,” he informed the crowd. But he noted that the rapper “read something that Seinfeld said about surrounding himself with better talent and that he would rise to the occasion. And so that was his hope.” 

That hope was obviously short-lived. But while we likely won’t ever see Kanye achieve his improv dreams like his idol David, at least we’ll have this one little piece of history for now. 

That is, until it’s scrubbed from YouTube once again.