At a Democratic candidates forum in November 2015, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, raised the most urgent question in American politics: Is he really Larry David? 
 
 The answer, most likely, is no. But the former presidential candidate and the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star are apparently distantly related. 
 
 Sanders is a "third cousin or something," David told reporters at a Television Critics Association event on Wednesday. The comedian, who impersonated the senator on "Saturday Night Live" during the 2016 election, said he learned about the genealogical connection while filming an upcoming episode of the PBS series "Finding Your Roots." 
 
 "I was very happy about that," David said, according to Variety. "I thought there must have been some connection." 
 
 David, who scored an Emmy nomination for the spot-on impression of his fellow Brooklyn native on "SNL," explained how he came to play the part. 
 
 “This Bernie Sanders thing,” David told reporters, according to Variety. “During the first debate between Bernie and Hillary, ["SNL" creator] Lorne Michaels got emails and calls during the debate, saying that I should be doing Bernie Sanders.” 
 
 That's when Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, the inspiration for Jeremy Piven's character on "Entourage," stepped in to help close the deal. 
 
 "Ari Emanuel called me up and said, 'What did you think?'' And every time I watched Bernie Sanders, I would repeat everything that he said, because I know that I can talk like that. So I started talking to Ari, the agent, I started talking to him like Bernie.” 
 
 The rest is television history. 
 
 Sanders even appeared with David in a February 2016 sketch. The "Seinfeld" creator played an aristocratic gentleman on a sinking ship who debates the merits of democratic socialism with the senator's rumpled commoner. 
 
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 "Curb Your Enthusiasm," David's semi-autobiographical sitcom, returns to HBO in October. 
 
 Sanders did not immediately respond to news reports about his expanded family tree. 

 Larry David’s stint playing Sen. Bernie Sanders on “Saturday Night Live” began the night of the first Democratic primary debate in 2015. 
 
 The comedian and “Seinfeld” creator spoke about his “SNL” run Wednesday at the Television Critics Association press tour, where he appeared to promote the upcoming ninth season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” 
 
 “This Bernie Sanders thing,” David said. “During the first debate between Bernie and Hillary, [‘SNL’ creator] Lorne Michaels got emails and calls during the debate, saying that I should be doing Bernie Sanders.” 
 
 After the debate, “[WME-IMG co-CEO] Ari Emanuel called me up and said, ‘What did you think?’ And every time I watched Bernie Sanders, I would repeat everything that he said, because I know that I can talk like that. So I started talking to Ari, the agent, I started talking to him like Bernie.” Emanuel then told Sanders to post video of himself doing the impression on the internet. “I said, ‘No, I’m not going to do that. That’s not me. I don’t care.’ Then I said, ‘You know, it would be a good thing for “Saturday Night Live”,’ not thinking in a million years.” 
 
 Emanuel, David said, “hung up immediately and called Lorne Michaels, then they were both on the phone 10 minutes later.” 
 
 David ended up playing Sanders throughout the 2015-16 election cycle. 
 
 It was also revealed during the panel that David and Sanders are related. Sanders learned of the connection when filming an upcoming episode of PBS’ “Finding Your Roots,” in which celebrities learn about the unknown branches of their family trees. 
 
 “I was very happy about that,” David said. “I thought there must have been some connection.” 
 
 David did not say exactly how the two are related, specifying only that Sanders is “a third cousin or something.” 

 Photo: John P. Johnson/Courtesy of HBO 
 
 After five long years, Larry David and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm are back. At the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday, David debuted scenes from the long anticipated ninth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which will jump ahead six years and reveal what each character has been up to in the season’s first episode. 
 
 The clips are classic Curb: When a couple makes out near Larry’s office, he tells them to move along and the guy says, “Two people aren’t allowed to be happy?” Larry: “You’re allowed to be happy, but not in front of me.” In another clip, an employee skips work for two days because she’s constipated and Larry screams, “The whole world is constipated!” In perhaps the most exciting snippet, Larry takes his neighbor to court in front of Judge Judy — yes, that Judge Judy — for trespassing and stealing a ficus plant. 
 
 In addition to Judge Judy and Bryan Cranston (who plays a therapist, in a slight change of pace from the dentist he played on Seinfeld), Curb actors Richard Lewis, Bob Einstein, Ted Danson, and Cheryl Hines will all return to the new season. 
 
 At the TCA panel for the show, David was in full “TV Larry” persona — which he explained is not all that different from “real Larry” — and he was joined by series regulars Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, and J.B. Smoove, along with executive producer Jeff Schaffer. The raucous half-hour session was light on new information or in-depth answers, but full of laughs. 
 
 Here are David’s highlights: 
 
 On whether President Trump, with his penchant for making headlines for his blunders, is Larry’s competition: 
 
 You talking to me? Well, I don’t consider myself a prick. 
 
 On why now is the right time for Curb to return: 
 
 Why not? You know, I’m not a miser, so to speak. I don’t really miss things, people that much. But I was missing it. And I was missing these idiots. So I thought, “Yeah, what the hell?” I got tired of people asking me, “Is the show coming back?” I couldn’t face that question anymore. And I wasn’t ready to say no, never. And I kept saying, “Maybe, who knows?” 
 
 On why Larry plays golf: 
 
 I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but TV Larry is just a quarter-of-an-inch away from real Larry. Real Larry plays TV Larry. 
 
 On whether people avoid him on the street: 
 
 What? What? Why do you think they want to avoid me? Unfortunately, they don’t avoid me. 
 
 On whether he’s constantly finding fodder for the show: 
 
 A lot of people think they’re providing me with fodder, but they’re not. All of a sudden, I’ll write something. “Did I just say something? Did I just give you that?” No, you didn’t. Shut up! 
 
 On whether he uses social media: 
 
 Alas, no. 
 
 On his upcoming episode of Finding Your Roots, in which he learns he’s a distant cousin of Sen. Bernie Sanders: 
 
 I was very happy about that. I felt there had to be a connection. I also found out I have Nazis in my family … no, no, but there are slaveholders, though. 
 
 On how he felt about turning 70 and whether he’ll mark the occasion with something special, like the upcoming Steven Spielberg documentary on HBO: 
 
 Extremely unpleasant, very unpleasant experience. Thank you for reminding me. There will be no documentaries, suffice to say.
– Larry David got some pretty (pretty, pretty, pretty) good genealogy news recently, NBC News reports. The Seinfeld creator already shared a strange resemblance with Sen. Bernie Sanders—playing him on Saturday Night Live to great acclaim—and now it turns out they have another connection as well. At a Television Critics Association presser Wednesday, David told reporters that Sanders is a "third cousin or something." "I was very happy about that," Variety quotes David as saying. "I thought there must have been some connection." David learned about his distant relation to the one-time presidential hopeful while filming an episode of Finding Your Roots for PBS. Sanders has yet to give his thoughts on being related to his foremost impersonator. David also took the opportunity Wednesday to discuss how his SNL gig playing Sanders came about. After watching the first Democratic primary debate, he says he "would repeat everything that [Sanders] said, because I know that I can talk like that." David then did his Sanders impression for agent Ari Emanuel. He told Emanuel he didn't want to post a video of it online but would do it on SNL, thinking it would never happen. He says he and Emanuel were on the phone with Lorne Michaels 10 minutes later. David also discussed Curb Your Enthusiasm, which returns to HBO in October after a long break, saying the fictionalized version of himself on the show is nothing like President Trump. "I don't consider myself a prick," Vulture quotes David as saying.