Larry David issues apology after attacking Elmo on Today: 'Somebody had to do it'

Larry David has issued a mea culpa. This isn't the fictional version of himself saying sorry for ... well ... everything. This is the real-life David offering an almost sincere apology to a Muppet.

As David walked onto the Today set during Thursday's show — a moment that was supposed to be off-screen — he ran over to Elmo and angrily squeezed the Muppet's face. It doesn't appear that David, who was on the show to discuss the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, was scheduled to interact with the Sesame Street star.

Elmo, ever concerned about mental health, invited David to "talk about how you feel." Savannah Guthrie had harsher words. "Larry, you've gone too far this time!" she told the Seinfeld co-creator. 

"Somebody had to do it," David yelled back.

When the show returned to David, he was told to look into the camera and say he was sorry. "Elmo, I just want to apologize," David said through restrained laughs. "I'm really sorry."

Elmo graciously accepted the apology. So, everyone was acting as expected. David was a curmudgeon. Elmo, a paragon of virtue.

The beloved Sesame Street redhead was on the show to talk about his unintentionally viral tweet from earlier in the week. "Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?" the account associated with Elmo tweeted into a nihilistic universe on Monday.

The tweet revealed there are a lot of people online having a tough day/week/year/millennium. "Elmo I'm gonna be real I am at my f---ing limit," one response read.

For his part, David wasn't on the show to choke a children's show character, but to promote the 12th and final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which debuts Feb. 4 on HBO.

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