Comedian and actor Jeff Garlin says he hasn’t landed an acting job in nearly three years since “Curb Your Enthusiasm” ended, a personal account that’s surfacing as Los Angeles grapples with a steep decline in film and television production.
Garlin made the admission on Adam Carolla’s podcast last week after Carolla asked whether there was “anything going on in Hollywood anymore.” Garlin, who hesitated before answering, said plainly: “I haven’t worked in almost three years since ‘Curb’ ended.” He added, “The reason that you and I do this no longer exists. It doesn’t,” and suggested the kind of work he and Carolla do “could be doing this thing in Sweden.”
Garlin was pointing to the broader trend of productions leaving not just California but the United States entirely. “The number of American productions that are filmed in Ireland tells you all you need to know. All these empty sound stages. It’s a shame,” he said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced last week a new post-production tax credit, an expanded film and television tax credit, and protections for actors against AI-generated content, all aimed at bringing production back to the state. Under the California Film Commission’s expanded Film and Television Tax Credit Program, 35 films — 28 of them independent projects — received production incentives in the latest round. The commission estimates these projects will generate more than $1 billion in direct production spending, create jobs for more than 5,400 cast and crew members, and employ 24,800 background actors.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress is also working on a federal tax credit for film and television productions that could be layered on top of state incentives. Still, people in the industry remain uncertain whether these measures will be enough to bring jobs back. Federal data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the industry has shed 49,000 jobs since 2022, following the pandemic and a slowdown in streaming production.
Actors Turning to Other Work
Actor and comedian Bryan Callen told Fox News Digital he wasn’t surprised by Garlin’s admission. “You can’t make your living as just an actor anymore in Los Angeles,” Callen said. “If you do a series on, say, Netflix, and it’s a 10-episode series, do the math. Take a look at what’s left after taxes and commissions to your manager, your agent, whoever it might be.”
Callen said even a working actor in Los Angeles may struggle financially given the cost of living. “You are living, if you are lucky, a middle-class existence, but probably lower than that when you take into account how expensive everything is in Los Angeles — property and just having to live and buy food and all that stuff,” he said.
Callen himself has leaned more heavily into stand-up comedy and podcasting. “I was like, I can’t put all my eggs in this acting basket,” he said, citing the breakdown of what he called Hollywood’s “monoculture” — the era when a handful of big stars alone could draw audiences. “This business has been so atomized. The days of all of us going to one place, whether it’s a TV show or a movie, to watch that one person are long gone… And if that’s the case, big names are no longer big names. They just aren’t.”
Even so, Callen doesn’t think Hollywood itself is finished. “Remember this about Los Angeles,” he said. “First of all, you shot there because the weather was predictable. It wasn’t going to rain you out. And number two, the best of the best still lives in Los Angeles. People think they can move this business to Texas or whatever. No, you can’t. At the end of the day, you still have the best sound engineers, the best directors, the best writers, the best special effects people, the best people who score film and all that.”
Crews Feel the Squeeze Too
Carolla, speaking on his podcast, said the pain extends well beyond actors. He recalled a conversation with a friend who had worked as an editor for 32 years: “I’m retired. There’s no work.”
“Everyone is moving out, and it’s affecting — I mean, again, everyone thinks about the actor, the director, but a crew has so many people that work, hairdressers, catering, craft service people, crew members,” Carolla said.
Garlin reflected on how different the business feels now compared with when he started. “I moved here to be in a world where Bob Newhart and Mel Brooks opened the doors, and you followed through,” he said. “It used to be, ‘Boy, you’re lucky, even if you’re talented, to break through.’ Now, it’s, ‘You’re lucky if someone even notices you’re in the room.'”
