Larry Laffer

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Larry Laffer
Larry Laffer
Developer(s): Sierra On-Line
Designer(s): Al Lowe
Game(s): Leisure Suit Larry 1, Leisure Suit Larry 2, Leisure Suit Larry 3, Hoyle 1, Leisure Suit Larry 5, Nicks Picks LSL's Casino, The Laffer Utilities, Leisure Suit Larry 6, Larrys Big Score, Leisure Suit Larry 7, Larry's Casino, Leisure Suit Larry MCL, Leisure Suit Larry BOB, Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded, Leisure Suit Larry WDDD
Role: Ego, Series Ego
Portrayed By:




A.K.A.

  • Leisure Suit Larry
  • Larry


Description

Larry Laffer is the protagonist of the Leisure Suit Larry Series.

About

Original (AGI) Larry Laffer Portrait

Larry Laffer was created by Al Lowe, beginning with the first game in his signature series, Leisure Suit Larry, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.

The Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry[1] wrote:
 
The Real Birth of Larry


So, now, we come to the real birth of Leisure Suit Larry. What we decided was that this guy was really pretty lame. That he was out of touch and stuck in the seventies. Somebody said, “Well, he’s the kind of guy that would wear a leisure suit in the eighties.” Everyone laughed and thought that was pretty funny because leisure suits are so dated.

“What’s wrong with leisure suits? I think they’re cool.”

Put down the chips and be like the government—don’t tax yourself, Larry.

Anyway, I had this friend that most of the others at Sierra knew, too (name deleted to protect all of us). Somebody said, “Yeah, this character’s like him, always talking about picking up girls but probably never gets any.”

So somebody else said he’s like a Leisure Suit Jerry (oops!). And then somebody else said, “No, we have to change the name, he’s like a Leisure Suit Larry.” That’s how it came up, all from five or six people brainstorming. I think it was John Williams who came up with the Leisure Suit Larry name.

The “Land of the Lounge Lizards” business happened because I’m a jazz musician too—I play a lot of clubs professionally. Have since I was 13. So I’ve worked a lot of lounges and stuff, and I said Larry’s the sort of guy who would hang out in lounges. So I contributed that part because that’s what men who hung out in lounges were called.

“Should I be insulted?”

You want to score with chicks in the next Leisure Suit Larry game?

“I’m not insulted, I’m not insulted!”

That’s what I thought you’d say.

Well, for a long time Larry’s last name in the game was the same as my friend’s. Then, just as we were ready to ship the game, John Williams called me and said that I had to take his name out of the game and make it something fictional instead.

I pulled out the L volume of my Encyclopedia Britannica. I grabbed the L book because everything else in the title started with L, and I thought it would be nice to keep the alliteration. The first name I came to was “Arthur Laffer,” and I just cracked up when I read it. The game was a funny game, and to make his last name Laffer got a pun in, so that’s how the name came about.

“Is this the one?”

Lemme see. Yeah, that’s it, Larry. I just have the one set.

“Well, Roberts told me he has ten now. Collects them. Ambushes encyclopedia salespeople with them.”

I guess living up in the mountains like he does, simple pleasures are best.

“Yeah, so does that mean Arthur Laffer is my father?”

No, I am your— Oh my God! What am I saying! Larry you’re just a fictional character in a computer game!

“Wanna bet?”

Yeah, and it was just coincidental that I picked Laffer’s name.

“Maybe so, but now everybody’s gonna want to know who he is. Let’s see here... hmmm...

“Yeah, he’s a cool dude. One of the founders of Supply-Side Economics. Arthur B. Laffer, born Youngstown, Ohio, Aug. 14, 1940. He’s most famous for his ‘Laffer Curve.’ I’m pretty fond of curves, myself.”

Right, Larry, but his is an economic hypothesis using a mathematical model to show that raising tax rates will actually result in less government revenues. He says that government revenues will rise if the present tax rates were lowered. He served on Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory board and was professor of finance and business economics at the University of Southern California from 1976 to 1984. He ran for the U.S. Senate from California in 1986.

“No kidding; he get many chicks?”

I don’t know, Larry. Call him and ask!

“Er... Guess I better not, but maybe I’ll try being a politician next. How’s this for an opening line, Big Al? ‘Hi. My name is Larry; Governor Larry Laffer. Let’s me and you go balance the budget, babe.”

Hmmm. Could work with some female lobbyists, I suppose. And, Lord knows, plenty of dorks like you do seem to get elected on a regular basis.

“You got it, man! I call it Proposition 69.”

Ah, right. Anyway, here’s an interesting story about Arthur Laffer. We decided it might be nice to really call him up and see if we could get him to give us a cover blurb for the Laffer Utilities, the latest Larry product and America’s leading non-productivity tool. I wrote him a letter explaining how Larry came to be named after him, and sent along some Leisure Suit Larry samples.

Well, he thought it was absolutely hilarious and, as he later told me, took the stuff and showed it to his secretary.

“Can you believe this?” he asked her.

“Yes, I play Leisure Suit Larry,” she told him. But, until that moment, the secretary had not realized that Larry was named after her boss.

He later came up for a visit, and we showed him around the Sierra facilities. He’s a very gracious man, with a great sense of humor, and a lot younger than you would think.

“And he likes me! That means he has good taste.”

More like a lot of tolerance, Larry, but people are waiting on us. Let me get back to talking about the birth of Leisure Suit Larry.

“If I can’t be governor, how’s about, President Larry Laffer? ‘Hey, good-looking! Waddaya say I show you what Secret Service really means?’ Wouldn’t have no trouble in bars if I was president.”

What have I done? What have I created?

“The greatest lover since Dobie Gillis. I am without a doubt the—”

Get me some antacid tablets out of the medicine cabinet. The extra strength ones. We’ve got to get on with this.


The Progression of Larry

Leisure Suit Larry in the
Land of the Lounge Lizards 		Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA Leisure Suit Larry 2 Leisure Suit Larry 3[2]
Leisure Suit Larry 5 Leisure Suit Larry 6 Leisure Suit Larry 7 Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded


Screenshots

File:LarrySS1.png File:LarrySS2.png File:LarrySS3.png
Description 1 Description 2 Description 3


Game Appearances


Locations


Associated Characters


References

  1. ↑ The Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry - (4th Edition), Alexander Books, ISBN 1-57090-050-7, 368 pages
  2. ↑ From Leisure Suit Larry 3 cover art
  3. ↑ Included as extras in the Leisure Suit Larry Collector's Edition / Leisure Suit Larry's Greatest Hits and Misses and the Leisure Suit Larry Collection Series Collections.
  4. ↑ Originally part of Dynamix’s Take a Break! Pinball


Also See

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