Larry David's appearance on "Finding Your Roots" is packed with surprises, including a tie to the Confederacy, when the comedian learns several astounding discoveries about his family tree.
The the upcoming season four premiere of the PBS series made headlines when it was revealed that the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star was related to Bernie Sanders, the senator who he so eloquently impersonated on "Saturday Night Live" recently.
However, the "Finding Your Roots" episode, which airs on Oct. 3, makes various other revelations pertaining to David's ancestry.
The Daily Beast noted that many of the comedian's ancestors were victims of the Holocaust. However, David was astonished to learn that his great-great-grandfather, Henry Bernstein, fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Adding to the wonder, the PBS show's host, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., traced many members of David's paternal family to Germany, and his great-grandmother Henrietta to Alabama.
"This is just such an odd combination on my father's side of Germany and the South," the comedian remarked. "Two places that we have fought against as a country. Oh my goodness, I hope no slaves show up on this."
In the upcoming episode of "Finding Your Roots" Gates also makes a startling revelation about David's great-great-grandfather, who it turned out owned two slaves.
"You can see why my father didn't want to tell me anything about his family," David jokes in the episode. "Well, Henry Bernstein, I hope you're proud of yourself."
While this deeper look into David's ancestry certainly proves interesting, it is predominantly his relation to Sanders that has captivated public interest.
The similarities between the two had been a hot topic for years, even before David's comic impersonations of the senator aired on "Saturday Night Live," AM New York noted.
Finding out that they are related was the cherry on the cake.
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