Larry Laffer (original version)

Image of Larry Laffer from game.

Larry Laffer is the primary main character (only for Passionate Patti or nephew Larry Lovage occasionally stepping into the playable role) of the Leisure Suit Larry series of games and non-productivity software. He was based on the 'puppet' from Softporn Adventure. Larry has a metafictional existence, he is a character within a game, and knows that he is a character in the game. He occasionally interacts with his own narrator as well.

Statistics

Name

Lawrence "Larry" Laffer

Gender

Male

Birthday

July 24

April 1

Age

38 (EGA LSL1 & Reloaded, LSL2) 40 (VGA LSL1, LSL5) 43 (According to LSL 3 hintbook), "fortysomething" (LSLBC)

Place of Birth

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and/or Gumbo, Missouri (Was he born on a plane between both locations?)

Home

Bass Lake, California

Height

5' 10" (5' 5" LSL1VGA)

Weight

Fluctuates

Bust

44

Waist

Fluctuates

Hips

Fluctuates

Color of Eyes

Blue

Marital Status

Single

Biography

Early life

According to Mother Laffer, Lawrence took three times longer than any normal kid to be born. She would often tell the story to her sympathetic friends in twentieth century.

According to Al, he was born near a log cabin in Gumbo, Missouri. However Larry is incredulous about Al's claim believing the story is more likely to fit a pioneer such as Abe Lincoln or Davy Crockett. According to Larry himself, he was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or at least he grew up there. Though Larry has been known to use the Gumbo backstory himself at times (at least in starring in a game reenacting events of his "recent" past for Sierra as in Larry 5). Larry grew up going through Catholic school.

The father at some time left them, and his mother sacrificed herself to raise and nurture him. Larry had also one brother. As he explained to Patti when they first kissed, he played trumpet in a mariachi band when young.

However during high school he dated a redhead; one afternoon when her parents were out of town she wanted him to come over to her house. During a near-death experience, Larry wondered if there could have been some reason for this.

He attended a local college, majoring in computer science, and lived at home, commuting to and from class. His favorite hangout was "The Shack", similar to a shanty on the Tramp Boardwalk. "Coed" was a strange word to him. His mother always fixed him 2 sandwiches with an apple or banana (never both), and a small cup of pudding (chocolate or vanilla). His misspent youth of age thirty, he had fond memories of playing Frogger on an Atari 400 when his classmates were dating. He cut his first computer teeth on an old integer BASIC Apple II (It wasn't even a Plus!).

Nothing more than a mild-mannered nerd confirmed bachelor and, basically, terrified of women; he has been living with his mother until he went 38. His reading material (other than the magazines he kept hidden under the mattress) are books like Probing Your Parallel Port, Compute!'s Using Turbo Basic (his favorite), and The Unix Desktop Guide to Emacs. Others included The Klutz's Guide to Committing Suicide by Ima Goner, The Illustrated Guide to Polyester Fabrics from the Editors of Gentlenerds Quarterly and How to Say No When You Really Mean Yes... Well, Maybe by N.D. Sysiv.

On Friday and Saturday nights, he used to play with his PC, and listen to his extensive collection of Barry Manilow, Air Supply, and Boxcar Willie records. He stopped occasionally by the record store to see if there was a new Manilow album or 8-track tape out; most of the Manilow stuff he really liked was still just on 8-track, although some of them were quadraphonic! He also loved Slim Whitman and Elvis.

At 5' 10" (average height), with receding hairline and his head poking up through his hair, his stomach won the race by pulling ahead of his chest.

Career

He worked for a small high-tech start-up company that was developing a line of artificially intelligent machine controls. Larry’s boss liked Larry a lot because he could brag to him for hours. His brother, as he told Larry time after time, was in the computer game biz and was pulling down big bucks. His supervisors wished they could have given Larry some artificial intelligence. Everyone agreed that Larry was conscientious (a "plodder" was how it was most often put), and would keep plugging away until he succeeded with an assigned task. Whether devising database structures or making points in adventure games, this seems to be an admirable trait.

He typically wore cardigan sweaters to work; he has a different pocket protector for each day of the week where he carefully puts three felt tip pens (red, green, and black) in his pocket protector, along with a ball point pen (blue), a mechanical pencil (messy black lead), and one of those little metal rulers with inches on one side and centimeters on the other.

He would pick up the brown paper bag with his lunch, walk out to his little rusty-red 1970 Volkswagen "Beetle," and putt-putt his way to work. Every morning was exactly the same series of actions. He never varied his route to work, and he always stopped at the "Stop" sign where Elm Street intersected Oak, even though you could see for six miles in either direction and there was never any traffic.

Larry would arrive at work every morning at exactly the same time (never early, never late), walking through the door to the programmers’ office at precisely 8 a.m., and stroll back cattywompus to his very own cubicle.

He would put his brown paper lunch bag into his bottom right drawer, turn on his computer, and go right to work. He’d punch away at the keys until 10 a.m., at which time he’d take his apple/banana from his lunch bag and go on coffee break for exactly fifteen minutes, eat the apple or banana, and drink the one free cup of coffee the company allowed employees.

Lunch was always 30 minutes long in the same employee lounge buying the same brand of soft drink (TAB) from the same machine against the wall of the lounge and munching both sandwiches and eat his cup of vanilla or chocolate pudding. Watching his fellow workers only made him feel worse, talking with tales of married bliss or conquests in singles’ bars.

Larry shifted over to traveling software salesman for the company for a time.

Around his 38th birthday, his brain hit a sexual alarm and started having his first kinky thoughts. Larry hid sleazy magazines in his room and read late at night, like covers by National Geographic with topless natives.

His erotic daydreams were PG and himself was a character gig or even just a walk-on or no-lines extra in them. Then the ratings on his dreams dropped to PG-13, and plummeted through NC-17 to around the X mark.

Daydreaming had its consequences. His performance at work dropped off. Bugs began to creep into his programs and his desk drawer, after he forgot to eat lunch and left his chicken salad and mayonnaise in there all night. He ran the stop sign at Elm and Oak (when for once there was traffic) and a cop who wrote him a ticket for unsafe movement.

Larry found himself watching the girls at work and going down to the mall on Saturday afternoons. And his life just kept on getting more miserable. Moping around or lying in his room with the door closed and the stereo blaring seventies music. He would sob into his pillow at night and pound it with his fist in quiet desperation. Larry’s mom was the only one to notice the change in him finding National Geographic magazines under his bed.

He was so dispirited that he didn’t even order the six-record set of Wayne Newton’s greatest hits offered on cable TV nor check about new Manilow songs.

His performance had dropped off so dramatically that the company could no longer justify his employment. The same day he had been fired from his job, he found the house sold and a note from his mom, which wished him luck and explained that she had bought herself a singles condo down in South Florida. The female real estate agent as she stood leaning against her snazzy red sports car, shooed him away.

Larry, under the watchful eye of the real estate lady, gathered his few meager possessions and packed them (a few computer books and some sleazy magazines left and, of course, his Barry Manilow collection) in the Volkswagen. He drove away toward the center of the city.

Revolution

It was time for that new beginning and decided to leave for Lost Wages. He parked in front of the Uptown-Downtown Pawn Shop, Delicatessen, and Night Fever Polyester Plaza. He paid with his worldly possessions on the counter for a white polyester leisure suit he’d had hanging there since 1973. The surprised shop owner, feeling just the least bit guilty, tossed in a pile of genuine cheap imitation gold lacquered chains and a gift certificate for the Disco On Fire Health Club and Dance Spa (which he’d gotten free anyway), and a ratty, much—worn pair of "steppin’ out" elevator shoes.

Larry changed in the restroom and walked out as a swinging single kind of guy. Another 15 minutes at the health club just down the street, a visit to the barber for a "Saturday Night Fever" bouffant haircut ("guaranteed to get the chicks—by the truckloads") and the new Larry was born.

As he posed and swing Travolta-style with his suit, a young lady jogged by then, studiously ignoring Larry after one startled and incredulous glance at him.

Larry knew a lot of people had come into Lost Wages in $10,000 cars and had left in $100,000 buses or on $2,000,000 trains. Larry however was there for the chicks and drove to Nevada. He spent his last ten bucks on gas and a can of breath spray and his credit card had just expired. A hundred miles later he passed the sign welcoming him to the city.

The first thing to do was to generate a few thousands. Falling in for an advertisement touting the "excellent", "cheap" and "luxurious" taxi service, he decided he would not need his car any more. A seedy, unprosperous-looking used car lot with the rusty little house trailer that served as an office, called A-1 Honest Used Cars caught his eye.

Honest Tricky Dick bought his beetle for 94 dollars without budging to Larry's haggling. Tricky Dick drove him downtown. Larry told him that he is after babes and Tricky Dick drove him to Lefty's.

As Honest Tricky Dick drove away, Larry took inventory of what he had on him. A worn wallet with $94 in it, an as-yet unused can of breath spray, some pocket lint, and a wrist watch. That was it. Except for his fantastic leisure suit—a major chick-getting necessity!

During the course of the series of games, Larry loses his virginity, is married twice (and dumped twice), becomes a hero of the tropical Nontoonyt island, and eventually meets his semi-other half, Passionate Patti (who, for some parts of the games, is controlled by the player). Larry and Patti are captured by Amazon cannibal women, but escape through the use of a magic doorway that left their game world (Sierra World) through time and space into the Sierra On-Line studios.

Working for Sierra

It was at Sierra Studios that he was hired to help Al Lowe create a game series based on his own adventures. He began with 1987's Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards an EGA adventure game. Thus Leisure Suit Larry was born, and he had helped create himself (and the world that he would later escape). It was Patti that suggested that he name the bar that began the adventures that changed his life, 'Lefty's'.

Larry took some time off to go surfing while he was 'filming' LSL2. This was captured on the box of the game. The box of Larry 3 was also a photo taken during a moment of relaxation during his 'filming' of LSL3 for the game.

During this period Larry occasionally found himself again in the game worlds in the form of Hoyle I (before or during the time he was working on LSL4). While Larry continued to work on LSL4, Patti recorded the music for the game.

During this period he was also known to have worked on the Laffer Utilities (1994). He could be seen with Patti again in many different activities. Larry and Patti were ready to marry, they were even seen together during the wedding (see Laffer Utilities), however Patti left the Leisure One standing at the altar of The Little Church in Yosemite Valley! What a waste! She dumped a good man to run off to Hollywood just for one of those once—in—a—lifetime recording deals.

Larry continued to work for Sierra, but neither being that successful with girls, he always had trouble with his jobs.

Ken and Roberta sent him to the Last Chance Seminary to improve his productivity, or be fired. Larry packed the disks for the nearly complete LSL4 in his suitcase in order to keep them 'safe' . He accidentally boarded the wrong plane heading to the Manyanga Islands, Larry lost the prototype disks when his luggage was jettisoned during an accident. He later found his luggage floating in the ocean, with one of the disks having washed up on the beach. He was able to find it and the other disks scattered throughout the islands. After an accidentally jumping into bed with Al Lowe naked, he blackmailed the elder programmer into letting him keep his job at Sierra, where he continued to work on the finalized game.

Leisure Suit Larry 4, told the adventures of Larry Laffer as he worked as a programmer at Sierra Online (while also apparently having successful business in savings and loans). Larry had promised to send copies to Peter Spear. Larry was not heard from for a while, and it was thought that they had been lost in the mail. . A search of his house revealed that his CD player had been left on, and that he had mysteriously disappeared.

It was later revealed that Larry had been kidnapped, and the disks had gone missing. He was later discovered at Camp David, suffering from amnesia of events from his time working at Sierra to the point of his kidnapping. The last thing he remembered was writing his life story as a computer game, sitting on a deck with a half-naked woman (he remembered was named Patti), overlooking a beautiful lake nestled high in the Sierra Nevada. The Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies was never found.

New Careers

While working for PornProdCorp and flying back to Los Angeles with AeroDork Airlines, the pilot's contract ran out and (being a good union man) refused to work without a contract. The plane was helpless and Larry, having used to sell flight simulator software door-to-door, offered to help. Despite this (and killing hours playing "Red Baron" instead of working) could not help him handling a modern passenger jet. However he managed to save the plane, including Danforth Quayle's mother who was also a passenger. He was greeted as a hero and the Mr. President himself invited him to the White House Tuesday next week for a typical Big National Hero Of The Week Dinner.

Return to Sierra

After leaving from a vacation at Camp David, Patti and Larry returned to their home above Bass Lake. Where they continued to live together, though Larry was known to try to pick up chicks at bars (and continue his old hobby of infidelity whenever he had the chance).

Larry started working for Sierra again to start filming/programming his new escapades starting with Larry 5 (based on harrowing story and return to Patti), and later Leisure Suit Larry I VGA (where he acknowledges he's back with Patti at one point, and talks about some of his co-workers at Sierra, and Ken Williams involvement in the loss of LSL4).

Larry also made brief appearances in a pinball game based on Larry 5.

Plus Larry and Patti's continued work as hosts at LarryLand (CasinoLand) in the ImagiNation network.

Many fans wondered what happened to Patti in Larry 6, if they separated, and why. In Larry 6 both Larry and Patti took part up as pinups in a calendar for the year. The later editions of Official Book Of Leisure Suit Larry, which were written between Larry 6 and Larry 7, shows that Larry and Patti were still living together, that they were engaged with each other during that period, she continues nag him while he follows his hobby of 'chasing girls'. This had previously lead to a break up between Larry 3-5, then they returned after 5 to work for Sierra again. Patti wanted more money than Sierra was willing to pay, so was left out of the work for Larry 6 (other than the aforementioned calendar). Larry worried that events of Larry 6 could hurt his relationship again, and asked Al Lowe to explain that it was just an 'acting gig'. They continued to live together during this period. It's also mentioned that Larry was just starting to film/work on the game version of the events of Larry 7.

After nearly being killed by Shamara at La Costa Lotta in his last game, in Larry newest story he took a vacation cruise on the PMS Bouncy to unwind. It was there he won a competition to spend time with Captain Thigh, the ship's commander. The last they were seen, an alien UFO put a tractor beam on the ship, and it was taken into the hold of spaceship.

Throughout the years Larry continued to work for Sierra in an on again, off again relation 'filming' his latest adventures and helping them get released as games.

Later Years

Larry in the decade following LSL7. His casino had expanded in 1998, but folded not long after. And there were those rumors of him being abducted by alien babes... 

By 2004, he had moved to Walnut Log where he gave advice to his young nephew and protege Larry Lovage. He could be found at the local pub Lefty's Too pining away about his escapades and conquests during the 80's and 90's, his successes and losses. He periodically contacted his nephew, and his nephew would contact him by phone. His hair by this time had started to gray on the edges. He is still pining for his lost Passionate Patti. Following his nephew's success on Swingles, Larry joined his nephew and the other students for the summer vacation bash. He found himself dancing with the transvestite Koko.

In 2006's Bikini Beach Volleyball, Larry looks a little more bald (Larry lost his greying sideburns or colored them in or perhaps it portrays an event in Larry's earlier days). Later, Love For Sail Mobile told one of the stories during the LSL4 period.

By 2009, he had become a fairly successful owner of his own porn studio: Laffer Studios in Tinselwood. But the years had not been good to him, much of his hair had fallen out by then, and he had gained much weight, and had become impotent. A rival studio Anus Productions was attempting to destroy his career. So he was forced to hire his nephew to go undercover and discover who was behind it. Once it was resolved he decided to again travel the world.

Other

Reloaded Universe

See Larry Laffer (Reloaded). & Larry (Short Man)

In Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded it seems Larry (or Larrys) has returned to an alternate 1980s game world. A younger Larry Laffer also encounters an older version of himself apparently left over from the old universe (c. 2013) and aged (again skinny having lost weight from his 2009 appearance). Both Larrys talk similar, both are (or were) software salesman, both enjoy polyester & breath spray, and both are in Lost Wages to find women. Both have seemingly limited knowledge of their previous existence in the Sierra World universe before ending up in the Reloaded world. Younger Larry is at least amnesiac of the Missing Floppies era.

Larry Casino

By 2017, Larry opened a new Larry Casino and online gambling site. See Larry Laffer (LC). This was a UK/Malta spinoff licensed game/website only.

Wet Dreams Don't Dry

Larry from 1980s finds himself in the 21st century. See Larry Laffer (WDDD). This Larry is based on his LSL1-3 version. It may be a soft reboot from those games.

Name

While making In the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Sierra On-line staff had to decide the character's name. They agreed that he should be named after a friend of Al Lowe's named Jerry (Lowe never made his last name known to the public), who had visited him at work and became well known in the Sierra studios. Jerry thought of himself as a great lover. He became an infamous point of comical reference among the staff, so the game creators agreed that since Jerry's character suited the game's 'hero', they should jokingly tribute him.

However, since they thought it would be immoral to use a real person's full name as a comical reference, "Jerry" was then altered to "Larry", a similar name, in honor of famed injury attorney Larry H. Parker, a childhood friend of Al Lowe. Al Lowe had to find a new surname, and having in mind the many L-words of the title, skimmed through the 'L' volume of an encyclopedia in order to find a suitable word or name. He fell on the entry of Arthur Laffer, and the name caught his attention because it reminded him of 'laugher'.

Arthur Laffer for years had no idea about the existence of the games until much later when Al Lowe sent a letter asking his permission for the publication of a program under the title The Laffer Utilities, a Larry spin-off which could potentially confuse the public due to the ambiguous title. Laffer asked his secretary if she knew about the games and she told him that she had played them for years, but never made a connection. Laffer gave the permission and also paid a visit to the Sierra studios.

Hobbies

• Women
• Grass skirts and lei weaving
• Disco dancing until dawn
• Girls
• Women
• Microwave cuisine
• Occasional cross-dressing
• James Bond novels
• The collecting of traditional

American disco-influenced

music-especially the works

of Manilow, Diamond, Summer,

and the brothers Gibb.

• Girls and women

Nicknames & Titles

• Leisure Suit Larry
• Uncle Larry
• Leroy
• Lar
• Larry Larry
• Lemont Creante
• Leisure One

Relatives

• Grandfather Laffer

• Mother Laffer

• Larry Lovage

• Dita & Betty (Cousins)
• Monique
• Al Lowe (Father, or some say)

Notes

• After Larry passed through the portal to Earth, he was hired by Sierra as both a programmer and an actor in the reproduction games about his past adventures.
• There was a separation from Sierra after the loss of LSL4 and during events of LSL5. However after making up with Patti and returning to his home at Bass Lake, he went back to work in the company under Al Lowe, filming the events of LSL5, and the next two games, and a few spin-offs (Larry's Casino). He remained with Patti the entire time.
• He apaprenty broke up with Passionate Patti again by the time of LSL8MCL.
• Larry Laffer doesn't know what bi-curious or what transsexual means.
• Larry acts as a sort of tutorial giver, narrator, hint giver, and mentor in LSL8.
• Happy Birthday Leisure Suit Larry! (But You Get The Gift!) April Fool's Day is coming and yup, it's Leisure Suit Larry's birthday. To celebrate Sierra is posting a piece of primo software to the SierraWeb site and other Sierra sites in cyberspace on that fateful day as part of the big Sierra Celebration. The new Talking Larry makes the ultimate lounge lizard appear on your screen with words of (half?) wit and wisdom whenever the machine is idle for more than a few minutes. Full of silly jokes, pithy quotes and a few hardy suggestions on how to pick up the good babes (as if he'd know) Larry offers all the answers you REALLY want from your PC. Download the file LARRYSPK.EXE to inject new attitude into your computer. (Windows Only)
• Larry evolves and looks different over the course of the many games. In the first three games, he's more or less as tall as the women, maintaining a more natural human physique. His head size is roughly the same size as women he dates, his neck line and head matches up with the women. By Larry 5/LSL1VGA he is given a big head, while he's stlll tall as women from head to feet, his neck and chest is well below the women's breasts. His head is about the same height as chest to head of the women. In Larry 7 however Larry is generally much shorter than most of the women.
• Larry and Patti are not married at the time of LSL5. In Beside Companion he is still 'divorced-and swinging' as of the time just after Larry 5. Also in the Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry he is not married to her as of Larry 6, and during early filming of Larry 7. He's asked if he's interested in marrying her in the Official Book. In 1992 Laffer Utilities they are shown at a wedding, however this may have been 'taken' shortly before she left him at the altar (as in the LSL5 backstory), and the non-productivity/mini-games program shows them together taking part in many different events.
• At the time of Larry 1-3: ""Don’t be fooled by how small he looks on your screen. In personal appearance, Larry is five feet, ten inches (average height). His hairline is beginning to recede and, worse, his head is poking up through his hair. His stomach is starting to win the race by pulling ahead of his chest. He typically wore cardigan sweaters to work, and has a different pocket protector for each day of the week." Note: This information also was included in the Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry up to the 4th Edition of the book. Technically even in Larry 6, Larry is roughly as tall as the women, although body and head proportions changed.
• Larry is shorter than the women in Larry 7 and Reloaded.
• Al Lowe has since claimed they did get married after LSL3, and that was the happy ending. However, this goes against the backstory that was given in the production notes for Larry 5, and implied in Larry 5 itself, where they were not married, and Patti left him at the alter to pursued her career in showbiz.
• The non Al Lowe games starting with Magna Cum Laude has them separated, and Larry is still pining away for her.

Gallery

Behind the scenes

Larry on the cover of the second game

Although Larry Laffer is accused by many as a symbol of male chauvinism, Lowe explains that Larry is intended as a satire of that type of man, rather than an endorsement of it. Howeve, Larry is often becomes the victim in many situations as well, mistreated when he is actually genuinely nice (at least according to the Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry).

Originally Larry was a typical 16-coloured sprite with the occasional 16-color close up picture showing more facial features or the back of his head, although on box covers he was seen as a cartoon with huge triangular head and nose. As technology advanced to allow more cartoon-like graphics, the VGA games updated the sprite to resemble the depiction of Larry on the covers.

In the later games with full voiceover soundtrack, Larry is voiced by actor Jan Rabson in all games except Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, where he was voiced by actor Jeffery Tambor.

He is voiced by unknown actor in Hoyle 4.

Larry is treated as both a software salesman and a programmer in the backstories for the character. The exact order of when he held these positions is not clear. But it is at least implied by the original LSL1 ending, that he was still a software salesman at the time of LSL1. LSL2 begins roughly the day (at the most a few) after LSL1 and his one night stand in Lost Wages, and its introduced that he is a programmer. The manual for LSL1 and LSL2 are not clear about his job, except that he is growing tired of it. It is noted that he wears pocket protectors, and LSL2 manual seems to suggest that it is probably a deskjob of some sort (or one in which fellow coworkers and friends would 'go home from' after the day ends to their wives, but he is not able to since he has no family to return to (other than his mother)).

External links

• Larry Laffer at Police Quest Wiki
• Larry Laffer at Space Quest Wiki
• Larry Laffer at King's Quest Wiki
• Leisure Suit Larry Series

References

• The Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry (1994), written by Al Lowe and Ralph Roberts (ISBN 087455215X, ISBN 978-0874552157). Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 5.
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