Larry David Says He'd Mine Divorce For Laughs

"If I was going onstage, of course I would talk about it," the Curb Your Enthusiasm star says

Curb Your Enthusiasm is all about the humor in painful situations – so it makes sense that Larry David would mine his split from wife Laurie for material.

Asked at Thursday’s Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills what he’d joke about if he ever returned to standup, he said, “It would probably be about the divorce. If I was going onstage, of course I would talk about it. How could I not?”

David, 59, and wife Laurie, 49, announced in June that they were separating after 14 years of marriage. Laurie is a well-known eco-activist, and when asked about his own environmental efforts, David quipped: “Well, after the divorce I went home and turned all the lights on!”

Of mining the breakup for material, David told PEOPLE: “I wouldn’t say it’s sick and twisted, but when something bad happens to you, if you’re a creative person you can generally use it to some degree.”

Some have speculated that Laurie’s increasingly high profile – she was a producer of An Inconvenient Truth and accompanied Sheryl Crow on her ‘Stop Global Warming’ tour – was a problem for her fiercely private husband. But David insisted her activism didn’t cause the split: “No, no, no, she’s been that way throughout. That’s nothing new.”

David’s TV wife, Cheryl Hines, is also an environmental activist. Since his art imitates his life, does that mean she won’t be back for another season? Turning to Hines, David teased, “Oh, it’s too bad you’re going to be off the show in the seventh season. What a shame! It’s a good idea for the seventh season, by the way.”

• Reporting by JENNY SUNDEL