Larry David says he paid a psychiatrist to write a letter claiming he was 'crazy' to get out of the Army Reserves

• Larry David claims he faked a mental health episode to get discharged from the Army Reserves.
• He found a psychiatrist who was willing to write a letter declaring him unfit for duty for $250.

In what sounds like a rejected episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David claimed that he faked a mental health episode in an attempt to get discharged from the Army Reserves — and it worked.

The 76-year-old shared the story of how he finagled his way out of serving in the military while appearing on Monday's episode of the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast.

In a clip shared on YouTube, David recounted to host Conan O'Brien how he joined the Army Reserves when he was young to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War.

David, who worked as a "petroleum storage specialist," said he was required to serve on the Army Reserves for six years.

But he said he discovered an ingenious way to cut his military career short just two years into service.

As part of his duties, the comedian said that he had to attend a two-week summer camp, and it was there that he learned about a "psychiatrist who was writing letters for like $250" to declare service members unfit for duty.

"I went to see him, and I talked to him for 45 minutes, and he wrote me up this letter, and the letter basically said that I was crazy," he said.

According to David, he turned up for duty and proceeded to cause a scene to really sell it to his fellow Reserve members.

"These are friends of mine, I socialize with these people, and I see them all huddled together, pointing and looking at me, 'What's he doing? What's with David? Look at him, look at him.'"

Then I went to see the major, and the major was reading the letter and he was talking to me. I'm answering his questions, and after five minutes, he says to me, 'Can you drive home?'" David recalled.

"And I swear I said this line way before Dustin Hoffman said it in that movie, I said, 'Oh yeah, I'm a good driver,'" he said, referencing a scene from the 1988 movie "Rain Man."

"And that was it, and I got out," David concluded.

The "Seinfeld" creator previously wrote about his short-lived military career for The New York Times in 2004. In the tongue-in-cheek article, he said that while "people thought I had signed up just to avoid going to Vietnam," nothing could be further from the truth as he was "itching to go over there."

He also presented a different reason behind his early discharge.

"I was unable to fulfil my entire obligation because I was taking acting classes and they said I could skip my last year. I'll always be eternally grateful to the Pentagon for allowing me to pursue my dreams."