I wish they’d put some tennis matches on tv. It would be easy to keep umpires, line judges and players apart. Everyone could disinfect their hands before play and the ballkids wouldn’t be allowed to handle the players’ sweaty towels.
Apparently the phrase was first used in 1875 by a NZ writer. He wrote, "We would be as happy as Larry were it not for the rats." Who Larry is/was is anybody's guess though some believe it was a boxer named Larry Foley, an Australian who won almost all of his fights.
True, Arky, but I really don't see him being the 'Larry' in the phrase. I mean, he won 17 of 21 fights, so he must have been unhappy on at least 4 occasions :-))