Where Larry David's neuroses come out to play - Curb Your Enthusiasm - Season One

I was an early and devoted Seinfeld fan. From the very beginning it was clear that this program was written exclusively for the enjoyment of the members of my household, so closely did the humor match what we looked for in a TV series. I mourned the passing of the program, with the appropriate refreshments of muffin tops and Snapple, along with many others. Little did we know that the genius behind Seinfeld would hatch a program of his own just a short time later.

The genius, of course, is Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld. The program is Curb Your Enthusiasm. Like most Seinfeld fans, I didn’t have any real idea of the magnitude of David’s contribution to the essence of what made Seinfeld funny. Watching the HBO series he created and stars in, I see it in all its glory. I see how he is Jerry, he is George, he is Kramer – sometimes he’s even a little bit of Elaine – all wrapped up in his own neuroses-filled world where the minutia of day-to-day existence becomes the canvas upon which comedy is drawn.

Season One of Curb Your Enthusiasm (initially aired in 2000 – released on DVD in mid-2004) introduces us to Larry. Larry plays Larry David. He plays the Larry David that created Seinfeld and lives in Los Angeles with his wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines). Larry and his manager Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin) muddle through days filled with nothing, the kind of nothing only Larry could turn into crises. In essence, Larry David has thinly fictionalized his own life and turned it into a piece of brilliant comedy.

The scripts are the merest of outlines – the bulk of the dialogue in each episode filled out by the actors as they film the episode. The guest appearances are numerous and grand, filled with familiar faces playing themselves and clearly having a marvelous time with the freedom to improvise given them by David and his insane little troupe of regulars. This is a program full of small moments of comedy perfection, small moments of comedy imperfection and everything in between. This first season is when the main cast works out the kinks in the format. As the season progresses, we can see them becoming more comfortable with their roles and the interaction between the recurring characters. By the end of the season, they have found their rhythm and turned into an ensemble cast that shows the potential to rival that of David’s first mega-hit brainchild.

The beauty of this series running on HBO is that it is free of the constraints of network censors. The language can be coarse, the subjects can be lewd and inappropriate – anything is fodder for comedy. Yet each subject is handled with cleverness and some degree of subtlety, the foul language no more than you would likely hear in the real world. The difference is that the real world, for most of us, just isn’t anywhere near this maddeningly hilarious. I’m going to give you just the barest bones of the contents of each episode from this season. To do more would risk ruining the fun of watching each sequence of events spiral on its own, and that would be downright mean. Every episode has several plots going at the same time, all of which inevitably collide at some point, causing Larry as much distress as possible. It ain’t easy being Larry, people. Here, a brief look at the episodes from Season One of Curb Your Enthusiasm, with a small hint of hilarious sequences to watch for.


”The Pants Tent” - An issue with a bulky pair of pants causes Larry distress and embarrassment. Watch for the first of many appearances by Richard Lewis and the beginning of a bad relationship between Larry and Richard’s girlfriend, as well as between Larry and manager Jeff’s parents.

”Ted and Mary” - Guest appearances by Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen (playing themselves of course) with focus on an evening of bowling, a day of shopping and a Paul Simon concert. Watch for Larry’s reaction to drinking Mary’s mother’s water at lunch.

”Porno Gil” - In true Seinfeldian fashion, one thing leads to another after Larry snubs a man at the driving range. Watch for one of the first truly great moments between Larry and Cheryl as he drives around lost looking for a party she does not want to attend.

”The Bracelet” - In possibly my favorite episode of the season, Richard Lewis returns to attempt to help Larry buy a bracelet for Cheryl. Of course, nothing is easy when you’re Larry, so watch for a fabulous sequence where Larry and Richard help a blind man move.

”Interior Decorator” - Revolving around a repeatedly missed meeting with Diane Keaton, this episode finds Larry at odds with a doctor’s appointment policy and an interior decorator’s ethics. Watch for two hilarious brawls.

”The Wire” - The first appearance of a Seinfeld regular finds Julia Louis-Dreyfuss pressed into service to help Larry appease an odd neighbor who is blocking Larry and Cheryl from removing an unsightly wire from their yard. Watch for the reappearance of “the bracelet”.

”Aamco” - A fantastic premise in which Larry mistakes a car horn in a radio ad for the real thing and causes a typically fantastic chain of events. Watch for the leftover stealer.

”Beloved Aunt” - The show really begins to hit its stride and take advantage of its position on HBO. A typo causes Larry to become a displaced millionaire with nowhere to go. Watch for the “cop a feel” sequence.

”Affirmative Action” - No one ever claimed that Larry is a tactful guy, and he proves it by being his generally awkward self and offending a friend of Richard Lewis. Later the same day, of course, he finds himself in desperate need of the services of the same friend. Watch for the second maitre‘d sequence.

”The Group” - Cheryl is offered a terrific acting chance and Larry finds himself embroiled in the life of an ex-girlfriend, sparking Cheryl’s jealousy. This is the final episode of the first season and the one where they mine comedy from the least likely source. Watch for a wonderful turn by Alan Arbus as Uncle Nathan.

Season One is not without its pitfalls. The relationship between Larry and wife Cheryl doesn’t hit its stride until about half way through the season, with a number of their interactions feeling awkward and forced. This is clearly the most difficult screen relationship to establish, as the two have no scripts and need to banter as husband and wife. With each episode you can see them becoming more comfortable in this interaction, but that initial hesitance leads to some clunky sequences early on.

Each episode also has at least one moment that doesn’t work. That’s simply the nature of improvisational comedy - some things turn out funnier than others. Those moments are far, far outweighed by the ones that do work, but the very nature of the series makes it clear that when you watch improv you have to cut the actors a little more slack than you might when watching a tightly scripted series. The upside of this is that the funny moments are far funnier because you know they aren’t scripted. Watching this show takes a slightly different mind-set than watching the usual network fare. From the absence of a laugh track to the calliope type score that tinkles through every episode, this isn’t your average sit-com. That can only be a good thing.

Included as a DVD extra is the original 1999 HBO special that inspired the series. An hour long, it is truly an inspired piece of work. Played out as a “reality” show highlighting Larry David’s return to stand up comedy, it is a show within a show within the crazy mind of Larry David. Absolutely hilarious in places and with a large number of cameo appearances by the Seinfeld cast, it’s easy to see why the powers-that-be at HBO expanded this into a series. It’s a wonderful addition to the DVD set.

The set also includes a Larry David interview with Bob Costas. This extra is worth watching for a sampling of just how closely the character we see on the show resembles the character that is the real Larry David. The interview drags, though, and wears out its welcome fairly quickly. Let’s just say that Bob Costas was not a good choice for interviewer.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is a strange and wonderful beast in the world of situation comedy. Larry David is an odd, endearing and maddeningly anal retentive man, one with whom we’re all much more familiar than we know. He was clearly the life blood behind the characters of George and Kramer on Seinfeld, you can see their mannerisms in his, hear their words coming from his mouth, understand that this is how they came to behave as they did. It’s all Larry. Even the characters of Jerry and Elaine owed much to this man. Now we get the chance to experience that madness all in one character, that character being Larry himself as played by Larry himself, living out Larry’s life as a piece of comedy. It’s a wonderful concept, made even more special by the lack of scripting and the glorious nature of improvisational comedy. Do yourself a favor, Curb Your Enthusiasm, starting from the very beginning. Nothing is as funny as nothing in the world of Larry David.