Those who felt that Seinfeld ended in the late nineties must not be HBO subscribers.
In 1999, Larry David, co-creator and executive producer of Seinfeld (and the inspiration for the character of George), starred in a mockumentary showcasing his normal life and return to stand up entitled Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm. The special became a great success and HBO optioned it for a series which began in 2000. Now, four years later, the first season has made it’s way to DVD and it belongs in your collection. This review is going to be short. Not because one does not have a lot to write about, but because they do not want to ruin the experience for those who have not taken part in the hilarious experience of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Curb Your Enthusiasm covers much of the same ground as Seinfeld. In the first episode, “The Pants Tent”, Larry and his wife, Cheryl, talk about Larry’s pants that seem to bunch up in the crotch, making it appear that he has an erection. The establishment of this, of course, leads to a big payoff when Larry attends a movie with his wife’s friend and there is a misconception of the “pants tent”.
This, however, could be considered one criticism of the show. It always seems to follow the same format: Larry is a bit of an asshole, a problem occurs, it gets blown out of proportion, and no matter what happens, Larry gets the bad end of the stick. Sounds a lot like George, eheh? However, no matter how much this simple outline occurs, it’s still hilarious. This is what Seinfeld pitched to NBC as a show about nothing.
That is another one of the weaknesses of the show, it revolves around Larry David. Out of the many that have seen the show, a few have complained that it is hard to sympathize with a George Costanza character. Larry David, in the show, is a crude, selfish, asshole. However, what makes him sympathetic is the fact that he does not have any clue that what he is doing is selfish or rude. He’s doing what he believes is right and he is not setting out to hurt people, he’s just clueless and tactless at times. By surrounding him with supporting characters, David is allowing the audience to sympathize with the others lives that Larry influences.
The characters that surround Larry include his wife (Cheryl Hynes), his manager Jeff (Jeff Garlin), and celebrity regulars Ted Danson, Wanda Sykes, Richard Lewis, and others playing themselves. Most of the time, these characters provide the voice of reason to Larry. Despite being celebrities and Hollywood players, these people are the most relatable to us.
Much has been said about the show being un-scripted. David and his core group of players come up with a vague outline of what is going to occur during the episode but they leave all dialogue un-scripted, making reactions and interactions seem a lot more realistic and day to day. Just think of a 30 minute long version of a Christopher Guest exercise. For example, in one of the funniest episodes of the third season of the show, Larry encounters Wanda Sykes’s fiance, the rapper Krazy Eyez Killah. The rapper lists off a new song he is working on and Larry’s reaction is genuine because he has no idea what Killah is going to say next.
HBO’s set includes all ten episodes of the first season as well as the first hour-long special and a 30 minute interview between Larry David and Bob Costas. The special is much like a longer version of the show, but establishes Larry and his relationship to Seinfeld and his past, which is vaguely mentioned on the show itself. The interview covers much of what has been aforementioned: the un-scripted episodes, the everyday issues that become big issues, and Larry David himself. This is Seinfeld for the 21st Century, and it’s a Seinfeld of the west coast.
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