Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 1 (2000)

4/23/06

Seinfeld c0-creator and inspiration for the character George, Larry David is the creator and star of the HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. While Seinfeld was iconicly New York Enthusiasm is very much about Los Angeles. In the series David plays himself much as Jerry Seinfeld did in his program, and indeed both shows have a similar sense of humor, only Curb Your Enthusiasm by virtue of being on pay-cable is able to present it in a highly concentrated form that would never get by on 'the Networks'. Basically the show is about bad karma, Larry through virtue of his innate selfishness and hang-ups over life's unwritten rules will inevitably make a poor decision in each episode that will come back to bit him in the end. For example when he refuses to pick up a golf ball for a guy on the course because he is wearing an annoying hat, he ends up needing that same guys assistance later on to get directions. Also in a Seinfeld type manner Larry will obsess over the little niceties such as what is the cut-off time for calling someone with kids, and how long of an appearance are you obligated to make at a party you do not want to attend. Rounding out the cast are Cheryl Hines as Larrys wife Cheryl and Jeff Garlin as his agent Jeff Green. Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the only shows that can make me uncontrollably laugh aloud, but simultaneously has reduced me to hiding my face on several occasions. This program is all about the awkward. Not for everybody but very funny Curb Your Enthusiasm is strong comedy.