Curb Your Enthusiasm

An American comedy series starring Seinfeld writer, co-creator, and executive producer Larry David as himself, and produced and broadcast by HBO. The series was inspired by a 1999 one-hour fake documentary titled Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm, which David and HBO originally envisioned as a one-time project. Six seasons of the series have been produced and aired on HBO between 2000 and 2007. The seventh season premiered September 20, 2009.

The show stars Larry David as a fictional version of himself, accompanied by fictional re-creations of his real friends, usually played by themselves. Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Wanda Sykes, and Richard Lewis have all had recurring roles as characters based on themselves.

The show is set in Santa Monica, David’s real place of residence, and centers around Larry’s experiences as a semi-retired famous television producer. Although Larry maintains an office he is rarely shown working, other than in season four which centered around his being cast as Max Bialystock in the Mel Brooks play The Producers. Most of the show revolves around Larry’s interactions with his friends and neighbors. The fictional Larry David is something of a misanthrope, often making inappropriate comments and getting offended or angry when others fail to adhere to his often arbitrary standards of behavior. Despite Larry’s often offensive behavior and sometimes wildly inappropriate adventures, few of his friends seem to remain offended for long and the cast has stayed stable throughout the show.
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Curb Your Enthusiasm (CYE) is many things, but ultimately, it is an exercise in adult situational comedy done with a style and wit that is second-to-none. In a nutshell, it is Seinfeld to the extreme – more specifically, it’s George Costanza to the extreme.

The style is unique because, unlike Seinfeld, a conventional, scripted sit-com, CYE is very unconventional in its free-flowing ad-lib style and ‘unpolished’ nature. The viewer really feels like they’re dropping in on situations and conversations already in progress. It’s very different from the typical studio audience, laugh tracks, polished (unnatural) lighting and delivery of punchlines every 45 seconds. Once you’re past the unconventional change in style, it’s very refreshing.

The way that Larry finds himself constantly offending people and in the middle of very sticky situations, has the potential for getting old quickly, but the tangled web of creativity combats that. I really appreciate the tension that the show creates between characters – it’s real-life stuff. We don’t always have a line to go to or a pleasant ‘out’. Many times we find ourselves with foot-in-mouth. Hopefully, not as often as Larry. On the show, he lives a life of apologizing to people and trying to fix his messes.

Another aspect of the show that I enjoy is the inside-look into show business and the California lifestyle. There are many recurring celebrity roles and cameos. Each episode is quite different.

Main Cast

Larry David
Self-centered, misanthropic and regularly difficult, Larry creates awkwardness and discomfort in social situations. His problems are often caused by his own neuroses and an obstinate faith in his own understanding of ethics and etiquette. At the same time, he usually has good intentions but often finds himself a victim of circumstance and social convention. The show’s popularity has resulted in the term “Larry David moment,” meaning inadvertently causing a socially awkward situation, entering the American pop culture lexicon. The real life Larry David has commented that he could never be the way he was on TV because he is a lot more cautious when it comes to social tension. Larry David is known for his probing stare when he doesn’t think somebody is telling the truth and often says something is “pretty, pretty, pretty good” when he likes it.

Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin)
One of Larry’s few friends, Jeff is his sympathetic manager whose marital problems and avid interest in pornography entangle Larry in embarrassing situations. Jeff often helps Larry with his problems, but that usually leads to Jeff getting involved with the mess. Jeff and his wife, Susie, have a daughter named Sammie (Ashly Holloway). Sammie once said that she would choose Oscar over her father if he could not live in the same house as the dog. Jeff Greene often says, “What the f@!%?” when things do not go as planned.

Cheryl David (Cheryl Hines)
Larry’s long-suffering wife, who often expresses annoyance with his behavior, even in situations beyond his control. She is an active member of the NRDC. Cheryl left Larry in the Season 6 episode “The TiVo Guy” when he hung up on her calling from a plane facing turbulence because he was with the TiVo guy (Kevin Heffernan) and “couldn’t hear” her.

Richard Lewis (as himself)
A neurotic stand-up comedian who is recovering from alcohol and drug problems. He is one of Larry’s oldest and closest friends, both having moved from New York City to Los Angeles to pursue their comedy careers. Despite this, his relationship with Larry is often volatile and complicated. Often, Richard becomes the victim of Larry’s follies, causing Richard to blame Larry for almost everything wrong in his life. Ironically, he is usually more sensible than Larry.

Susie Greene (Susie Essman)
Jeff’s wife. She has a highly explosive temperament and reacts with near violence to benign grievances. She and Jeff have a volatile “on-again, off-again” relationship. Susie often uses Larry as a scapegoat for her marital problems. She is extremely high-strung.

Recurring Roles

Ted Danson (as Himself, Season 1-) — Ted is a friend of Larry’s despite the fact that Larry often insults him behind his back. When Cheryl and Larry separate, Ted chooses to side with Cheryl as the two often do charitable work with the NRDC.

Mary Steenburgen (as Herself, Season 1-) — Mary frequently appears alongside her real life husband Ted.

Marty Funkhouser (Bob Einstein) — One of Larry’s oldest friends. Despite this, he and Larry tend to disagree on many topics such as whether or not he is too old to be called an orphan, and he also argues that Larry is his best friend, which Larry constantly tries to refute. He has a wife and one daughter, Jodi, who is a lesbian, as well as a sister with mental health issues called Bam Bam. He is often very methodical and by-the-book about most of his actions and puts much emphasis on family first, making sure the entire family takes one opinion on a certain matter. Despite that, he has been known to take credit for things which may or may not necessarily apply to him.

Nat David (Shelley Berman, Season 3-) — Nat is Larry’s Jewish father who has suffered from glaucoma until he took some of a prostitute’s marijuana. In “The Rat Dog” Nat falls in love with a masseuse Larry hired to give him a happy ending. Nat has a serious hearing problem as well.

Andy David (Richard Kind, Seasons 3-5) — Larry’s loud-mouthed cousin. In “The Special Section”, Andy gets upset when Larry does not call him when he was in New York.

Becky (Kaitlin Olson, Season 1-) — Cheryl’s sister who is often at odds with Larry over religious and personal reasons. Cheryl moves in with Becky after she leaves Larry.

Cheryl’s Dad (Paul Dooley, (Season 1-) — Cheryl’s very Christian father who often disagrees with Larry. He is often very loud and likes to sing Christmas carols.

Jason Alexander (as Himself, Seasons 2, 7) — Jason Alexander originally planned to do a new sitcom with Larry about an actor who could not get work after appearing on a mega hit because people always see him as that character, but the two could not agree on whose office to hold the meeting at. Jason returned in Season 7 to star in a Seinfeld reunion episode.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (as Herself, Seasons 1, 2, 7) — Julia Louis-Dreyfus first appeared in “The Wire” when Larry and Cheryl tried to get an electrical wire removed from their property, but in order to sign off on it a family wanted to meet Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In Season 2 Larry worked on a sitcom with Julia, but the project fell through with ABC, CBS and HBO. Julia returned in Season 7 to star in a Seinfeld reunion episode.

Wanda Sykes (as Herself, Seasons 2-5, 7) — Wanda is a friend of Cheryl’s and rarely agrees with Larry. In “The Surrogate” Wanda tells Larry that she is “not his source into the black community” after he gets himself in an awkward racial incident. In “Funkhouser’s Crazy Sister” Wanda and Cheryl use Larry’s name to get a table at a crowded restaurant.

Jerry Seinfeld (as Himself, Seasons 4, 7) — Jerry Seinfeld first appeared in “Opening Night” in the crowd of Larry David’s play The Producers, grimacing after Larry failed to remember his lines. Jerry returned in Season 7 to star in a Seinfeld reunion episode.

Michael Richards (as Himself, Season 7) — Michael Richards appeared on the show in Season 7 to star in a Seinfeld reunion episode.

Rosie O’Donnell (as Herself, Seasons 5, 7) — Rosie O’Donnell first appeared in “The Bowtie” confirming to Larry that the lesbian community had accepted him again after Jodie went back together with her girlfriend. She returns to the show in Season 7.

Leon Black (JB Smoove, Season 6-7) — Leon first appeared in “The Anonymous Donor” when he moved in with Loretta, Larry and Cheryl, despite the fact that he had a house in Los Angeles. Leon later stole two Joe Pepitone jerseys for Larry in the same episode. Even after Loretta leaves Larry, he makes it clear that he has no intention of leaving Larry’s house.

Loretta Black (Vivica A. Fox, Season 6-7) — Loretta moved in with Daryl, Keysha and Auntie Rae in “Meet the Blacks” when Cheryl decided to take in a family that became homeless after a hurricane. In “The Bat Mitzvah” Larry began a relationship with Loretta after the two danced during Sammie’s Bat Mitzvah. In the seventh season, it was revealed the she had cancer, and left Larry when she thought she saw Larry getting fellatio in his car from a Leon’s best friend’s wife, who was having an affair with Leon.

Cha Cha (Tia Carrere, Season 6-7) — Cha Cha is Richard Lewis’ girlfriend in Season 6. During the Newlywed Game in “Meet the Blacks” a question is: Which of your friend’s wives or girlfriends would you like to have sex with? and Larry chooses Cha Cha, infuriating everyone else in the room and Richard Lewis who later finds out about. In “The Lefty Call” Larry offends Cha Cha by inadvertently making a comment about her wardrobe, not knowing what he was doing because “everything is backwards” when you’re talking lefty.

Ben Stiller (as Himself, Seasons 4, 6) — Ben Stiller agrees to co-star in The Producers with Larry David in Season 4 but pulls out because of a number of incidents with Larry such as him not moving to the front of the car when his wife got out, not singing Happy Birthday at his party two weeks after his actual birthday, and poking him in the eye with a food stick while showing Jeff a new golf move. In “The N Word” Jeff tried to take on Ben as a client, but he refused because Jeff was now bald after a doctor shaved his head.

Omar Jones (Mekhi Phifer, Season 5) — A Muslim private investigator who Larry hires in Season 5 to find out if he is adopted. Jones charges Larry a higher rate than his other clients because he heard that Larry told a group of black people to “keep it down” in “The Bowtie”. In the same episode there was a running gag with Larry continually forgetting to give Omar his bathroom key back. In “The End” Omar informs Larry that he is not adopted.

Mel Brooks (as Himself, Season 4) — Mel Brooks asks Larry David to star in The Producers on Broadway. Ben Stiller was originally supposed to co-star, but pulled out because of constant conflict with Larry and was replaced with David Schwimmer. In “The Opening Night” it is revealed that Mel Brooks cast Larry David hoping he would fail and that Brooks would never have to run The Producers again. Larry does temporarily forget his lines, only to perform his stand-up act to get the crowd back on his side, and then continues on with the play.

David Schwimmer (as Himself, Season 4) — David Schwimmer stars in The Producers with Larry David after Ben Stiller pulls out. Larry and David constantly argue over things such as the number of cashews that should be in a mixed bag of cashews and raisins (in “The 5 Wood”) and who is responsible if David Schwimmer lost a watch, and Larry found it only to lose it before he could give it back to Schwimmer (in “The Opening Night”).
credit: Wikipedia.org