Before I deep dive into anything, I want to quickly comment on the first episode of the 10th season of Curb. The show as always was funny, but it’s reached a point where it’s a little too self aware. It felt like Curb was trying to be Curb. The episode fit in 8-10 instances of Larry being annoyed with something (selfie sticks, electric scooters, scone consistency, when you can say happy new year, pregnancy etiquette, coffee temperature, what a boycott is, etc) on top of him trying to get back together with Cheryl, getting back a Mocha Joe, and featured a potential #MeToo issue. That is so much to pack into just one episode.
Curb used to be simple and Larry used to be annoyed to be annoyed. Now it feels like we’re trying to force as much “Larry” as possible. It’s a startling trend and while the episode was hysterical and had me dying, I’m going to keep my eye on this trend.
Now back to the task at hand. I’m admittedly a Larry David lover. I’ve loved Seinfeld since I was in middle school and was immediately drawn to Curb once it came out. I think they are the two best shows of all time, although Curb has the slight edge on Seinfeld (I guess that will be part two of this blog series). I also thought Larry’s movie Clear History was underrated. LD and Jon Hamm (Mad Men is also in my top 5 shows of all time. Seinfeld, Curb, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Office in some order if you’re curious) in the same movie? Incredible!
I thought Fish in the Dark on Broadway was great, even though it was merely a live Curb episode. I eat up anything LD does. But why do we love him? In everything he does he’s an acerbic asshole.
Lets look at a few moments from Curb:
- Larry cuts Sammi off:
2. Larry steals his golf club back:
3. Got his girlfriend’s son a sewing machine (assuming he’s gay):
4. He helped Richard Lewis drug his girlfriend:
5. Pretended to be orthodox to help Richard Lewis get a kidney
If you watch all of these clips (and all of Curb), Larry is acting in ways we would never act in public. But that’s why we love him. He’s doing all the things we want to do but can’t. Complaining that having your daughter sing (terribly) isn’t a birthday gift? He’s right. Getting the (probably) gay kid a sewing machine assuming he’s gay? Great gift! Taking back his special golf club? You couldn’t buy it anywhere! The list goes on and on.
Larry David the character (and maybe the human) acts in all the ways we wish we did. Or at least the way I wish I could. His bluntness, his willingness to call out strangers, his ability to not care what anyone thinks about him.
These are characteristics that we wish we had in ourselves and we get to watch them played out on the screen each and every week. You know many times I’ve seen a stranger use a selfie stick and think to myself how dumb they look? Larry David doesn’t care about social etiquette. He’ll go right up and say something.
This concept is best evident in the 8th season episode “The Palestinian Chicken,” which is one of the series’ best. If you want to start Curb, I’d start with this episode. Larry is a social assassin:
Not that I’m a massive Friends guy, but hearing Janice with a normal voice is kind of weird.
Tangent aside, maybe we should all try being social assassins. Be willing to speak our minds a little bit more and call out strangers. If everyone was Larry David, would the world be a better place? If you ask Larry David, himself I think the answer is no, but finding out would certainly be funny.
