Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 8: Pretty, Pretty Good

Have you ever watched someone make a fool of themselves and wanted to step in but just did not have the heart? Curb Your Enthusiasm, created/written/produced, and starring Larry David, does just this; the show puts its viewers into uproariously uncomfortable situations that could be encountered on a daily basis. While Larry is almost always innocent in his intentions he seems to have developed a special aptitude towards messing things up.

To quickly recap the show for the few out there who do not know; Curb Your Enthusiasm is a comedy series portraying the fictionalized life of Larry David (played by himself), and the zany experiences that occur in his everyday life. On the show Larry works as a writer/producer in the Los Angeles area but for the most part is retired due to the success of his hit show, Seinfeld. The co-stars on Curb include Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, and Cheryl Hines with frequent appearances by stars like Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, and Vivica A. Fox. There is a laundry list of other Hollywood celebrities that make cameos on the show throughout each season as well, with names including everyone from Ben Stiller to Mel Brooks and Martin Scorsese. Take this cast list, and add the ability to creatively improvise the script, and you have the recipe for an amazing show.

Curb Your Enthusiasm contains no excessive gore, gratuitous sex scenes, or hidden political agendas; although Larry does seem to have a hard time convincing Wanda Sykes, who often frequents the show, that he is not racist. Curb does however include a plethora of good old fashioned (and almost always awkward) humor mixed with a shit-load of swear words. I must say though, the cussing pleasantly adds to the absurdity of the show in how it is interjected. Characters such as Susie Greene, Krayzee Eyez Killah, and Leon are usually seen on the show swearing up a storm, but it is always entertaining and in context with the scene. Here, Leon tries to tell Larry what to do after encountering a skin-head:

Not quite convinced about the show yet? Curb Your Enthusiasm is HBO’s longest running scripted series and has been nominated for countless awards. The term scripted however, does little justice to the ingeniously natural feel behind this masterful show. In this I mean viewers are put into a position where scenes seem genuinely awkward. Actors are encouraged to improvise the script after receiving an outline of what each scene should include. This undemanding view on the screenplay is what allows the show to create hilariously entertaining and unique moments. Larry David, being one of television’s strongest writers, is able to act out this illusory caricature of himself in a way that I think only he can do. This is in part because he wrote the script himself. One clip from the show that I really enjoy is when Larry tries to buy some weed from a local dealer in Los Angeles. This scene does a great job of presenting Larry’s ability to take an awkward situation and up it to the tenth degree.

Season seven of Curb Your Enthusiasm ended in November of 2009 with Larry trying to set up a reunion show for his previous indenture Seinfeld. Many fans, including myself, thought this was the end of the Curb series. However, and in his ever-humorous way, Larry was recently quoted saying “After much soul searching — and by the way, it was nowhere to be found — I have decided to do another season of Curb.” This confirmation was all I needed to get eagerly revisit some of my favorite episodes. Filming for Curb season eight will take place this summer(2010), and with the year 2011 quickly approaching Curb fans are no doubt looking forward to its premiere. This should give all you non-believers plenty of time to catch up on the first seven seasons which were all pretty, pretty good.