Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm

I just got done watching episode two of the second season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"; the one in which Larry is mistakenly taken for a sexual "deviant," after his wife is misled into thinking he has sexual fetishes. It's the best episode I've seen.

Coming back to the one-hour-long HBO pilot for the series, "Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm," the humor is just as strong. It's not exactly like the series and is more like a "mockumentary" - with interviews from the cast of "Seinfeld," etc. - but it's just as funny.

I actually read somewhere that this wasn't intended as a television show pilot, but based on its success it spawned the series. I'm not sure, but I do know that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is one of the best television shows out there, and this was a great way of introducing the concept to viewers.

I saw this sometime during Season 7 of the series and I had no idea it was from 10 years previous. The only clues along the way were that Jerry looked a lot younger and the joke about the Clinton BJ.

It's not a conventional pilot: It's more like a one-off mockumentary special that probably inspired HBO to pursue a series. The only reason I give it only 8/10 is because the series would become even better in many episodes.

It seems that some of the interviews (with Charles and Seinfeld for example) aren't scripted at all, but are their actual comments about the real Larry David. This isn't surprising, since even the rest of the screen time doesn't seem that outside reality.

This hour long comedy special can be found on Season 1 DVD set of the series "Curb your Enthusiasm". It's pretty much a mockumentary akin to "Spinal Tap" or "A Mighty Wind". It details the days leading up to Larry David's first comedy special for HBO. It has him dealing various people interspersed with interviews with various celebrities. It's highly amusing and about on par with the first season of the actual show, but as fans of CYE can attest to, the first season of the show isn't exactly the best of the run thus far (not knocking the special or the show it inspired, just saying a funny show would only grow much funnier)

My Grade: B-

From watching CYB, it is obvious that Larry David was the real genius behind "Seinfeld." Don't get me wrong, Jerry is great and a genius himself, but from watching the show, you can see that Larry David is responsible for the way jerry would act and a lot of the dialogue. Not to mention, he was responsible for the setups and payoffs. The script structure is superb. The production quality isn't the greatest, but this show is by far the best on TV. I hope that it will just last a while.

Years ago America pondered the "Seinfeld" philosophy, climaxed, and then closed the book after the closing episode on NBC. Seinfeld was, at times, a good show, and in more ways than one. Unbeknownst to me, Seinfeld made promises that it did not keep - I would never have realized this had I not encountered HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. It is becoming apparent that Larry David is the John Lennon to Jerry Seinfeld's Paul McCartney. Curb Your Enthusiasm is awkward, tense and diabolically funny. Although the show resembles Seinfeld, HBO's Larry Sanders and Woody Allen merchandise, it is impossible not to say that Larry David and the creators have not re-re-re-invented the situation comedy once again.