L IFESTYLE /C ULTURE
‘Curb’ Misses the Larry-Cheryl Marriage
T E L EVISION
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
A FEW WEEKS AGO, before
the start of the 11th season of
“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” some
Jewish Philadelphians made
an interesting point about the
show. In an Oct. 14 Jewish
Exponent story, they argued
that “Curb” has had two
distinct periods.

Before Larry David’s split
from his show wife Cheryl,
played by Cheryl Hines, and
aft er. Larry and Cheryl broke
up aft er a season six episode
in 2007; David brushed off
his wife’s fearful call from a
turbulent airplane because he
had to deal with the TiVo guy.

(Very 2007.)
Th e locals said that, when
Larry was married to Cheryl,
the show revolved more
around their married world of
friends and social occasions.

Post-Cheryl, “Curb” has
focused on Larry and Leon,
played by J.B. Smoove, and
Larry’s general misdeeds out
in the world.

Some thought the shift
made the show funnier.

Others didn’t.

But regardless of where they
came down, their larger point
was hard to unsee during the
fi rst two episodes of the new
season. Whereas Larry used to be a
ridiculous character grounded
in a specifi c, married world,
he’s now a loose cannon
unmoored from any sense
of normalcy. Several seasons
into this dynamic, it’s harder
to suspend one’s disbelief as a
viewer. In 2021, “Curb” feels like
watching the Larry David
caricature that America knows
so well. It doesn’t, however, feel
like watching a real character.

Th e balance between the two
used to make “Curb” feel at
least somewhat real.

Yet this doesn’t take away
too much from the show’s
humor. It’s certainly funnier and
more shocking to watch a real
person pick fi ghts with people
over awkward social conven-
tions. But it’s still funny to
watch the Larry David carica-
ture do it, too.

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JEWISH EXPONENT
Th e fi rst episode of the new
season, “Th e Five-Foot Fence,”
aired on Oct. 24 and revolved
around a classic “Curb” set
piece: a funeral for the still-
living actor and comedian
Albert Brooks.

Brooks, like most “Curb”
celebrities, played an exagger-
ated version of himself. He
wanted to host his own funeral
to hear people say nice things
about him while he was still
living. Larry, of course, mocks the
bit and off ends Brooks. Th ere’s
also a 10 out of 10 cameo
from Don Draper himself: the
actor Jon Hamm, who totally
commits to the funeral bit.

When Hamm opens his
eulogy to Brooks with the
Yiddish word tsuris, meaning
trouble or distress, you know
that’s what’s coming. And it
does, in the form of a hilarious,
topical COVID joke that will
take you back to the lockdown
days of March 2020.

Th e rest of the episode
features a classic Larry-Susie
fight over whether Susie
“plopped” on the couch,
forcing Larry to spill wine, a
commentary on how walking
into a glass door makes you
look unattractive, a shakedown
of Larry by a local restaurant
owner and a deeply uncom-
fortable dispute over money.

It all works, and it will make
you crack up from your seat on
your couch.

Th e same is true of season 11,
episode two, “Angel Muffi n,”
which aired on Oct. 31.

Th at one centers on maybe
the most vintage “Curb” bit
there is: Larry and his best
friend/manager Jeff , played by
Jeff Garlin, doing ignorant and
moronic things together.

Larry picks a fi ght with a
Netfl ix executive, with whom
he’s developing a show, over
an automatic toilet seat in the
building’s bathroom that won’t
stay up. And Jeff recommends
a dentist to Larry so Larry can
help him get intel on one of the
Larry David, star of “Curb Your
Enthusiasm” Photo by Kevork S. Djansezian/Getty
Images via JTA.org
offi ce’s assistants.

Jeff slept with the woman
and paid for her abortion. But
he believes she’s sticking him
up by asking for more money
to deal with “complications.”
David and Garlin having
trivial conversations and
getting into dumb shenanigans
remains the underrated heart-
beat of the show’s schtick. Like
the bits in the fi rst episode, it
still works, too.

It remains diffi cult to get
through a “Curb” scene without
laughing and then enunciating
“Oh my God!” And for a few
seasons post-Cheryl, Larry
being alone was a breath of
fresh comedic air.

He became pals with the
hilarious Leon; he brought the
“Seinfeld” crew back together
for a reunion in a failed
attempt to cast Cheryl and
win her back; he had relations
with a Palestinian woman who
hated Jews; he went to New
York City; competed for a love
interest with Rosie O’Donnell;
and turned Bill Buckner, the
Boston Red Sox fi rst baseman
who blew the 1986 World
Series, into a momentary
comedic sensation.

But the novelty has worn
off . Now, “Curb” is just Larry
schtick. We have reached the
point where the legend stands
above the show, instead of
making it great. ●
jsaff ren@jewishexponent.com;
215-832-0740 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM