H eadlines
Curb Continued from Page 1
were just waiting for “Curb” to
come back.

“I couldn’t wait,” said Rabbi
Cynthia Kravitz, a Lafayette
Hill resident. “Just as I can’t
wait until Oct. 24.”
“We needed it,” added Brett
Goldman, who lives in Center
City. “In the time we’re in,
everything is so serious, and
we’re so hypersensitive. It’s good
that comedy can still exist.”
“They can take six months
off or 20 years. Doesn’t matter.

I want more,” said Perry Shall,
also of Philadelphia. “That’s
the one show I could watch
until the end of time.”
Fans described “Curb” as
timeless because it remains
hilarious, oddly thought-pro-
voking and quintessentially
Jewish. David’s antics in the
show do not embarrass Jews as
some sort of caricature.

Quite the contrary, actually.

Local followers said David,
in pointing out and questioning
ridiculous social conventions,
represents the very Jewish
quality of being willing to
question and debate literally
anything. We all have that Larry David
in us, according to Goldman.

Unlike David’s character in the
show, though, we just learn to
tame its most awkward manifes-
tations, said Rabbi Joel Seltzer
of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

“We let our better intentions
win the day most of the time,”
Seltzer added.

Amy Milbert, a Phoenix
resident who grew up in Philly,
said her husband has a lot of
Larry David in him. Recently,
the couple was going to a party
where gifts were optional ...

similar to the season four
“Curb” episode where the host,
the comedy actor Ben Stiller,
tells guests not to bring gifts.

In the show, Larry doesn’t
bring a present and Stiller gets
mad at him, even though the
host told people not to bring
presents. And comedy ensues.

Milbert’s husband, like
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Local artist Perry Shall said it doesn’t matter how long “Curb” stays off the air between seasons. He will
always watch the show when it comes back. 
Photo by Jarrett Dougherty
Larry, didn’t want to bring a
gift. The party was, after all,
gift-optional, he reasoned.

“Even if it’s gift-optional,
you have to bring a gift!”
Milbert responded.

By the end of the debate,
her husband agreed. And when
they got to the party, everyone
else had brought a present, too.

“We love the show,” Milbert
said. The show has maintained
those hilarious, incisive and
representative qualities for
its entire two-plus decade
existence. But while fans say
those essential qualities keep
them coming back, they also
argue that the show had one
key inflection point: Larry’s
divorce from his wife Cheryl
David, played by Cheryl Hines.

The couple split up in a season
six episode in 2007.

Subsequent episodes and
seasons focused on Larry’s
dating and sex lives. They also
focused more on the show’s first
major Black character: Leon
Black, played by J.B. Smoove.

Smoove joined the show
in season six, before the
Davids’ breakup, as part of a
storyline involving the Davids
taking in a family displaced
like argument for the sake of
argument.” Fans are pretty much unani-
mous in their love for Leon’s
character. But some think the show has
been a little less funny post-di-
vorce. Milbert liked it better
when Larry was married to
Cheryl and doing provocative
things at otherwise respectful
events for married people.

She preferred that dynamic
because it allowed the same
rotating cast of friends, like Susie
Greene (played by Susie Essman),
Jeff Greene (played by Jeff Garlin)
and Ted Danson (portraying
himself), to have more of their
own hilarious moments.

At the same time, Milbert
still loves the show and can’t
wait for the new season.

“I’m completely committed,”
she said. l
by a hurricane. Even after his cultures are looking at the jsaffren@jewishexponent.com;
family left the David house, minutiae of things, or might 215-832-0740
though, Leon stayed, and
hilarity ensued.

The comedian’s character
was so popular that he became
an integral part of the show.

Smoove’s Leon was listed as
“recurring” during seasons
6-8 from 2007-’11. But he was
Exclusive Women’s Apparel Boutique
upgraded to “main,” alongside
David, Hines and others, for
season nine in 2017.

Now, according to local
Custom designs, color options and
fans, Larry’s friendship with
free alterations available
Leon takes up a lot of the space
that used to belong to Larry
Evening Gowns
and Cheryl’s marriage.

Suits/Separates And fans love it.

David always had chemistry
Cocktail Dresses
with the improv performers on
the show, Seltzer said. But his
chemistry with Smoove is on
another level.

61 Buck Road
That opened the stage to
Smoove’s and Leon’s different
Huntingdon Valley,
comedic perspective on the
PA 19006
world. And by adding that
perspective, Leon kept the
www.elanaboutique.com show fresh and current. He
(215)953-8820 even showed that people from
other cultures often question
life’s absurdities, too.

Make an appointment today!
“We typify it as Jewish
Consult with the designer to
humor, but it’s also broader
explore your style options.

than that,” Seltzer said. “Other
Made in USA
JEWISH EXPONENT
OCTOBER 14, 2021
17