Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

Curb Your Enthusiasm - General Discussion


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, PotterOtherP said:

30 years ago on SNL, Mike Meyers did a sketch about having to get consent for every little thing on a date. It is a dumb, overplayed, unnecessary, unfunny joke.

It's not any of those things IMO. It's not like the joke has been that much in media, it's very current making it necessary and it's up to individual if it's funny.

I'm always a fan of absurd humor. That whole scenario was absurd but this is how Larry would handle something like this because that's who he is.

There is also a large conversation that needs to continue to happen about consent. Yes, Larry was being over the top but people can go so hard on certain issues that it's almost asking to be mocked. Not the issue itself. But, super serious people that would actual want something like a contract filled out for sexual acts. The discussion needs to be made with some meeting in the middle. 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
22 hours ago, DakotaLavender said:

I hate to say this but the following is a truthful response. I am Jewish, both Litvak and Galitzyaner. It is a cultural thing. It is how many Jewish people (and husbands and wives) relate to each other and interact. My mother was just like Susie: always screaming at my father like that, "Don't eat that, it is for dinner." "Get out of this room, I am setting it up for company." etc. My mother was always angry. And many of the men are fixated on minutiae and create dynamics of ridicule. 

I hope I don't get in trouble here for saying that because it can sound offensive, but as a Jewish woman I think I do have an explanation for the question asked above because it is a cultural thing that many of my friends who watch the show have experienced and understand while it can be viewed as very bizarre to non Jewish people. 

Jacki Mason had a great video on YT explaining it but it was removed for copyright reasons. 

ETA: Who is the actor playing Larry's assistant in his office with the dog? 

 

I'm also Jewish, both Litvak and Galitzianer. I do have some older family members who yell at each other incessantly, but I have many more family members of the same generation who are very even-tempered. My grandparents were very sweet natured, too. 

The family members with quick tempers were all born and lived in New York City. I think the city's culture plays a role in this. I have many  NYC Italian friends, for example, who also scream and yell at each other. But no one in their families, or in my family, would EVER scream at someone outside the family, like Susie did with the contractor. Also, in all the Jewish and Italian families I know, they would literally die for each other, sacrifice anything for each other, and support each other in every way. They just yell at each other for crazy things, in-house only, and it's shrugged off by everyone. 

  • Love 7
Link to comment

That painting was breathtaking!

Also, it made me realize that in some ways, Susie and Larry are quite similar - brutally honest, out there, abrasive - and I have to think that there's some kind of grudging respect for each other. He gave her what she considered to be the perfect gift - he gets her in a weird way - and even after they have crazy arguments, she'll be all "hi Lar!" (or "Lahr" or however she pronounces it) like it never happened. Their relationship is really interesting to me.

  • Useful 2
  • Love 13
Link to comment

In their dynamic, I think Susie and Larry are deeply rivalrous siblings (with Jeff the third, avoidant sibling). To some degree they are competing for Jeff's loyalty -- each disparages him while relying on him -- but more, they are adversaries in some universal court of final judgment. The acrimony is real; so is the understanding of each other.

To Larry and Susie, the other is the epitome of a type that "gets away with everything!" and always will.  They can voice the acrimony because they're inalienably family. In the same way as spouses who believe, to their core, that divorce is unthinkable. 

Susie is the manager-wife that show-Larry, anyway, would probably have needed if he'd needed to succeed in stand-up. That would be a Larry who lacked not only a playwright's gifts, but also the art of collaborating with other extremely talented people, and the discipline to deal profitably, day by day, with unexceptional people wielding exceptional power. (That Larry might be better known as "Lewis.")  

Show-Larry likes to surround himself with friends from the old neighborhood who did very well -- very well indeed -- but on a lesser scale. Each friend represents a different form of Larry, thwarted: rich, acknowledged among their peers, but no titan or visionary.  Larry, thwarted, would need Larry for a friend. 

  • Love 5
Link to comment

I just watched episode 2 and 3 back to back.  I forget a lot of what was in each episode.

I liked #2 but #3 was awful.  I hate episodes where the offense is overly contrived, to the point where I can't conceive of an actual human acting this way.  When that happens, I just get angry instead of amused.

Like that crap with the doodle.  Those other pieces were not doodles.  Doodling is very specifically just freehand drawing without a lot of attention.  Larry continuously told Andy's wife (whatever her name was) that he could not draw.  He said this over and over again and she refused to let it go.  She badgered him into doing something he could not do, then screamed at him when he didn't do it well.

And Laverne's actions made no sense.  In private, she backs away from Larry and warns him about her cold.  Then she immediately goes in for a kiss in front of a crowd.  There's no way this makes sense unless she was intentionally laying a trap in order to humiliate him publicly. 

Why is Larry so hung up on this law suit?  He can either let this woman shake him down for hush money, or let his reputation take a hit while she or her lawyer bankrupt themselves on legal fees.  It makes no sense that a guy who seems to pride himself on being a rude, hated, cranky old man would suddenly be so concerned about his reputation.  But then I guess we wouldn't really have a story.

That charity event was still a pretty good display of the vapidity and egomania of Los Angeles celebrity culture.

  • Love 8
Link to comment

Wonder if they'll kill off Funkhouser or just let him exist off-screen now?

Meh, I think being reminded of a bad breakup is not any way near in the same neighborhood as seeing the enslavement of one's ancestors still being celebrated.

Yeah, scones are tricky. Usually I find them too dry to eat without a beverage at hand.

Quote

That painting was breathtaking!

In the regular way or the Seinfeld way?

  • Love 5
Link to comment
5 hours ago, Ray Adverb said:

Why is Larry so hung up on this law suit?

The lawyer did make the point about Seinfeld syndication and his Hulu deal being at risk. I may have pushed back a little more until that was actually real. 

I really liked the scene with the real apple and then the fake one. 

I think scones are supposed to be dry. 

The whole thing with the garbage can killed me. 

Lewis and Larry bitching about the scone is why he's on the show. He does that so well. I think he got Larry to almost break with the allergic to toast line. 

Edited by DoctorAtomic
  • Love 6
Link to comment

Who knew that there was a Castillian-speaking community in LA?

Two of them chipped their teeth on fake apples and Jeff bites his tongue because Larry is upset at seeing Ted in some big Civil War movie.

So of course they're going to insult them by seeming to mock their accent.

He didn't seem broken up about Ted dating Cheryl -- in this world, what happened to Mary Steenburgen?

I re-watched Bored to Death and of course Ted and Mary are on that show as well.

So now he's going to feud with Ted?  

So far, in the first 3 episodes, he's had a lot of celebrities on, doing little appearances.  I don't know if it necessarily improves the show.  Seems like he concocted this whole Castillian plot just to have the actor who played Francisco on the show.  He's Mexican I believe and didn't really have much of a part?

BTW, Castillians wouldn't make regular eggs.  They'd make tortillas, which is like a cake made from eggs and potatoes -- so good.  You don't have those with toast.

Edited by scrb
  • Love 4
Link to comment
3 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Wonder if they'll kill off Funkhouser or just let him exist off-screen now?

I hope he dies in some spectacularly CYE way. Like choking on a scone. The funeral offers way comedic value. 

 

 

6 hours ago, Ray Adverb said:

Like that crap with the doodle

That's been part of the show though. For all of Larry getting himself into trouble there's plenty of times where people can't get over their own shit with him. I mean, the doodle being white male privilege is preposterous. No one told him the rules of the doodle. 

The cut to the lawyer was absolutely hilarious. 

I actually hope Larry ends up calling people on all this optics bullshit. I can get Alice being pissed at first, but she threw food at him now. 

Great pratfall in the elevator. I appreciate a good pratfall. I did one myself at Disney! 

This was a really packed episode. 

Looks like Cheryl directed. 

 

Edited by DoctorAtomic
  • Love 1
Link to comment

As soon as Smoove chipped his tooth and started talking with a lisp, I knew somehow that sort of thing was going to be worked into a scene where the Castillians think they are being ridiculed - I just didn't know how.

That painting of Susie was the kind of thing you'd see hanging on a wall, covered with dust in a creepy haunted house. Scary.

Larry sure sees a lot of neurotic professionals. His lawyer here. That psychiatrist a few seasons back. His psychiatrist last season (Brian Cranston). That doctor in previous seasons.

Edited by Pike Ludwell
  • Love 4
Link to comment

I think this episode was as good as any episode from the best of the seasons (not the best episode of the series, but very well done).  I was worried, because the first episode felt very off, and last season was...not CYE at its zenith.

I felt so vindicated that Chulu was willing to come out of retirement to help Larry bake scones for his spite store, only because of that bastard Mocha Joe.  I called it that Mocha Joe was a total asshole!

I am starting to really tire of Larry’s lawyer—I never like the characters that just out-and-out loathe Larry—but I was so glad he called him out for eating the apple “blithely,” as there was an odd amount of apple-eating on Seinfeld, especially by Elaine, and it always annoyed me. That, and when Elaine and Jerry would chew gum.  It was so irritating, so I was glad Larry got that apple (metaphorically) shoved up his ass.  

The whole thing with the doodle was really stupid, as others have said.  Everyone else did sketches.  Larry did a doodle.  Who uses color for doodles?  They’re all a bunch of nuts.  It reminded me of the Shaq episode where the woman wanted Larry to do “a page” in her husband’s birthday book.  Isn’t “a page” and a sketch a big ask?  What is it about being rich and famous that makes people feel like they can ask you to do shit for free? I was so glad that Larry said that it was a doodle that he would doodle exactly the way he would have doodled if he was on the phone, because that was all he was asked to do!  

The woman throwing the doodle in the trash was funny, because it bought back the conversation of what is trash, and which garbage cans are appropriate, (which is a real argument, just ask my mom 😑), but it was such a bitchy thing to do.  In real life, it would have just hung on the wall with the sketches, and, maybe because this show is exaggerated life, everyone would have been frowning at it or pointing at it, but that’s it.  It would have been funnier if it played out with more subtlety.

That whole Concepcion thing was hilarious!  The way they set it up so that the waiter would have Larry’s credit card, to the way they set up that all three guys—Larry, Jeff and Leon—would be talking with lisps, to the lack of toast, was really, really good.  If I have one quibble, they all could have just been thrown out of the venue.  Having them upside-down in garbage cans was a little too slapstick for me, but it was so good, so I still give it an A.  

I don’t enjoy Ted Dansen.  I think he’s self-important, but despite that (or maybe because of it), I found that little clip of him playing Robert E. Lee hilarious.  

Larry got off a funny line by asking how else do you impress people outside of lies.  I love that cynical honesty.

The Laverne Cox leaning away thing would have been funny—typical Larry, like when he didn’t want to shake hands with Ben Stiller because Ben had just sneezed—but I didn’t really understand any of it.  If Laverne Cox doesn’t want to hug, why would Laverne Cox want to kiss?  I didn’t understand the cause—they characterized it a bunch of ways over the course of the episode.  When they said it was for “survivors,” I think it was a subtle message to the audience that they were being tongue-in-cheek, like Grote’s Disease.  It’s a little bit like the episode “Survivor,” where the guy who had been on the TV show Survivor got into a fight with the guy who survived an actual concentration camp as to who was more of a “survivor.”  Or the rabbi whose nephew died on September 11th...up on 57th Street, in a bicycle accident, which Larry argued didn’t count. I love that acidic humor.  Between this week and last week’s episode, I do believe they’re trying to wink at us and send a message about a particular type of societal absurdity that bothers them (one could argue that it started in episode one with the MAGA hat), but as long as it’s funny, what do I care?

The final scene in the elevator when Larry didn’t know whether he had “consent” to give his former secretary the Heimlich, and when they elevator opened, she was passed out from the scone, but it looked like Larry had choked her to death, was excellent.  They didn’t just work up to this for the episode, they worked up to it from the beginning of the season, and I really appreciate that.  It feels like people are sitting in the writer’s room and really thinking things out and making chess moves and setting up plots to pay off for the rest of the season.  If I have any complaints, it’s that this show is ruining all the other potential “comedy” that may be out there today.  Nothing is as good as this right now IMO.  The Office and Arrested Development could compete, but they’re past.

Stay gold, Larry! 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
1 hour ago, LibertarianSlut said:

I don’t enjoy Ted Dansen.  I think he’s self-important, but despite that (or maybe because of it), I found that little clip of him playing Robert E. Lee hilarious.

I think he plays himself that way on the show. He's very funny but improv wise he's not in the tier with JB, Jeff, Susie, Richard Lewis. It may be because he doesn't know Larry as long as the others, so I think he plays that way. 

Susie said irl that she has never discussed her character with Larry so I would think he leaves it up to them. 

I don't need to be too high minded but the show sounds like a ton of work. I'm always impressed when they break each other up because you know it's a gem. 

Link to comment

 

Quote

That painting was breathtaking!

Quote

In the regular way or the Seinfeld way?

Seinfeld, of course; I haven't thought of the word "breathtaking" in the regular way in 25 years.

  • LOL 5
  • Love 4
Link to comment

I thought the third episode was hilarious.

The trash can thing was a bit slapstick but I think it was an homage to earlier films, especially since the fade out involved the three circles going to black.

The whole Spanish set up worked throughout the episode for me.  The absurdity of Larry and Richard crashing a funeral in order to give Francisco their credit card is pure CYE.

They really have come a long way in fake fruit.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
Quote
Quote

And  Laverne's actions made no sense.  In private, she backs away from Larry and warns him about her cold.  Then she immediately goes in for a kiss in front of a crowd.  There's no way this makes sense unless she was intentionally laying a trap in order to humiliate him publicly. 

 

That’s how I read it— that it was deliberate as payback for Larry being an idiot backstage about the “donate your penis” stuff.  Laverne was clearly annoyed about that.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
On 2/1/2020 at 1:27 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Looks like Cheryl directed. 

So now I can hate her acting and directing.

This episode was a waste of my time. Who wrote it? 

Cheryl is not a blonde that restaurant staff would long for. She’s predictable, forgettable, and common, with horse teeth and the blandest personality. My high school had dozens of Cheryls. 

She is nice, however. But the show doesn’t want us to think that these guys remember her because she’s nice.  

If that sweater brought up such painful memories, he would have stopped wearing it, before his friends started admiring it.

I guess the lawyer is the stand-in for hyper-particular Jerry. 

 

Edited by hoodooznoodooz
  • LOL 4
Link to comment
22 minutes ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

If that sweater brought up such painful memories, he would have stopped wearing it, before his friends started admiring it.

 

And it's not like Larry to be hit with painful memories from something like that. Deep down he likely didn't care a bit, but he got a kick out of creating a phony issue out of it, and maybe even convinced himself that he gave a hoot about it.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
On 1/28/2020 at 9:08 AM, DakotaLavender said:

Larry keeps referring to himself as "old and bald." He is almost 73. If he really saw himself that way, why would he constantly pair himself up (romantically) with women who seem so much younger? 

i think Larry's shallowness exceeds any insecurities he has about his looks. In LA, a rich, famous guy who looks like him would have no problem landing dates with gorgeous young women, and I can't imagine Larry turning them down.

On 2/1/2020 at 1:24 PM, scrb said:

He didn't seem broken up about Ted dating Cheryl -- in this world, what happened to Mary Steenburgen?

I re-watched Bored to Death and of course Ted and Mary are on that show as well.

In a previous season Ted and Mary spilt up. Larry was angry that Ted started dating Cheryl, and he tried to woo Mary. Mary let Larry down gently by saying that he wasn't her type - but then he saw her out on the town with a different old bald guy.

I have to agree that this episode was chaotic, and not that funny. I loved the opening, with that sweet-seeming old man describing Mocha Joe as a "nasty motherfucker." But it went downhill from there.

Larry's always been inappropriate. But asking if a black man's penis could be donated to a white transwoman? It seems almost like he has dementia.

  • Love 4
Link to comment
On 2/1/2020 at 1:24 PM, scrb said:

BTW, Castillians wouldn't make regular eggs.  They'd make tortillas, which is like a cake made from eggs and potatoes -- so good.  You don't have those with toast.

Well Spaniards make tortilla española, which is not a cake but basically an omelet made of eggs, potatoes, and sometimes onions. It's similar to what Italians call a frittata and is served at room temperature. Traditionally it is one of the many dishes served at tapas establishments. While I doubt what we Americans think of as toast (rye, wheat, or white) would be served, there's no reason not to enjoy it with some crusty bread.  I'm with Larry on this one as I like some sort of bread with my eggs. In fact, I had leftover sliced oven roasted potatoes and onions and just made an omelet for my son for lunch, served on a nice Kaiser roll. Delish!

  • Love 4
Link to comment
19 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

The trash can thing was a bit slapstick but I think it was an homage to earlier films, especially since the fade out involved the three circles going to black.

Not just a bit slapstick but a shout out to the saintly 3 Stooges. I'm pretty sure that was their theme song and trademark shrinking circle scene ender. Officer Joe Bolton approves.

  • Love 5
Link to comment
6 hours ago, Blakeston said:

In a previous season Ted and Mary spilt up. Larry was angry that Ted started dating Cheryl, and he tried to woo Mary.

I am completely confused as to why Larry is mooning over Cheryl NOW. 

11 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

So now I can hate her acting and directing.

This episode was a waste of my time. Who wrote it? 

Cheryl is not a blonde that restaurant staff would long for.

I really can't argue with this. Not that I want to.

Unrelated: I wasn't super-engrossed by this episode and, half-watching, thought Rhea Perlman was on my screen. It was Susie! Her hair gave me a Cheers flashback to Carla (who is not unlike Susie).

  • Love 3
Link to comment
1 hour ago, heavysnaxx said:

I am completely confused as to why Larry is mooning over Cheryl NOW. 

Is it possible she really hurt his ego when he tried to persuade her to date him if he had only a few months to live, and she still turned him down? Expensive vacations and even a nurse whose duties would include listening to him complain so Cheryl wouldn’t have to. He seemed pretty angry. She asked him what he was going to order from the menu, and he snapped, “I don’t give a F.”

  • Useful 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
16 hours ago, SG429 said:

Not just a bit slapstick but a shout out to the saintly 3 Stooges. I'm pretty sure that was their theme song and trademark shrinking circle scene ender. Officer Joe Bolton approves.

100% Three Stooges take off.  Me and the DH were dying the entire show.  Gold Larry.  Gold 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
On 2/2/2020 at 7:09 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

I think he plays himself that way on the show. He's very funny but improv wise he's not in the tier with JB, Jeff, Susie, Richard Lewis. It may be because he doesn't know Larry as long as the others, so I think he plays that way. 

JB knows Larry longer than Ted Dansen?  That’s news.  I started watching season six a few days ago, when Leon comes into the picture, and he and Larry have immediate riffing chemistry that is amazing, even during their first interlude, when they argue whether “come is come.”  That shit is hilarious.

Ted has been on since the beginning and I never warmed to him, for pretty much the same reasons Larry states.  He complained to Cheryl that Ted describes everything as “heaven.” That would freak me out coming from a straight man.  I’ve heard Ted describe Larry’s actions as “sweet” on the show a few times.  That freaks me out too.  I’ve never heard a straight man tell another straight man he’s “sweet.”  

Ted just seems so earnest and eager and he has such a punchable face.  I don’t think there is anything remotely funny about him.  I appreciate that we have to have some straight men to play off of Larry’s mania, but Jeff does that so much better than Ted.  I think Ted is just being Ted, the way that I think Ben Stiller played a slightly more prickly version of himself on the show (I knew someone who worked on a set with him IRL and she said he was an asshole) and I don’t like either of them at all.  

I think I started hating Ted as soon as he came on the screen in the episode about the Paul Simon concert, but the two things that cemented it for me were 1) the shirt—Larry gave Ted a shirt that had a slight imperfection, and Ted gave it back, saying that Larry didn’t give him a gift, he gave him a problem, only to change his mind and want the shirt so much that he struggled for it with Larry and it ripped in half and; 2) when he built the “anonymous” wing on the NRDC, but he went around telling everyone that he was anonymous, so he got double credit.  That is such a dick move.  I’m not sure there was a bigger dick move over the course of the whole show’s run.

Also, not that I don’t think Ted and Cheryl deserve each other, but what kind of man asks another man permission to go out with the man’s ex-wife, the ex-husband says no, and the man goes after her anyway?  What a shitty thing to do.  If you don’t think Larry’s permission is necessary, don’t ask him for the privilege.  Jerk.  

He’s my least favorite long-running male character on the show.  Funkhauser is second.  I also hated the blind guy, but he was only on a handful of episodes, thank God.  

  • Love 2
Link to comment
On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2020 at 5:03 AM, LibertarianSlut said:

He’s my least favorite long-running male character on the show.  Funkhauser is second.  I also hated the blind guy, but he was only on a handful of episodes, thank God.  

Huh. I liked the blind guy. The first episode of this show I ever saw was Larry and Richard being manipulated into moving his furniture. That scene led to one of my favourite arguments between them (although there have been many great ones after) when Richard tried to out grief him by bringing up his intimacy issues. Then Larry ordering him to "back up! back up!" in the apartment, leading to Richard yelling back "you're like a god damn lion tamer!" I remember thinking what is this show? I've been its bitch ever since.

  • LOL 1
Link to comment

God I love this show so efffing much.  One thing I have noticed is that I now pretty much agree with Larry on everything that bugs him.  Not sure what that says about me but I do know that I am officially old and crotchety!

Link to comment

I was actually surprised Susie took Larry's side on making Cheryl chip in for the plane. Though her 'go back to your hovel!' was a perfect fuck off. 

The whole screaming about calling the pilot the captain killed me. And I don't think JB was expecting Larry to smoosh his cookies. He's usually good with the comeback but didn't have anything. 

I mean, Larry was right. The captain did need their weights. 

I do like how Susie and Jeff just dgaf if Larry barges into their hotel room. 

 

Edited by DoctorAtomic
  • Love 4
Link to comment

Hmmm.... 

On one hand, I think this episode was indicative of Larry David, the real person, perhaps displaying symptoms of senility. Even Ted was confused by the Carl Ripken analogy.

I also wonder if he might eventually go into cardiac arrest. His performances are often quite organic and genuine, which I respect, but this can’t be good for his blood pressure.

But there were many really hilarious moments. Leon was responsible for many of them. The concierge was good. Susie treating Donna so lovingly was fantastic. “Mayer.” Perfect delivery.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I mean, Larry was right. The captain did need their weights. 

I do like how Susie and Jeff just dgaf if Larry barges into their hotel room.

Oof, this was the episode where the show officially jumped the curb (TM pending!) for me.

Every single person except Larry was being inexplicably ridiculous about the weight info requirement, which wasn't nearly funny enough to justify the implausibility of it. Richard Lewis refusing? Totally buy it. Plus, having the CAPTAIN right there, made their directing the fury at Larry just seem stupid. Not funny stupid.

What really tore it though was that the Larry I expect to see would have said, "Ok," gotten on the plane, left their asses on the tarmac, and the rest of the episode would have been a feud about who owes who money.

Also: The blaming Larry for everything was too much when 1) Ted gets mad at Larry for Cheryl's (UGH! CHERYL! /waves fist impotently at the sky/) cheating; and 2) Mickey, et al blame Larry when Ted's the loud and angry aggressor.

And: I loved how Susie looked like she was fighting to hide a laugh in their toothbrush argument.

Shocker: Larry looked SHARP in his Havana-wear! Cream linen works for him, with a fedora, no less.

Edited by heavysnaxx
  • Love 8
Link to comment

I think the absolute worst on this show with regard to improv is Cheryl. For the entire run, she almost never finished a sentence. She speaks in phrases with dangling participles. She starts a thought consisting of three words and then stops talking. She is awful. 

I think in real life Larry David hates overweight women. It is just a feeling I get. Woody Allen also made fun of heavy women. 

Edited by DakotaLavender
  • Love 5
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...