Curb Your Enthusiasm - General Discussion

[rmontro]

Larry is always dating these much younger women on the show, so I had to look up his actual wife.  According to Google, they have a 38 year age difference, so I guess the show reflects reality.

[DoctorAtomic]

The maid didn't really see anything, did she? Larry was fully clothed with his back to the door, blocking the view. 

[baldryanr]

14 hours ago, rmontro said:

Larry is always dating these much younger women on the show, so I had to look up his actual wife.  According to Google, they have a 38 year age difference, so I guess the show reflects reality.

I know some people hate old man Larry dating women half his age on the show, but guess what - a lot of old, rich men do the same.  You can get all riled up about what a horrible human being he is, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. 

[opus]

Cat girl would still have a mother (and nanny), and seemingly many family/friends  on the text chain, so I didn't get that particular storyline.

[Galileo908]

I'm surprised Larry didn't get rid of the Sean Hayes lawyer. And only Larry would get real worried over a fake juror giving him the stinkeye before his fake trial.

OF COURSE Susie has Power of Attorney over Jeff should anything happen to him. 

So our mystery guest was 

Spoiler

Steve Buscemi!

It was The Smelly Car of Seinfeld all over again. Not to mention the callback to The Pen. It WAS a nice pen, BUT does it write upside-down?!

It was so good to see Richard Lewis again here. And he never gave Larry Conan Clearance?! That conversation was great, but it really hits different now. Love that we got one "She might be the one" from Richard. Love how Larry's cheese came back to bite him in the ass. (EDIT: This "The One" was played by his wife Joyce! This time it really WAS "The One!")

Next Week: 

Spoiler

Susie has Covid! And Matt Berry shows up!!

I am hyped.

Edited March 25 by Galileo908

[LoveLeigh]

Could it be that the Wil Wheaton outrage was a set up in a shtik for the season finale... where the character Larry merges with the real Larry and Wil sues the real Larry and the character Larry gets a structured settlement and has to call J.G. Wentworth because he needs cash now?

Probably not, not with Larry's gelt. 

[ECM1231]

I feel pretty dense, but neither my husband or I understood what having clearance meant wrt Conan O'Brien. 

I enjoyed this episode much more than the previous ones this season, as well as the Seinfeld references stated above.

[hoodooznoodooz]

1 hour ago, ECM1231 said:

I feel pretty dense, but neither my husband or I understood what having clearance meant wrt Conan O'Brien. 

Richard Lewis was friends with Conan. If Larry wanted to be able to walk up to Conan and engage him in a conversation, RL would have to discuss it with Conan first. Conan would either tell RL that Larry had clearance or did not.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, ECM1231 said:

I feel pretty dense, but neither my husband or I understood what having clearance meant wrt Conan O'Brien. 

I took from it that Conan is a famous person and a stranger, even another famous person, just can't approach a famous person to strike up relationship/friendship without being introduced by a mutual acquaintance.  So clearance in this instance would be Richard telling Conan "Hey, do you know Larry David lives in your new neighborhood?  You two should meet."

Richard, someone Conan trusts, is vouching for Larry.

3 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

(EDIT: This "The One" was played by his wife Joyce! This time it really WAS "The One!")

That's cool. 

[aghst]

That was Larry's real life wife?  She looked like in her 40s.

They have so many famous people on each episode and they're not even getting to play their manic selves, like Sean Hayes as a lawyer?

Or Buscemi is just some schlub trying to sell a car while Conan is the diva whom Larry wants to talk to and has to get clearance?  Conan has a Dalmatian and plays some classical guitar?

But on Larry's show, only he and Susie act out over the top.  If a lawyer told a client that possession is 9/10ths of the law, client might drop the lawyer.

Some of the subplots around these famous guest stars are a bit strained.  Conan is there so Larry can impose on him to borrow his car but it's too late to intercept the power of attorney documents anyways.  Well law firm wouldn't send those home, they'd make you come in and sign them and notarize them.

 

 

[Blakeston]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

That was Larry's real life wife?  She looked like in her 40s.

That was Richard Lewis's widow.

Re: the valet, when he first gave Larry the dirty look, I figured it was because of the odd way Larry was scatting/singing.

Also, that was a lot of cheese for two people to consume in one day.

[sugarbaker design]

2 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Re: the valet, when he first gave Larry the dirty look, I figured it was because of the odd way Larry was scatting/singing.

That would've been justifiable.  Larry looked like an idiot, not a bigshot.

[aghst]

Larry may be an ass but that valet unplugging his car?

For one thing, those plugs lock while charging.

You can't forcefully unplug without damaging the car.

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm glad to see Sean Hayes return. The crack about the one angry man was brilliant.

I completely understand his frustration with Larry hamming it up on the stand. I can't imagine how he's going to not be found guilty in the real trial because he can't get out of his own way. Unless he pulls off another Gettysburg address. 

I enjoyed the whole key tossing issue. Really in line with the show. The valet was way out of line to unplug the car. It's not like Larry just hurled the keys at the valets either. 

And a great callback to the "I like it" gambit.

Eating the cheese was a jerk move though. Come on. Larry asked if he could leave it there first. He didn't just dump it in there. 

The whole conversation with Conan was brilliant. Just the delivery of the 'haven't heard an Arbuckle reference' was gold. Conan being surly is a great choice. 

A lot of payoffs tonight - the tossing and the cheese were fantastic. 

 

[sugarbaker design]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Just the delivery of the 'haven't heard an Arbuckle reference' was gold. Conan being surly is a great choice. 

and Conan mentioning Margaret Dumont!

[catsitter]

Surely Larry has been on Conan's show (in real life) so they have met before?

[DoctorAtomic]

That's the joke though. Outside of professional activities, Conan is totally sour and doesn't want to interact with anyone before granting clearance. 

 

[rmontro]

On 3/19/2024 at 11:54 AM, baldryanr said:

I know some people hate old man Larry dating women half his age on the show, but guess what - a lot of old, rich men do the same.  You can get all riled up about what a horrible human being he is, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. 

I don't really understand why people get angry about other couples' age differences.  First off, why do you care, and how is it any of your business?  And besides, if he can marry/date/keep up with someone 38 years younger, I say more power to him.

 

17 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

and Conan mentioning Margaret Dumont!

I loved that line!  Something like "What, did you just come from Margaret Dumont's house?".

 

1 minute ago, DoctorAtomic said:

That's the joke though. Outside of professional activities, Conan is totally sour and doesn't want to interact with anyone before granting clearance. 

That's based on a real thing?  I figured Larry made it up, as some sort of weird social etiquette among the stars.  I guess when you talk to people for a living, you want your privacy.  

[sugarbaker design]

5 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I loved that line!  Something like "What, did you just come from Margaret Dumont's house?".

Yes!

[ECM1231]

14 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Richard Lewis was friends with Conan. If Larry wanted to be able to walk up to Conan and engage him in a conversation, RL would have to discuss it with Conan first. Conan would either tell RL that Larry had clearance or did not.

No, I understood that, but what the hell?! I mean, I get that as strangers Larry shouldn't go onto his property and ring his doorbell just to say hello, or something like that.  But would one actually need 'clearance" to say hello to anyone, whether famous or not? I've been out on walks where a stranger will pass by and nod and say hello and I say hello back. I guess some people are just full of themselves. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

7 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

No, I understood that, but what the hell?! I mean, I get that as strangers Larry shouldn't go onto his property and ring his doorbell just to say hello, or something like that.  But would one actually need 'clearance" to say hello to anyone, whether famous or not? I've been out on walks where a stranger will pass by and nod and say hello and I say hello back. I guess some people are just full of themselves. 

Oh, I agree one hundred percent with you. I smile at strangers or people who are playing with their dogs. I saw Wallace Shawn on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. He could tell that I recognized him. He smiled happily, and I smiled happily. But when I told Jesse Tyler Ferguson that I liked his work, he rolled his eyes at me. 

[rmontro]

10 minutes ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

But when I told Jesse Tyler Ferguson that I liked his work, he rolled his eyes at me. 

The nerve of you to say that!  Eh, people get jaded.  Tell him that at a different point in his life, and he might react differently.

[DoctorAtomic]

I think they just set the whole plot up with Conan as a joke to have him play against type. 

[buttersister]

7 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

think they just set the whole plot up with Conan as a joke to have him play against type. 

I thought that was obvious, too.

[ALenore]

4 hours ago, aghst said:

Larry may be an ass but that valet unplugging his car?

For one thing, those plugs lock while charging.

You can't forcefully unplug without damaging the car.

Yes, they do lock, but Larry gave him the key, so he could have unplugged the car. 

[DoctorAtomic]

That's borderline vandalism then. Anyone could come by an unplug the car, but if you need the key, that's premeditated. 

[Galileo908]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I think they just set the whole plot up with Conan as a joke to have him play against type. 

Yeah, it's a joke on how out of character it is for Conan to act like a diva that needs clearance to just speak to him. IRL, he's like the nicest guy ever that loves to chat with people.

He DOES have a dog, but a golden retriever. Dalmatian is just a funnier breed.

[DoctorAtomic]

I wouldn't stereotype the dog, you know. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

He DOES have a dog, but a golden retriever.

So it must be really friendly!

Edited March 25 by hoodooznoodooz

[DoctorAtomic]

Jeff and Susie have a podcast about the show (as themselves, not the characters). I didn't know that prior to the show proper, there was an hour special in 1999. It's on HBO if anyone wants to check it out. 

 

[Dewey Decimate]

My gods, that was the best episode of the season, possibly top 10 of the series. I must have awakened every neighborhood pet by laughing so freaking hard at the final key-toss moment into Larry's face. Conan playing an asshole was perfect, Richard Lewis got in some excellent scenes (the head toss lesson with the eyes felt almost wondefully ad libbed), the "pull the plug" continuity - just superb. And the level of ridiculousness was just short of being stupid - everything seemed like something that could actually happen in Larry David world. (Except for Susie and Jeff eating the cheese - I'm with Larry on that one! They were just HOLDING it for him!)

[Lone Wolf]

Random thoughts:

Did anyone else notice that all of Richard's scenes were filmed with him sitting in the car, even to the point of him having LD come to Richard when they argued about LD buying the car and Conan Clearance?

They seemed to be having a great time during that scene - more than a hint of a smile on both their faces, and I'm certain that the entire "Babe" exchange was improv.

Steve Buscemi (who IMHO can do no wrong) is looking his age. I guess we're all getting older.

Couldn't help but remember this clip of real-life LD introducing himself to a major celebrity - no doubt without prior clearance:

https://youtu.be/gjtL6zXlBSo

 

[MaggieG]

I was with Larry on the cheese thing. He asked if he could leave it in the fridge because he didn't want to leave it in his car and he said he would be back for it the next day. 

https://www.cheesestorebh.com/ this is the place he went to

[Blakeston]

The cheese plotline would have worked better, IMO, if they had eaten some of it.

These social etiquette things work best when the issue is something that you can realistically see people disagreeing on. Whether you should toss keys to a valet falls into that category.

I don't think it would be ridiculous for someone in Susie's position to try the cheese, and feel it was justified because they were storing it. But eating the whole thing in one day? That's not even debatable.

[Galileo908]

Great seeing Matt Berry (Les McCrabb is a great Matt Berry name). And Al Madrigal! But man, wasn't expecting Bruce! That first conversation was such a great scene with him. I cringed so hard whenever Larry tried to introduce his masseuse to him.

Oh man, a water glass mistake with Bruce gave Larry (and Susie) covid! It was only a matter of time before they did a Covid plot. And you'd think he'd catch it sooner, it was a great way to get out of social obligations. So who gave it to who? I thought Bruce gave it to Larry, but now I think Matt Berry gave it to him, to keep up with the zipper karma coming full circle.

Died at Leon during this one. Holding his breath to sneak into Larry's house to grab the Apple Jacks was gold.

Maaaan, I can't believe there's only one episode left. Loved that the preview for next was just a supercut of everyone yelling at Larry to get out.

[mrc12671]

I've loved Bruce Springsteen for over 40 years and I cannot believe Larry persuaded him to utter the line "Didn't have you pegged for a floor fucker, Larry!"  God, that was so f'n fun.

[aghst]

Larry feeling a certain way about a fuck buddy from back in the day who has transitioned from Kendra to Ken.

Also the masseuse is second Asian this season with that heavy accent.  His views of Asians ability to speak English is stuck in the ‘80s if not older.  If she’s Vietnamese, most of them would be second generation or later.  They escaped Vietnam in the ‘70s so most of them the age of the masseuse would have been born and raised in the US.

I can’t recall if he had other ethnicities with stereotypical accents, like the Palestinian Chicken episode.

Episode was fun otherwise and it wasn’t a big parade of celebrity guest stars like other episodes this season.

Also you don’t get Covid from sharing the same glass of water, but instead all the time LD and Bruce spent talking to each other close to each other.  If they did infect each other.

But they show Les getting on the bus and them shouting at each other in that bus.

[Irlandesa]

I thought this episode was pretty strong.  I found myself laughing out loud most during this episode than others in the season. 

I especially like how Larry was feeling thrown about having slept with someone who is now a man but, other than a brief comment by Jeff, the people in the room were unfazed by that fact. Instead, they were obsessed with the fact that Larry's a floor fucker.  And why he did that. 

1 hour ago, aghst said:

If she’s Vietnamese, most of them would be second generation or later.  They escaped Vietnam in the ‘70s so most of them the age of the masseuse would have been born and raised in the US.

The actress isn't Vietnamese. Her name is Tania Gunudi  She's from Indonesia and moved to the US when she was a teenager.  Her real voice does have a slight accent, although she likely exaggerated it for the show. 

[Simon Boccanegra]

It was somewhat surprising to me that Springsteen never tried acting when he was at his '80s commercial peak. He seemed to have an aptitude for it when he was playing characters in his videos, but those were brief bits. But he was a delightful surprise here. He really held his own with Larry, Jeff, and Susie. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't know how Jeff got through the deli scene. Just Larry doing Roosevelt was too much.

JB totally got Larry with 'they're going to add you to the evolution of man chart'. 

I'm actually glad Larry snapped at Cheryl and shut her down about the non-happy ending. Although the lawyer was correct; nowadays, just the accusation will sink him because no one would give him the 3 seconds to explain himself. I kind of feel bad for Cheryl-the actor. She hasn't had much to do on the show except snip at Larry. 

The Boss was totally cool. I like that Jeff got him to crack up with the 'The Boss eats at a B!' 

I don't really begrudge Larry for being awkward about Ken. They kind of dropped it on him. "I will never mention this again ever."

I don't think I actually ever got covid, but I agree with Larry. What a great excuse. I got the flu in January for the first time in 6 years and everyone thought it was covid. No, people sometimes get sick. 

What were people going to do chasing the car?

Maybe women just want to do it and get on with the day too. 

If Les gave Larry covid from zipping him up, I would think he (Les) would have already had symptoms. 

[cpcathy]

The plot lines this season have been such a mess. We’re already at the finale next week? There has been hardly any buildup at all. Are we going the Seinfeld “they all go to jail” route?

I'm frankly done with Susie’s yelling and Cheryl seems over it.

Next week had better pack a wallop.

[NotMySekrit2Tell]

9 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't really begrudge Larry for being awkward about Ken. They kind of dropped it on him. "I will never mention this again ever."

I thought that was kind of a jerk move on Ken's part. If I ran into an old sexual partner after a period of decades, it would never even cross my mind to put our shared personal business on shout in front of a group. I feel if Larry had done that to someone, he'd have been treated like the asshole of the episode, justifiably. 

On the accent issue: If every obviously ESL character on the show spoke broken English, I'd call foul, but I think they mix it up pretty well. There have been very fluent Asian characters, such as the guy at the restaurant whom Larry didn't feel bowed deeply enough while apologizing for something; the guy who became suicidal when Larry mocked his father the former kamikaze pilot; even the Takahashi actor's first character (the one who was shopping for a car and was asking about "GT" vs. "GTS").

So they do it realistically. English is not the easiest language to pick up, and ESL speakers are at all different levels of proficiency and experience.

[Asp Burger]

By now, whenever I see a guest star who's in the "beloved" category, I know Larry is (probably without bad intentions) going to do something he'll be hated for.  

He tripped Shaq during a game, accidentally, sending him to the hospital.

He mocked Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's, but he was actually just miming playing a violin because that's the replacement present he got his girlfriend's kid.  

He disabled Lin-Manuel Miranda by shooting him in the mouth with a paintball.

And he gave the Boss COVID.

He's wreaked havoc across the worlds of sport, music, theater, and philanthropy!

[catsitter]

I am surprised to see a sitcom plot in 2024 which is Larry doesn't want people to think he had sex with a man. Even on Seinfeld, they would have said, "Not that there's anything wrong with that"!  And isn't dead-naming a no-no? I thought when I originally saw the plot synopsis that Larry was going to accidentally dead-name Ken.

 

Next week's episode is an hour-long special.

[sugarbaker design]

On 4/1/2024 at 1:49 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

I kind of feel bad for Cheryl-the actor. She hasn't had much to do on the show except snip at Larry. 

She should be grateful for the job, I can't imagine a big demand for the acting skills of the wife of loony RFK II.

Best Susie Quote:  "You cold-hearted Covid-carrying c*cks*cker!"

Edited April 2 by sugarbaker design

[Not4Me]

2 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

She should be grateful for the job, I can't imagine a big demand for the acting skills of the wife of loony RFK II.

Ooof! Who knew that portraying the wife of a social assassin would prepare her for the real thing?

That verbal altercation between Larry and Susie looked the most toxic and acrimonious out of all their fights. Other times they fight and then pretend like it never happened but this seemed pretty hateful, which I guess is supposed to foreshadow the final episode.

This was one of the better episodes, for me, on what has been, again, a mediocre season.

[DoctorAtomic]

I think Susie was just really mad about getting covid and probably more mad Jeff had the whole first floor to do what he wanted. Larry (actor) looked to me that he was pushing Susie to really ramp it up on him. 

 

[Pike Ludwell]

Way too much Leon. Last week they minimized Leon and I thought ... oh they get it, he's wrecking the show. But no. They doubled or quadrupled down on him this week. The finale will probably be Leon-centric!! LOL Thank god its ending -- they're going in the wrong direction. Everything way nuttier than it used to be. I liked it when it bore a better relation to reality, not a perfect relation, I realize, but most scenes were much more relatable, and therefore funnier  -- in the earlier years.

Edited April 2 by Pike Ludwell

[Soapy Goddess]

8 hours ago, Pike Ludwell said:

Way too much Leon.

I couldn't agree more! IMO, JB Smoove is the most unfunny guy I've ever seen in comedy. Every other word out of his mouth is MF'er, cock or dick. Not only is he not funny, most of the time you can't understand a single word he says anyway.

[Galileo908]

On 4/1/2024 at 3:21 PM, cpcathy said:

I'm frankly done with Susie’s yelling and Cheryl seems over it.

I'm the opposite, Larry and Susie screaming at each other never gets old for me, and this one was great. I think it's because Susie looks and sounds a lot like my mom, and I watch Curb with my parents.

And yeah, I have no idea why Cheryl was even in this one, just butting into the plot for the sake of butting in?