Curb Your Enthusiasm - General Discussion

[Pike Ludwell]

19 minutes ago, scrb said:

They haven't touched on it too much, how he made so much money from Seinfeld.

The main evidence is the beautiful mansions he lives in.  And you're right the extent of his wealth is omitted. It's funny how often in the show he is concerned about rather small amounts of money.

Edited November 13, 2017 by riverclown

[Blakeston]

I think the real-life Larry David is similarly hung up on spending small amounts of money. Jeff Garlin has called him out on being somewhat cheap about things like picking up checks.

It's not about the money for him, it's about the principle of the thing.

[Irlandesa]

I didn't think the women bus driver was an asshole.  IIRC, all she wanted him to do was step a foot back.  And the bus can be complicated because, unlike trains or subways, they don't name the stops.  However, most bus drivers on buses I've been on have been pretty good about announcing a stop if I ask in advance.

2 hours ago, riverclown said:

White guilt or something.

White guilt or bending over backwards to not be racist.  A similar theme to the initial interactions Daniel Kaluuya's character had in Get Out.

[ganesh]

Usually now, the stops appear electronically on the bus too. But you still need a general idea of where you're going. 

I don't take Uber, but Larry could have also called a taxi. 

[wendyg]

Almost all the city buses I've been on in the last few years have had LCD signs and announcements for each stop. That's all become much easier. But I've never been on a bus where the driver wouldn't let you know when you reached your stop if you asked them.

[Thrifty]

The payoff to Larry's interaction with the guy who's car he hit was priceless.  Best thing all season.

[Pike Ludwell]

4 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I didn't think the women bus driver was an asshole.  IIRC, all she wanted him to do was step a foot back.  And the bus can be complicated because, unlike trains or subways, they don't name the stops.  However, most bus drivers on buses I've been on have been pretty good about announcing a stop if I ask in advance.

 

I re-watched the show and I had been mis-remembering that scene. You are right -- she wasn't one.

I thought the Uber driver who gave Larry the "1" was a tad oversensitive about the "lowland" women (LOL) (but yes the mountain women did not look so good - haha) and too quick to anger. I didn't realize you can't change Uber ratings once given. If I gave a driver a 5 and he gave me a 1 I'd want to change it. I've never been too happy with what i've heard of the Uber rating system insofar as directed toward passengers ... No ratings of passengers should be given except maybe notes as to special circumstances: the passenger is blatantly unruly or makes a mess in or damages the car.  Customers can feel too much under tyranny and the whims of the driver. It is an Uber control mechanism over customers, which many would not like -- probably not too great for business.

Edited November 14, 2017 by riverclown

[woodscommaelle]

21 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I see that Susie's "Soap's On" business is still happening.

Lol! What's the business? I think I missed that storyline.

[bilgistic]

In the "Foisted!" episode, Susie announced she was starting a business making and selling bath products and was calling it "Soap's On" (a play on "soup's on"). Of course, Larry mocked her and the name of the business (rightly so). Susie needed an assistant, and Larry "foisted" his assistant onto Susie.

[Thrifty]

11 hours ago, scrb said:

I don't know, I think it's maybe more than he has a lot of money and doesn't give a shit any more.

They haven't touched on it too much, how he made so much money from Seinfeld.

A concrete number was mentioned in season 2 by an angry HBO executive.  Larry had a suspicion that this HBO executive had stolen some of the shrimp from his takeout Chinese food order.  When Larry confronted the executive on this, the executive suggested to Larry that he "take your 400 million dollars and buy a fucking shrimp boat".

[Ms Blue Jay]

19 hours ago, scrb said:

I don't know, I think it's maybe more than he has a lot of money and doesn't give a shit any more.

They haven't touched on it too much, how he made so much money from Seinfeld.

Are you a fan of the early seasons?  It's touched on very much throughout all 9.  Cheryl and Larry used to switch mansions like hotcakes.  Larry goes from network to network shopping show ideas.  Cheryl would get mad at him when he'd relax and retire.  Larry would invariably meet people who either liked Seinfeld or had criticisms of it and he'd base his opinion of those people off of that.  Jeff also loves to introduce him to people as the man who co-created Seinfeld.

19 hours ago, riverclown said:

The main evidence is the beautiful mansions he lives in.  And you're right the extent of his wealth is omitted. It's funny how often in the show he is concerned about rather small amounts of money.

I've never seen it like that.  Not concerned with small amounts of money.  He's concerned with people being assholes towards him.  Like the woman he was dating who asked to ("borrow?") sixty dollars for something and then she never ended up needing the money.  When he asked her about it she wouldn't return it.  She's simply an asshole.

There's also an early seasons subplot where their couple friends always would go to the bathroom so that Larry would end up paying.  Let's say he did this 5 or 6 times.  Larry's not a cheap man, but as stated above he has his rigid principles.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

18 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I didn't think the women bus driver was an asshole.  IIRC, all she wanted him to do was step a foot back.  And the bus can be complicated because, unlike trains or subways, they don't name the stops.  However, most bus drivers on buses I've been on have been pretty good about announcing a stop if I ask in advance.

White guilt or bending over backwards to not be racist.  A similar theme to the initial interactions Daniel Kaluuya's character had in Get Out.

I think Curb and Larry try to be honest about race.  He doesn't walk around saying he's colour blind.  I agree, he has the white guilt and it's peppered in throughout the show.  I mean, he's let Leon stay at his place rent-free since Season 6, and Leon wasn't even in the Hurricane in the first place.  He just showed up and never left.  That's some serious white guilt.

I'm Asian myself and I didn't see Larry as mocking the Asian bus passenger.  I thought he was actually trying to use her own language in a way to communicate with her. Like perhaps she was saying "You move over there" and he was hoping he was saying "No YOU move." Anyway I found the woman so adorable it actually touched me, and the entire scene hysterical.

14 hours ago, wendyg said:

Almost all the city buses I've been on in the last few years have had LCD signs and announcements for each stop. That's all become much easier. But I've never been on a bus where the driver wouldn't let you know when you reached your stop if you asked them.

Guess that they do in Toronto now.... . because of so much passenger abuse towards drivers (apparently - I don't doubt it - this is my educated guess) the drivers on streetcars now sit behind thick glass and you're not allowed to communicate with them.  Tourists and new bus passengers roam around aimlessly until a nice bus patron tells them what to do.  LOL!

[Mindthinkr]

The Sophie's Choice question to the heating and air guy cracked me up. Sometimes LD is so inappropriate you have to look at it as funny because the mind can't grip that he can really be the way that he is. 

[MaggieG]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm Asian myself and I didn't see Larry as mocking the Asian bus passenger.  I thought he was actually trying to use her own language in a way to communicate with her. Like perhaps she was saying "You move over there" and he was hoping he was saying "No YOU move." Anyway I found the woman so adorable it actually touched me, and the entire scene hysterical.

 

I thought the same thing, he was confused why she was sitting in the middle. All the gesturing they did back and forth cracked me up.

[Blakeston]

When he first interacted with the bus driver, Larry was the asshole.

But she proved herself to be an asshole herself, particularly when she yelled "no shit, Sherlock" at the passenger who pointed out that she clipped the mirror. She also took no responsibility for the accident (any bus driver will tell you that an annoying passenger isn't an excuse for not paying attention to the road.)

And then threatening to kick Larry's ass if she ever saw him on the bus again? This was not a professional person.

[Thrifty]

3 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I think Curb and Larry try to be honest about race.  He doesn't walk around saying he's colour blind.  I agree, he has the white guilt and it's peppered in throughout the show.  I mean, he's let Leon stay at his place rent-free since Season 6, and Leon wasn't even in the Hurricane in the first place.  He just showed up and never left.  That's some serious white guilt.

I don't think that's Larry's motivation for keeping Leon around.  Obviously, out of show they do it because JB Smoove is comic gold.  But in show, Larry keeps him around because he can't figure out how to get rid of him.  I don't think anything short of getting some kind of restraining order and having the police forcibly remove him would work.  I mean, Leon drove clear across the country to follow Larry.  Didn't they go to Europe together at the end of season 8?

[Irlandesa]

Speaking of the bus clipping the parked car.  I feel like one of the signatures of Curb is having things come full circle.  So, for instance, the airplane passenger who later ended up dating the doctor would have actually been revealed to have a condition or have the condition play a role in her reappearance.  Instead, it seems like she was just there.  And with the bus driver clipping the car, I almost felt like the car she clipped should have been the same car Larry ran into earlier.

Still funny but I feel they used to be more finished.

[MV713]

On ‎11‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 11:16 PM, woodscommaelle said:

If ever there was a perfect sounding made-up Jewish holiday, Sukutis it is (spelling may vary).

Not a made up holiday - Sukkot - Sukkot is a weeklong Jewish holiday that comes five days after Yom Kippur.

[woodscommaelle]

14 minutes ago, MV713 said:

Not a made up holiday - Sukkot - Sukkot is a weeklong Jewish holiday that comes five days after Yom Kippur.

No, I know Sukkot.  He made it sound like he just randomly made up a new holiday.  But I could have heard wrong. 

4 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I'm Asian myself and I didn't see Larry as mocking the Asian bus passenger.  I thought he was actually trying to use her own language in a way to communicate with her. Like perhaps she was saying "You move over there" and he was hoping he was saying "No YOU move." Anyway I found the woman so adorable it actually touched me, and the entire scene hysterical.

She reminded me of Ms. Swan from MadTV.

This episode was my favorite of the season. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Ms. Swan is a yellowface character so it's very different.  The woman on the bus was an actually Asian actor and character.

1 hour ago, Thrifty said:

I don't think that's Larry's motivation for keeping Leon around.  Obviously, out of show they do it because JB Smoove is comic gold.  But in show, Larry keeps him around because he can't figure out how to get rid of him.  I don't think anything short of getting some kind of restraining order and having the police forcibly remove him would work.  I mean, Leon drove clear across the country to follow Larry.  Didn't they go to Europe together at the end of season 8?

They are friends and 'roommates' now I guess, but they did not start that way.  Sure, over the course of 10 years - Season 6 was 10 years ago - motivations change.  But at first, who knows why Larry kept him around?  I don't think Larry actually actively wants to get rid of Leon now or he would take some kind of action.  But I think race relations are a big reason that inform their relationship.  Larry talks about white guilt in other seasons as well.  There is an episode where Larry mentions to Jeff that he nods to black people as a greeting, as a way of saying "I know, I'm sorry".   Jeff doesn't experience these same feelings.  He thought Larry was being ridiculous with both the head-nod and the need to mention that his auto mechanic is black. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Ms Blue Jay

[StatisticalOutlier]

19 hours ago, wendyg said:

Almost all the city buses I've been on in the last few years have had LCD signs and announcements for each stop. That's all become much easier. But I've never been on a bus where the driver wouldn't let you know when you reached your stop if you asked them.

I'm always amazed at the number of people who stop at the open door of a bus and ask the driver if it's going to such-and-such place, and if not, how to get there.  I'm too much of a planner to ever do something like that.

And I'm LOVING the LCD signs and announcements for each stop.  Especially at night, and especially in a relatively unfamiliar area, I'm always scared I won't recognize my stop until it's too late.  On my recent bus foray, on the way out I was looking out the window at the return route, and thinking, "Okay, after I see the Safeway, look for the Les Schwab and pull the rope then."  Then I realized they call out each stop, and these are numbered streets, so my anxiety was greatly (but not completely) lessened.

 

On 11/13/2017 at 9:22 AM, ganesh said:

I thought the scene with just Larry and Susan was fantastic. They opened when she was just bs-ing with him about stuff, and it gave some depth as to them actually being friends. They both looked like they were having a blast about the whole 'you're a 2' conversation.

I also loved that scene--just them standing around in the kitchen.  Like friends.  Which made me realize that they really are friends.

I was wondering why Susie was inviting Larry to the wedding because, as pointed out above, Larry doesn't care if he gets and invite, and Jeff doesn't care if he gets an invite, so why the big deal?  I thought it was because that's what you do in polite society, but now I think Susie wants him there because she actually likes him.

[ganesh]

I think Larry and Susan share some type of "New York jew" connection. She's always kicking him out of the house, but he still shows up. It's not like he's barred. What I liked about the scene was that Jeff wasn't there. So either Larry called Jeff about the mechanic and said, "come on over, I'm heading home soon," or he just felt like showing up to hang out with Susan while waiting for Jeff.  

I think Susan wants him at the wedding because he is Larry David, for one, and I think she wants to maximize the number of people at the wedding, so she can say, "oh there were 250 people at the wedding." 

She's got to know that Larry is going to ruin the wedding somehow though. Maybe she's one of those women that just likes being mad. 

[Thrifty]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Ms. Swan is a yellowface character so it's very different.  The woman on the bus was an actually Asian actor and character.

They are friends and 'roommates' now I guess, but they did not start that way.  Sure, over the course of 10 years - Season 6 was 10 years ago - motivations change.  But at first, who knows why Larry kept him around?  I don't think Larry actually actively wants to get rid of Leon now or he would take some kind of action.  But I think race relations are a big reason that inform their relationship.  Larry talks about white guilt in other seasons as well.  There is an episode where Larry mentions to Jeff that he nods to black people as a greeting, as a way of saying "I know, I'm sorry".   Jeff doesn't experience these same feelings.  He thought Larry was being ridiculous with both the head-nod and the need to mention that his auto mechanic is black. 

In season 8, episode 2, Larry expressed exasperation at his inability to get rid of Leon.  This was later misconstrued as Larry being Leon's abused domestic partner, and led to a mixup where some other black man (who looked nothing like Leon) was mistaken for Leon and arrested.

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

She's got to know that Larry is going to ruin the wedding somehow though. Maybe she's one of those women that just likes being mad. 

Maybe?!?!?

[scrb]

The reason Larry would be at the wedding is that he is the show runner and if he thinks theres a funny story to be told around it, he'd do it.

But Larry is one of Jeff's significant sources of income so she wouldn't offend him by not inviting him.

Of course Susie cussing out people is comedy schtick.

[Pallas]

On 10/1/2017 at 11:05 PM, Valny said:

So Sammy's getting married! that has to be an episode right?! Larry has to ruin it somehow.

 

On 10/9/2017 at 6:34 PM, Thrifty said:

So Larry has a fatwah on him, and there are multiple jokes with Larry's antics causing tension with Muslims.

Also, Jeff's daughter Sammy is engaged to a veteran who served in Afghanistan.

These two facts are going to come together in a disastrous way later....

 

And weeks later, by ep 7, the bus driver has also issued him a fatwa. Larry may think he's a gadfly, but he's more of a roundworm: someone who can get under the skin of anyone, from a touchy spiritual leader to a phlegmatic civil servant. No one is immune to his Eddie-Haskell-like powers of pestering, not even a woman who earns a living by taking shit from people she then takes to where they're going. There are no Mrs. Cleavers in Larry-verse.  

My spec is that this season is a one-off, and that the Ayatollah's fatwa will come to pass at Sammi's wedding. (Larry David's having set himself the task of topping The Invitation for nuptial annihilation, maybe. Or The Finale, for well-deserved protagonist come-uppance.) Either Larry will taken from us, or, he will be the only survivor, everyone else having been slain as collateral damage. Alternately, Larry -- if his creator wants to do a season 10 -- may have to pass or circumvent a social-skills test put to him by the assassin (who turns out to be...?), and save the day. 

[ganesh]

The veteran already showed he was unstable during the revolutionary war re enactment when he went after the valets because they were wearing red coats. Larry made a quick comment about his stability to Susan in this past episode, so it certainly looks like it's going to pay off. 

[scrb]

2 hours ago, Pallas said:

 

 

And weeks later, by ep 7, the bus driver has also issued him a fatwa. Larry may think he's a gadfly, but he's more of a roundworm: someone who can get under the skin of anyone, from a touchy spiritual leader to a phlegmatic civil servant. No one is immune to his Eddie-Haskell-like powers of pestering, not even a woman who earns a living by taking shit from people she then takes to where they're going. There are no Mrs. Cleavers in Larry-verse.  

My spec is that this season is a one-off, and that the Ayatollah's fatwa will come to pass at Sammi's wedding. (Larry David's having set himself the task of topping The Invitation for nuptial annihilation, maybe. Or The Finale, for well-deserved protagonist come-uppance.) Either Larry will taken from us, or, he will be the only survivor, everyone else having been slain as collateral damage. Alternately, Larry -- if his creator wants to do a season 10 -- may have to pass or circumvent a social-skills test put to him by the assassin (who turns out to be...?), and save the day. 

Hmm, Larry might be the type to kill off his character to end the show.

Jeff Greene gave an interview and he said he anticipated that Larry would do this season well before Larry decided to do it.

He anticipates that LD isn't done with CYE after this season either so I hope he's right.

[hoodooznoodooz]

I liked Larry listing what he didn't like about the date. "She drives around with the windows open." Brigitte says, "Ugh. Air."

[Pallas]

9 minutes ago, scrb said:

Hmm, Larry might be the type to kill off his character to end the show.

And throughout the season, he's been very judiciously conceding the case against himself, made by guest star upon guest star -- even the fatwa placed on him by Funkhouser's new (former) girlfriend. Of course maybe only Ted Danson will end up dead, taking the bullet for Larry. Or wait -- maybe Mary Steenburgen will bring her new boytoy, the Larrybot, as her plus-one, and it's the bot who'll will take the hit. But a Great Big Fatwa Greene Wedding there will be.

[ganesh]

I can't see people dying on this show. The resolution to the fatwa is going to be something ridiculous. 

[Thrifty]

39 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I can't see people dying on this show. The resolution to the fatwa is going to be something ridiculous. 

Well, technically, Larry already died -- at the end of season 5.

[woodscommaelle]

Larry is looking a lot like Montgomery Burns lately.

[Unclejosh]

I think Larry is having a blast doing the show this season more than any other in the past. I think it was gone long enough that the day to day drudge of creating and working on the show for years had passed and it seems like Larry and the whole cast is just having fun this time.  I mean you can see Larry and the other cast members pretty much breaking in every episode which usually works because it is also in character for them to laugh at each other.  I mean nothing I hate more than a sitcom where a character doesn't laugh or react realistically when the other actor does something funny. This is something Kaley Cuoco on BBT excels in where she genuinely reacts like a real person would if someone said something funny in real life.  

Anyway I hope the show continues because I am still enjoying it as much as ever.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Unclejosh

[cpcathy]

I like when characters genuinely laugh at what is being said. It means the actor is listening to the person speaking, and not just waiting for their next line.  It also means they are probably enjoying their work.

[woodscommaelle]

2 minutes ago, cpcathy said:

I like when characters genuinely laugh at what is being said. It means the actor is listening to the person speaking, and not just waiting for their next line.  It also means they are probably enjoying their work.

Yes.  This happened every now and again on Roseanne between her and Jackie.  Loved those scenes.

[hoodooznoodooz]

20 minutes ago, woodscommaelle said:

Yes.  This happened every now and again on Roseanne between her and Jackie.  Loved those scenes.

Me, too. Laurie Metcalf = brilliant 

[hoodooznoodooz]

There were things I loved and hated about this episode.

 

The brunch buffet discussion among the panel was great. 

The analysis of his good and bad deeds was great. 

 

Larry getting so worked up by how much ketchup she was using was ridiculous.

The way Elizabeth Perkins dropped the fork was lame.

His babbling at Pemberton Academy was ridiculous.

Edited November 20, 2017 by hoodooznoodooz

[hoodooznoodooz]

Does Larry really believe that the point of a tip is so that the other person remains indebted to the tipper?

That guy sure is skilled at extracting the truth from people.

Edited November 20, 2017 by hoodooznoodooz

[scrb]

Larry is strong-willed about such trivial matters.

Yet those imams felt similarly about cutting in line for seconds and about using too much ketchup.

 

The all backs to those previous episodes were funny.  I didn't remember all of them -- just vaguely recall the kamikaze who just grazed the ship.

[hoodooznoodooz]

7 hours ago, scrb said:

Larry is strong-willed about such trivial matters.

Yet those imams felt similarly about cutting in line for seconds and about using too much ketchup.

 

The all backs to those previous episodes were funny.  I didn't remember all of them -- just vaguely recall the kamikaze who just grazed the ship.

Yes, I am hoping someone will remind me what happened with regard to the kamikaze, the wheelchair girlfriends and the song lyrics. 

[Thrifty]

That was a great wrap up to the fatwa story line.  When Larry was meeting with the imams and the guy brought in the onion rings and ketchup, I was sure Larry was gonna say something and blow it.  The callbacks were great, and I liked how all the things that made other people hate Larry endeared him to the Muslims.

[revbfc]

I love the discussions around here over who the asshole is in any particular situation.  Not in a “I’m so superior” way, but how much being an asshole is a permanent status, and sometimes there just happens to be a bigger one around.

[Joimiaroxeu]

The guy who played Cesar also plays a brutal henchman on Queen of the South. I was almost waiting for him to shoot Larry's face off or something.

Never wait for seconds! Never!

That certainly was an awful lot of ketchup. Ugh.

Only Larry can get released from a fatwa because of someone getting seconds at a buffet.

Flipped the tip.

I think this was one of the best episodes of CYE ever. Much better than the similar Seinfeld finale.

[Pallas]

3 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Only Larry can get released from a fatwa because of someone getting seconds at a buffet.

"There is nothing Americans hate more than a cutter." But it's not quite a done deal; the Ayatollah has to approve, and the iman was only very confident that he would. Then there's the Lin-Manuel problem (and as who: surely not Rushdie, in the muftis' view; Khomeini?). 

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 11/20/2017 at 6:46 AM, hoodooznoodooz said:

Yes, I am hoping someone will remind me what happened with regard to the kamikaze, the wheelchair girlfriends and the song lyrics. 

1.  Kamikaze.  That man described to Larry how his father was a kamikaze pilot, but didn't actually die in the war.  So Larry argued with him that his father was not actually technically a kamikaze pilot, which brought great shame to the Japanese man, so much so that he attempted suicide.  

2.  Wheelchair girlfriends.  Larry dated this blonde woman named Denise, I believe.  He was all set to take her on a date - to bring her to an intimate classical concert at somebody's house. But then Sammy, Jeff's daughter was drowning at the beach, and Larry was the only person around on the beach that could have saved her.  Instead of running into the water to save her, Larry spent time stripping off his clothes and calling for help - he didn't want to get his Blackberry wet.  When Jeff and Susie came upon the emergency, Jeff ran out to save Sammy and Susie got so upset at Larry she threw his Blackberry into the ocean.  That's the only place he had saved Denise's phone number. Larry went creeping around Denise's neighbourhood to look for her and instead, came upon another attractive woman in a wheelchair.  I believe her name was Wendy.  He took Wendy to this party instead.  Denise showed up to the party and saw what Larry had done, and both women dumped him.

3.  Song Lyrics.  Possibly the best episode of the entire show's run and 1 of only 2 episodes to win an Emmy alongside Palestinian Chicken; both the episode and the rapper are named Krayzee Eyez Killa.  In Season 3 I believe, Krayzee Eyez was about to marry Wanda.  (I thought it was so cool they suddenly had Wanda come out this episode. Krayzee said, "Larry saved me from marrying a lesbian.")  Krayzee Eyez knew that Larry was a writer so he shared some rap lyrics with Larry and Larry gave him advice on the lyrics.  Krayzee and Larry became very friendly until somebody revealed to Wanda that Krayzee was sleeping around on her and Krayzee assumed it was Larry who told her.  (It wasn't.)  Wanda dumped Krayzee Eyez.

For me this particular episode was a letdown after last, with the bus, which I absolutely LOVED.  Michael J. Fox still looks so adorable.  So glad to see him looking ok.

Edited November 21, 2017 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 11/16/2017 at 2:02 PM, Unclejosh said:

I think Larry is having a blast doing the show this season more than any other in the past. I think it was gone long enough that the day to day drudge of creating and working on the show for years had passed and it seems like Larry and the whole cast is just having fun this time.  I mean you can see Larry and the other cast members pretty much breaking in every episode which usually works because it is also in character for them to laugh at each other.  I mean nothing I hate more than a sitcom where a character doesn't laugh or react realistically when the other actor does something funny. This is something Kaley Cuoco on BBT excels in where she genuinely reacts like a real person would if someone said something funny in real life.  

Anyway I hope the show continues because I am still enjoying it as much as ever.

This show has a lot of that natural reaction, especially from Larry, because the show is mostly improvised.  The actors always say that the scenes  are very vaguely outlined, except the guest actors are sometimes told YOU MUST bring up point x, or y.  The guest actors often surprise Larry so much with their lines or ideas that you can see him really genuinely laughing and reacting. It makes sense that Larry would keep the moments that make him laugh the hardest and he really doesn't seem to care whether he breaks in the scene or not.

Even in the very early seasons of Curb, you can see Larry reacting.  Larry even reacts to his OWN jokes while he's saying them -- I think he's coming up with those lines spontaneously and is really genuinely surprised that he's able to come up with something that funny in the moment.

[ganesh]

17 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Larry getting so worked up by how much ketchup she was using was ridiculous.

The way Elizabeth Perkins dropped the fork was lame.

I don't think he was that worked up. It was gross. They have these nice roasted potatoes and she drowns them in ketchup. That's exactly the type of thing Larry is going to make a comment about. That was rather low on the rant scale for him. The gf then proceeds to put even more on? That's on her. 

I thought she dropped the fork on purpose because she knew she couldn't eat all that ketchup and wanted to leave. 

In a larger context, I don't like when people are obligated to be friends with their friends' partners. She's annoying and Larry doesn't like her. He doesn't have to. Funkhauser forcing them all to go out together is going to cause problems. 

7 hours ago, Thrifty said:

That was a great wrap up to the fatwa story line.  When Larry was meeting with the imams and the guy brought in the onion rings and ketchup, I was sure Larry was gonna say something and blow it.  The callbacks were great, and I liked how all the things that made other people hate Larry endeared him to the Muslims.

That was perfect for the show. I thought Larry was going to blow it with the ketchup too, but then they all started yelling at the other guy, and the one on the end was complaining about the packets. 

I thought the 'investigation' was actually good because it showed Larry's actions from a neutral perspective. People don't want to be called on their shit. The wheelchair woman was complaining about Larry cheating on her, but the main takeaway was that he treated her just like everyone else. The whole "he ignored jewish orthodoxy" *eyebrow raise* killed though. 

I don't have a problem with the characters breaking up. I think Richard Lewis, Jeff, Susan, and Leon do it best. I think that's the main reason Leon is still around. 

[Pallas]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

The whole "he ignored jewish orthodoxy" *eyebrow raise* killed though. 

Indeed it did. I thought that "Seconds Man" and his investigation -- down to his reaction shots --was very like Stephen Colbert in his former life, playing journalist Stephen Colbert. At worst an homage, and it worked brilliantly.

[Pike Ludwell]

3 hours ago, ganesh said:

I don't think he was that worked up. It was gross. They have these nice roasted potatoes and she drowns them in ketchup. That's exactly the type of thing Larry is going to make a comment about. That was rather low on the rant scale for him. The gf then proceeds to put even more on? That's on her. 

It would have been a painful thing to watch. I see someone doing that and I'm tempted to yell "STOP" or something, but I don't. I saw someone do this with pouring coffeemate into coffee. They just kept pouring and pouring till the coffee was white. I bit my tongue and didn't say anything. 

It was a funny concept that the group of  strict Muslim Muftis  were all so familiar with and thought about American cultural matters in the funny way Larry David does. Nice satire as to those types by writer LD! (Saying things like "you have to wait so long at buffets because you wait for them to cook the eggs".) Folks you wouldn't expect, having Larry Davidian thinking is a general concept that he also used when Larry went to heaven at the end of season 5. Larry and a guardian ANGEL got into a big LD type of argument about some picky unwritten rule. (They decided to send him back to life to get him out of heaven.)

Edited November 21, 2017 by riverclown