Naturally, between the work-related stress (Larry has to participate in various production meetings) and his habit of speaking frankly on any subject, even with his wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), the neurotic writer starts having second thoughts pretty fast. With the help of his manager Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin, who also produces), he secures a deal with HBO to make a one-off special out of a stage performance, for which he will prepare by testing his material in comedy clubs throughout Los Angeles. The focus of Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm is the former stand-up comedian's attempt to make a comeback after the end of Seinfeld, even if he technically could spend the rest of his life doing nothing (having written and/or produced most of the series, he gets paid every time an episode is rerun). This 90-minute special, produced a year before the show officially debuted on HBO, is exactly what The Seinfeld Chronicles was in 1989: the beginning of a new era in television comedy. After the show ended, Larry decided to try something different, which led to his becoming known as the star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, one of the most daring and hilarious shows on television since, well, Seinfeld. A minor display of brilliance.įrom 1990 to 1998, Larry David was famous as the creator and - during the first seven seasons - head writer of Seinfeld, widely regarded as the best sitcom of all time, in which he also occasionally made guest appearances, most notably as a fictionalized version of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. It's worth it to check out if you're a fan and pass it by one night if by chance on one of the HBO's or on DVD it might be funnier as well if you know some of the other little back-story bits from the show (i.e.
It almost makes one wonder why there isn't the occasional drop of the real stand-up stuff in the series (but then again, the very Larry David-esquire curve balls on the show are the bits of stand-up theatrical). Surprising still at least in having not seen or heard a shred of David's stand-up material before is how it's actually funnier than expected. Like all pilots, its got its imperfections, but its perks outweigh the valleys none-the-less. There's also a plot line involving David setting up a special on HBO (hence the stand-up), and then at the last moment stopping to due his "dead" step-father.
The improvisational style later nailed to a T in the seasons to come is a little more primitive here, but Cheryl Hinds and Jeff Garlin are pros at what they do here.
Despite what it might seem as too much going on in a one hour show, he makes it work well. It's meant as a hybrid of what David was tinkering as the main premise of what his show would be about- mainly him getting into awkward bits of circumstance and everyday things with people (mainly with some embarrassing or just strange results)- and his stand-up routines countered with *real* remarks from Seinfeld and others.
But it is, in its own right, a slightly different animal, so to speak, when compared to its 5-season-and-running TV HBO series. The original pilot of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I've seen a few times (sometimes truly forgetting that it's the pilot at all, as its stylistically 75% of the time identical to the show), has its share of laughs.