When Seinfeld's Executive Producer Larry David launched a new TV show on
HBO playing himself, it might have been anticipated that "Curb Your
Enthusiasm" would retain some of the characteristics of the Seinfeld
show. This it does. Not only is the character Larry David just as
self-centered and obnoxious as the Seinfeld regulars, he has the same
whining Queens inflection as Jerry Seinfeld himself.
Unlike most Americans, I could not stand the Seinfeld show. I thought
the show relied too heavily on shtick, a Yiddish word meaning
gimmick--especially in the comic sense. For example, Jack Benny's
cheapness was shtick, as was Chevy Chase's pratfalls on SNL. It also had
the mandatory laugh-track, which has the same effect on me as the sound
of a garden rake being scraped across a blackboard.
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" does incorporate the same kinds of convoluted
plots as Seinfeld, usually putting one of the main characters into an
excruciatingly embarrassing situation. Since they are not constrained by
network requirements to keep bible belt figures like Donald Wildmon
happy, these plots tend to be a lot rawer and a lot funnier. For
example, in one show, Larry David performs oral sex on his wife only to
get a pubic hair stuck in his throat. For most of the episode, he is
seen gagging and choking in polite company trying to dislodge the
troublesome hair.
But "Curb Your Enthusiasm" has many other features that were not seen on
Seinfeld or any other television show on or off cable. For one thing,
much of the dialogue is improvised on the spot. Larry David himself got
started as an improvisational stand-up comedian in NYC. This means that
the performances have few of the kind of histrionics associated with
situation comedies. For example, on all network comedies the actors are
always speaking in a completely unnatural manner leading up to some gag
that is punctuated by a raucous laugh-track explosion. On "Curb Your
Enthusiasm", you will more likely find the characters sounding like real
people chatting over an awkward situation that does not lead up to a
conventional punch-line.
For example, in last night's episode Larry David is in an examination
room waiting for the doctor to look at a head wound (Mel Brooks has
accidentally smacked him on the forehead when opening up the bathroom
door in his office.) Growing bored, he picks up the doctor's phone and
starts chatting with his business partner who is in the waiting room.
When the doctor comes in, he tells him that patients are not allowed to
use the phone. This leads to a five minute argument between David and
the doctor over this practice, with David demanding to know the reason
for this rule and the doctor telling him that he does not need to know.
They end up calling each other pricks.
Despite its American (and Jewish) roots, the show will remind you of
British comedy. The improvised dialogue, as well as the tendency to
demonstrate human frailty and self-deception at its worst, will remind
you of Mike Leigh. In addition, the universal tendency of each show to
end up in some kind of calamity will remind you of "Fawlty Towers". In
recent episodes, Larry David and his Hollywood buddies' attempt to open
up a restaurant keep meeting with Fawlty-esque disaster. When a pet
German Shepherd that has been trained to sniff out corpses goes frantic
in the kitchen trying to dig something up, the restaurant is closed down
until a police investigation is finished. A murdered body assumed to be
under the floor turns out to be a soiled brassiere. (Larry David himself
was flattered to learn that British critics view his show as having a
British sensibility.)
Larry David and all of his big-time Hollywood players come across as
total creeps. They will stab each other in the back in one episode and
reconcile in the next on the most insincere basis. Utterly protective of
their class status, they treat their maids and gardeners as serfs. When
Christmas rolls around, Larry David goes around dispensing tips with a
self-satisfied smirk on his face. When he fears that he has tipped one
of his waiters twice by accident, he goes up to the man and demands the
tip back. The waiter asks him, "You mean the single tip that you gave me?"
The show also sends up the phony liberalism of Hollywood big-shots. For
example, an environmentalism benefit is seen mostly as an opportunity to
hear pop-star Alanis Morissette who has been hired for the occasion or
to make an appearance. When Larry David learns that a terrorist attack
is planned for the same weekend as the benefit, he decides to leave town
even though his wife wants to stick around to hear Morissette.
Cheryl: Do you think that's a good idea, for us to be apart if something
did happen?
Larry (chewing gum): Then at least one of us would survive.
Cheryl: It just seems if we're gonna go we should go together.
Larry: Not necessarily. It almost seems a little selfish that you would
want both of us to perish.
Cheryl: So you'd be fine going on without me.
Larry: It would be very difficult at first, sure, but hopefully at some
point I could get back some semblance of a life.
Cheryl: OK. If you feel good about one of us dying and the other one
surviving and you can live with that for the rest of your life, then you
should go golf this weekend.
Larry: I'll think about it.
Cheryl: Think about it.
Since Larry David is notoriously reclusive and refuses to give
interviews, it might be difficult to understand why he has created such
a deliciously misanthropic show. Fortunately, Robert B. Weide, the
show's Executive Producer and frequent director, is much more
forthcoming. There's an interview with him on the "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
website that I invite you to check out:
http://www.hbo.com/larrydavid/interviews/ (You can also watch excerpts
from the show there.) He also has a website at: http://www.duckprods.com/
Weide has a very interesting resume. He is the director of "Lenny Bruce:
Swear To Tell The Truth" and cites Bruce's use of language as an
inspiration for "Curb Your Enthusiasm". In the episode of the ill-fated
restaurant's opening, the chef, who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome,
yells out without provocation "Shit, motherfucker, cocksucker" at the
top of his lungs. This inspires David and all his friends and partners
to begin shouting out similar curses just to lessen the tension. Pure
Lenny Bruce.
Weide was also the Executive Producer of Mastergate, a Showtime movie
that is described as follows on his website:
>>Taking its cue from Watergate and the Iran-Contra hearings,
Mastergate spoofs Congressional investigative committees and shows how
politicians have mastered the art of using language as a smokescreen.
Hardly a sentence emerges from anyone’s mouth that doesn’t have at least
two meanings, yet almost everything said is meaningless.
The "Mastergate" hearings uncover our government’s covert shipment of
illegal arms to a Latin American country, using a big budget Hollywood
action movie as a cover. The film's budget eventually exceeds a billion
dollars ("1.3 billion with catering.")<<
The first year's episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" are now available on
DVD and can be rented at your local video store or purchased from
amazon.com. Highly recommended.
--
The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
