How do you top creating one of the most popular shows of all time? Make Curb Your Enthusiasm!
In 1989, Larry David, an up and coming stand-up comic and SNL writer, and Jerry Seinfeld, already one of the most popular comedians in New York, teamed up to pitch a pilot to NBC called “The Seinfeld Chronicles”. And, of course, the sow ended up running for 9 seasons, it garnered critical and audience acclaim, and is heralded as one of the funniest shows of all time.
Years pass, careers come and go, Kramer goes off on a racist rant, time is a funny thing. And Larry David knows that.
Ahead of the Curb
In October of 2000, HBO released the first episode of a new show, starring Larry David, centered on a fictionalized version of himself, semi-retired, living off of his Seinfeld fortune, and the insanely hilarious situations he gets himself into.
There are a lot of great factors working in this show’s favor, but the chief one has got to be Mr. Larry David himself. The man manages so effortlessly to come across as genuine, selfish, uncaring of social etiquettes and expectations, thoroughly enjoys confrontation, and doesn’t care in the slightest what people around him think of him. THAT is a great recipe for comedy. Every episode, this man finds a new way to get himself in trouble, ruin someone’s life, or just make some poor soul question every move they make.
But, onward to backing up the claim: is Curb funnier than Seinfeld?
While, of course, these kind of questions are dependent on the viewer, this writer believes it comes down to 1 key factor: authenticity.
Comparing the dialogue from Seinfeld to Curb is like comparing the dialogue of Mass effect: Andromeda to Uncharted 4… that is a very nerdy statement, but allow explanation.
In the Seinfeld series, the writing is very quick, very scripted, always keeping the story moving, every other line, boom, punch line. And while that isn’t necessarily a BAD thing, it can come across very scripted, taking away from the experience. In Curb Your Enthusiasm, on the other end of the spectrum, the scripts for the episode are notoriously only a few pages long, leading to most of the dialogue being improvised and thus, the comedy feels real, making it much funnier. It’s the classic tale of Actor vs Script, does one stick word for word with the script, or does one trust the actor and see what happens? While the former is usually much safer, especially when it comes to film, in regards to television, specifically comedy, real gold can be struck when you just point a camera at funny actors and start rolling.
Timeless, One Might Say…
Another example of Curb elevating Seinfeld’s formula is when it comes to setting. In the late 80’s and early to mid 90’s, the world was a vastly different place than it is today. In Seinfeld, generally, the comedy comes in a form of a misunderstanding or seemingly insignificant occurrence becoming way larger than originally thought. It wasn’t so much that people were less tolerant towards Jerry and the gang, but rather, they were just really quite terrible people.
Whereas in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David more often than not is either calling people out on a tiny mistake or act of rudeness, or he shoots off his mouth about something and gets into trouble. In the 90’s, one could get away with using a homophobic slur or calling someone “r-tarded”, but in the age of the internet and cell phones, every act someone makes is painstakingly observed and judged, and Larry David LOVES poking that bear.
From wearing a MAGA hat PURELY to avoid liberal friends wanting to chat with him, to inadvertently teaching a young gay boy how to sew a swastika onto a pillow cover, he uses the political and moral climate we as citizens are all forced to put up with to make the audience laugh HARD and learn something about ourselves along the way.
To any reader who hasn’t checked out the show, this writer cannot recommend giving it a chance enough.
Pretty good show. Pretty, prettyyyyyy, pretty good.
-Larry David, probably
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