If you’re looking for a sitcom that uses a bare-bones script and leans on improvisation, Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm is the place to look. Like Larry David’s and Jerry Seinfeld’s previous sitcom Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm relies on common daily inconveniences to find the humor in the mundane. The show stars a fabricated version of Larry David and other common characters in his life including his fictional wife Cheryl Hines, manager Jeff Garland, and Jeff’s wife, Susie Garland (the hilarious Susie Essman).
Larry David was inspired to create the show from his experiences writing for Saturday Night Live and other frustrating occurrences from being involved in Hollywood. Larry has described Curb Your Enthusiasm’s “Larry” as his alter ego. In an interview with Oliver Burkemen of The Guardian, David says that he finds the character “honest” which can come off as “cranky or rude,” but not unhappy.
The show has operated for eleven seasons, beginning in the year 2000, and is set up to produce a twelfth. The longevity of the show is something audiences and critics discuss often. According to Ross Bonaime of Collider, it is Larry’s “complete disregard for social norms” that assures the show will always have material. There is never any shortage of everyday inconveniences or pet peeves that Larry can run into, especially in a modern era where more and more things are off-limits.
No subject is really off-limits for Curb Your Enthusiasm, though, and that’s part of why it remains popular. In an article by Common Sense Media, it is said that Larry approaches most inappropriate subjects including “religion, disability, and even the death of his own mother.” Being one of the funniest and unique sitcoms on American television, here are the best episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, ranked.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
9 The Grand Opening
Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, HBO Enterprises
In season three, Jeff and Larry invest in a restaurant with Ted Danson and Michael York. On the day of the opening, after a season of issues trying to set the business up, Larry fires the chef. Being the particular person that he is, Larry loses trust in him and sets off a whole other string of consequences. Later, Larry breaks the thumbs of a food critic who has come to the restaurant and employs a new chef with Tourettes syndrome. The chef curses when the restaurant is full, prompting many of the customers to curse as well. The episode has a 9.1 out of 10 on IMDB for its hilarious back and forth, from no chef to swearing chef. It is also believed that the no-thumbs critic may have been a dig at critic Robert Ebert, who had given Larry David bad reviews.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 The Doll
Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, HBO Enterprises
Larry and Julia-Louis Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld) have successfully pitched a new TV show to ABC. This success gets derailed, however, when Larry gets a bit too involved with the ABC executive director’s family. When visiting, Larry takes one of the daughters, Tara’s, dolls and cuts the hair.
Related Link: Seinfeld: Where The Cast Is TodayThe mother and Tara are upset by this and so Larry tries to make it right by stealing a similar doll head from Jeff’s daughter. Of course, Jeff’s daughter and his ex-wife are upset by this, and so he switches the doll heads, although no one really ends up happy. Another situation where Larry messes everything up and then goes to great lengths to make it right, the episode features some of the most uncomfortable and funniest scenes in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
7 Palestinian Chicken
HBO
In this episode, Larry’s friend Marty becomes religious and starts wearing a Jewish cap known as a kippah. When Larry and Marty go to visit the newly opened restaurant, Larry asks Marty to remove the kippah, and he refuses. From there, an argument ensues, and Marty storms off. According to Looper, the episode “offers a glimpse of how Larry, Marty, and Jeff all address their own Jewish heritage.” In addition, Larry gets caught keeping secrets from an estranged couple and also ends up in romantic tensions of his own. The episode has some hilarious sexual tension and an absolutely epic finale.
6 The Ski Lift
Another one of the best-rated episodes on IMDB and by fans, this episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm sees Larry takes on the challenge of getting Richard Lewis a kidney. To kick the quest off, Larry realizes he must get the attention of the head of the kidney consortium, Mr. Heineman, and so deliberately runs into Heineman’s parked car. After Larry meets the man, he invites him and his daughter on a ski trip. Everything seems to be going to plan until Larry gets stuck on the ski lift with Mr. Heineman’s daughter, and things go ridiculously awry from there.
5 Happy New Year
In this more recent and provocative episode, Larry becomes involved in several misunderstandings with multiple women coming to believe he is sexually harassing them. Larry goes with Leon to a coffee shop and only ends up complaining about the inadequate furniture, coffee, and pastries. He is banned from the coffee shop. Later, at a dinner party, Larry accidentally brushes the breast of a waitress. With Ted Danson out of town, Larry becomes involved with Danson’s estranged wife who then has an allergic reaction when she and Larry have sex. All in all, this Curb Your Enthusiasm episode is a hilarious and culturally significant compendium of awkwardness.
4 Seinfeld
This season seven episode centers around the Seinfeld TV reunion. Coexisting with this plot is Larry’s attempts to reconcile with his estranged wife Cheryl, but he misses an important meeting with her, and she turns to Jason Alexander for advice.
Related Link: Here’s Why A Seinfeld Reboot Should Happen
Julia-Louis Dreyfus also accuses Larry of staining her coffee table, and he goes on the hunt for the culprit only to discover it was Cheryl. A classic Curb Your Enthusiasm episode for Larry’s unsuccessful attempts to undo his mistakes, and also for its Seinfeld cameos, which is the closest thing the audience will ever get to a Seinfeld reunion.
3 Thor
Larry, on his way to see Jason Alexander and discuss a new show, has an altercation with a professional wrestler on the road. When Larry’s tires are slashed, he assumes that it was the wrestler, “Thor.” Jeff tries to help Larry by slashing the tires on Thor’s car but gets caught. This is a great episode for its classic comic use of misunderstandings and also a more significant confrontation for Larry than what he’s used to.
2 Elizabeth, Margaret, and Larry
In this episode, Jon Hamm is cast in a movie as a character very similar to Larry David. John wants to learn Larry’s mannerisms and behavior and shadows him until he becomes too similar. The two are later thrown out of a party for having identically inappropriate behavior. The episode stands out for Jon Hamm’s spot-on impression of Larry David and the way the two humorously interact throughout the episode.
1 Interior Decorator
Larry is scheduled for a meeting with Diane Keaton but gets held up at the doctor’s office, having hurt his finger fighting with Richard. Another patient is seen before he is, to his dismay, and then he does not have any money to pay for parking. Later, his wife Cheryl hires an interior decorator that happens to also do decorating for Diane Keaton. For the rest of the episode, Larry tries to get Diane Keaton’s phone number from the decorator, but she refuses.
Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the funniest and longest-running sitcoms of the 2000s and 2010s. Larry David announced in April 2022 that there will be a season twelve, however, the release date has yet to be confirmed.
