What can you say about Curb that hasn’t already been said? It’s now in its 8th season and I think almost everyone in the country has had some type of exposure to it in one form or another. I’ve found the show to be deeply polarizing among people I know. Some love Larry David’s improvised, angry dialogue and twisty plots. Others hate the show and especially hate him, probably hating the show because he’s in it. “He yells a lot,” they tell me.
Well, I’m in the first category. Curb is consistently one of the funniest shows on television and it takes real skill to be funny while also coming up with plots where the laughs fit in like puzzle pieces. Some Curb plots (like the 2nd episode of this season) have as many as a half dozen different subplots going just in the course of one, stand alone episode. Suck it True Blood!
This season’s recurring plot is the loosest one yet. It merely involves Larry going to New York City–leaving the show’s Los Angeles setting for the first time I can think of–and even that mini thread didn’t kick in until the sixth episode of this season, last night’s episode. So far it’s off to a good start as Larry exchanged “medium talk” with Chris Parnell, confronted an eaves dropping waiter, became a hero twice, and had an ongoing feud with Ricky Gervais, playing a jerkish version of himself…or exactly himself.
Still, the season was already off to a pretty good start in the first five episodes that didn’t take place in New York. Increasingly, it’s become apparent that the show doesn’t really need a “theme” at all, and David can spin a narrative around people that won’t move at the grocery store or a visiting Girl Scout’s first period or a guy parking over the line or…There’s no limitation on what Curb can do, because there’s no limitation on what can annoy people. And I’m glad Larry’s there, waiting to yell at it for us.
Supporting Scene Stealer: J.B. Smoove’s Leon, as the moocher Larry can’t get rid of, steals scenes but the supporting player of the season so far might be Dave Osbourne’s Marty Funkhouser, who can steal a scene just by glaring at Larry with rage. Now that Ted Danson–who used to play himself on the show to hilarious effect–is on three other shows (making him the heterosexual Ryan Seacrest of quality scripted shows), Marty is the friend I’m most glad to see scream across the dinner table at Larry.