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Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American television comedy of manners[2][3] created by Larry David that aired on HBO from October 15, 2000, to April 7, 2024. David stars as a fictionalized version of himself and it follows his life as a semi-retired television writer and producer in Los Angeles and, for one season, New York City. Also starring are Cheryl Hines as his wife Cheryl, Jeff Garlin as his manager and best friend Jeff Greene, Susie Essman as Jeff's wife Susie, and J. B. Smoove as Larry's housemate Leon Black. It often features celebrity guest stars, many of them playing fictionalized versions of themselves, including Ted Danson, Richard Lewis, Wanda Sykes, Rosie O'Donnell, and Jon Hamm.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

United States

English

12

26–59 minutes[1]

HBO

October 15, 2000 (2000-10-15) –
April 7, 2024 (2024-04-07)

The sitcom was developed from a 1999 one-hour special, Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm, which David and HBO originally envisioned as a one-time project. It was shot as a mockumentary, in which the characters were aware of the presence of cameras and a crew. The series, while not in documentary form, was shot in a somewhat similar cinéma vérité-like style.[4] As with Seinfeld, which David co-created, the humor of Curb Your Enthusiasm often revolves around the minutiae of everyday social life. Each episode's plot and subplot is established in an outline written by David, and the actors largely improvise the dialogue,[4] a technique known as retroscripting. In Season 7, the series began producing and airing episodes in high definition.


Curb Your Enthusiasm received high critical acclaim and has grown in popularity since its debut. It has been nominated for 51 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series for ten of its twelve seasons.[5] It won the 2002 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.[6] It aired for eight mostly consecutive seasons until 2011, and resumed with a ninth season in 2017. The tenth season aired in 2020 and the eleventh in 2021. The series was renewed for a twelfth and final season that premiered on February 4, 2024, and the series finale aired on April 7, 2024.

as a fictionalized version of himself, the show's idiosyncratic, tactless and curmudgeonly protagonist. Larry is a semi-retired television writer and producer. Born and raised in New York, he is the only child of Nat and Adele David. He is Jewish, but he is not observant and is willing to betray his heritage (or overemphasize it) when it suits him. After years struggling as a writer and comic, he gained massive success with the sitcom Seinfeld. Having made a fortune off the show, Larry now works only occasionally. Stubborn and self-centered, he frequently flouts social conventions he perceives as pointless, inconvenient, or nonsensical. But at the same time, he rebukes friends, acquaintances, and strangers for failing to adhere to his self-imposed (and often equally nonsensical) social rules. Larry often becomes obsessed with minute, insignificant details of others' behavior, and is seemingly unable to let any grievance, annoyance, or inappropriate remark go unexpressed. He is often reluctant to apologize to people he has offended, firmly believing himself to be in the right and going to extreme lengths to prove the correctness of his beliefs and actions. When he does apologize, he usually does so only because he needs something, and he is often more self-defensive than truly apologetic. But Larry is generally well-intentioned, and is often simply a victim of circumstance, finding himself at the center of complex misunderstandings or falling victim to others' selfishness and/or stupidity. He is even at times celebrated by those around him for his candor and his willingness to call others out for their hypocrisy.

Larry David

as Jeff Greene, Larry's manager and best friend. He is married to Susie Greene (Susie Essman), with whom he has a daughter, Sammi (Ashly Holloway). Jeff and Susie have a tumultuous marriage, due in large part to Jeff's frequent extramarital affairs as well as Susie's incessant criticism of Jeff, most often in regard to his weight and cheating. Jeff often recruits Larry in his efforts to cover up his affairs from Susie, though these efforts usually fall apart. Garlin has said that he does not empathize with his character at all,[15] calling him a "pretty evil guy" who has "no morals, no scruples".[16]

Jeff Garlin

as Cheryl David (seasons 1–7, 9–12; guest season 8), Larry's long-suffering wife (and later ex-wife). Patient, friendly, and generally easygoing, she serves as a comic foil to the stubborn and nit-picky Larry and often serves as a voice of reason. She is nominally an actress, but is not shown working for most of the series. She is very environmentally conscious and devotes a great deal of her time and money to charitable causes, particularly the NRDC. Unlike Larry, Cheryl is outgoing, enjoys most social functions, and is the primary agent in maintaining many of the couple's friendships. She is also the driving force behind many of Larry's apologies. While she feels a deep affection for Larry and often shows patience with his foibles, she has her limits, particularly with his obsession over unimportant details. She is finally pushed to her breaking point in the season 6 episode "The TiVo Guy" when, aboard a flight experiencing severe turbulence, she calls Larry to tell him she loves him. To her shock and anger, Larry pays no attention to what is ostensibly his wife's final goodbye and instead badgers her with questions about their DVR. In the wake of the incident, Cheryl leaves Larry. They briefly reunite at the end of season 7 before Cheryl is once again driven away by Larry's obsession with details, in particular a stain Cheryl's coffee cup left on Julia Louis-Dreyfus's table. They finalize their divorce at the start of season 8. In season 9, Cheryl begins dating Larry's friend Ted Danson. Before that, she and Ted had a close, platonic friendship, of which Larry was always suspicious.

Cheryl Hines

as Susie Greene (seasons 8–12; recurring seasons 1–7), Jeff's loud and overbearing wife, known for her explosive temper. Her interactions with Larry often begin friendly and quickly degrade into vicious arguments. Shrewd and perpetually suspicious of both Jeff and Larry, Susie is often the first to uncover their schemes and wrongdoing and often rebukes them with profanity-laced tirades. Susie and Jeff have an "on-again, off-again" relationship. She often uses Larry as a scapegoat for her marital problems. She often defends traditional moral standards, such as the sanctity of marital vows and fealty to hearth and home, at times against Jeff, at others against Larry, and usually against both.

Susie Essman

as Leon Black (seasons 9–12; recurring seasons 6–8), Larry's friend, and later, roommate (casita). He is the brother of Loretta Black, a single mother whose New Orleans home was destroyed by Hurricane Edna. When Larry and Cheryl take in Loretta and her family, Leon moves in, too, despite living in Los Angeles and having been unaffected by the hurricane. When Loretta and her children move back to Louisiana, Leon stays behind. He and Larry develop an unlikely friendship, with Leon frequently offering Larry questionable advice on romance, business, and social interactions. Like Larry, Leon is blunt and often confrontational, although unlike Larry, his confrontations with others end favorably for him. Leon first appears in the season 6 episode "The Anonymous Donor".

J. B. Smoove

Syndication[edit]

When aired in syndication, the series is edited from its original HBO broadcast (for running time and without the TV-MA scenes). On June 2, 2010, the series premiered on the TV Guide Network, making its basic cable debut. The network also recorded a series of related discussions with high-profile guest stars, media pundits, and prominent social figures called Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Discussion, debating the moral implications depicted in each episode.[54] The show was produced by Scott Carter and hosted by Curb co-star Susie Essman.[55]


The show debuted in syndication on local stations and WGN America in September 2010,[56] but was removed the following year due to low ratings.[57]


It debuted on TV Land in February 2013 but was later removed in 2015.[58]

Home media[edit]

VHS release[edit]

The first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm was released on VHS in a three-volume box set.[59]

DVD releases[edit]

Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons come in a two-disc DVD set with ten episodes.

Other media[edit]

Book[edit]

A Curb Your Enthusiasm book was released October 19, 2006, published by Gotham Books. The book contains stories from Larry David's past, original interviews and commentary, episode outlines, episode guide, and over 100 full-color photographs. The contents of the book span the first five seasons of the show.[65]

Music[edit]

The show is punctuated between scenes with music orchestrated by Wendell Yuponce and from a music library company called Killer Tracks.[66] Frequently heard are instrumental arrangements of the whimsical "Three Little Maids From School Are We" from The Mikado, and the rhythmic Gypsy dance "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" from Carmen.


The opening and closing theme song (not mentioned in the credits) is "Frolic" by Italian composer Luciano Michelini. Larry David heard the music used in a bank commercial years before the show was created and thought it had a lighthearted, joyful quality.[67] An unofficial soundtrack was released by Mellowdrama Records in 2006.[68]

Documentary[edit]

The 2017 Netflix documentary film Long Shot contains raw footage from the filming of an episode of season 4 at Dodger Stadium which helped to inadvertently exonerate Juan Catalan, who was accused of murder and faced the death penalty, by giving him an alibi during the time the murder was committed.[69]

Baker, Katie (November 19, 2021). . The Ringer. Retrieved October 3, 2023.

"Sharing the Enthusiasm"

Official website

at IMDb

Curb Your Enthusiasm