"Curb Your Enthusiasm" officially returning for a ninth season.

Before there was Bernie........THERE WAS LARRY!!!

 

Yup. Point being I've been watching SNL since I was a kid in the 90s and my first real exposure to the guy was during his guest skits. Never grew up with HBO unfortunately.

 

Here's a terrific interview with Larry David about the show on Today a few days ago...

 

And a longer interview with the rest of the cast of Curb Your Enthusiasm:

 

Watched the first 20 minutes or so...not very funny. And Im a huge fan. Will watch the rest tomorrow.

 

Disappointing!

I have 2 words for that - "Beloved Aunt!"

 

In the history of Curb the first episode of almost every season is one of the weaker ones. But this one was great! It was kind of funny too in that they sort of reintroduced most of the standard cast (Jeff, Susie, Cheryl, Richard, Leon and even Ted... no Funkhouser though). And he got to play on gay marriage which wasn't legal the last time an episode aired. Plus he got to goof on yet another assistant.

All the rhythms were the same and Larry was the same. Really looking forward to the rest of the season!

I'm hoping that they follow up a couple plots that were hinted at... Sami's wedding and Ted and Mary's divorce. Awesome.

 

SPOILERS MAYBE:

As I'm reading some reviews of the show I'm struck with something that has been bothering me about various reviews for some time now. Almost all of them tend to bring into the equation politics and even some uneasiness on the social justice tip. Mostly I'm seeing reviewers having to spell out that Larry thinking that one of the women getting married doesn't really look like a bride isn't funny. But that's exactly why it is funny. It's a) none of his business and b) it's an old-fashioned take on what is a very modern situation. On top of that, the notion that in a same-sex marriage one person would be the bride and one the groom is itself kind of ridiculous and old-fashioned but that's the way the lesbian couple want to do it. So the humor really comes from playing with expectations. That's kind of what almost all comedy is. It's not bad politics or 'punching down' as some might claim. It's classic comedy.

Not to get too political here as that's not allowed on this site... but I'm a very liberal person and I find it disappointing that entertainment reviews seem to have to be framed this way. Nothing can exist without being filtered through current events.. It's getting to the point of being pathological. Maybe it's the age of the reviewers I don't know. It's just kind of disappointing.

 

Oh, you have an equation?

Yes, type + distance = no door hold. Loved it!

 

All I know is, Larry's building up to SOMETHING!
He didn't make a new season just to talk about 'holding a door'.
I have faith.

 

In a trivial, borderline situation like that (holding the door), what woman would stop and make a ridiculous scene like that? Only someone in Curb!! LOL

 

Everything that was mentioned was a yawn for me. It just didn't hold some of the delicious, cringe worthy humor that Curb has provided me in the past. The door holding scene, the constipation discussion, the bride not looking like a bride....yawn. Must be me, but it just didn't get off the ground. Humor for me these days are in shows like "Episodes", or "Better Things", or previously a show like "Happyish". Those shows(and very few others..)display(ed) the same type of humor that has me laughing out loud because it's not only so spot on, but funny in their presentation of the situation. Curb had that for me for many years. The Shandling show did. Obviously, Seinfeld did. But I didn't find it in this episode of Curb.

All that said, it's a long season, and I'm not giving up at all. It just didn't meet my lofty expectations.

Like I said, it just might be me.

 

I was waiting for a tied together payoff, and that's what didn't quite work.
The groom chasing him in the restaurant didn't make sense since they already had their argument at the bride's home.
And then Susie attacking him in the shower would have been funnier if there was a callback to the ajar door.
Those two scenes just ended up seeming disjointed.

But I'm glad it's back!

 

I hear you, but much of his humor in previous seasons is like that. What elevates CYE and makes this comedy more painfully humorous than anything else is the ability to create situations where different taboo subjects align in moments of hilarious awkwardness. He did it again with the dueling foisted and fatwa plots. By the end of the episode he had thoroughly screwed himself. On its own, the lesbian door-holding thing is old (although he reversed it to make fun of the stereotype). He also has his own set of rules that come back to bite him because no one else follows such rules, like his formula of distance + degree of butch to determine how long to hold a door open.

 

You're right. Except in past seasons it was done better. IMO.

 

The bigger issue is HD; I've never seen Larry in high definition and the shower scene really freaked me out.

 

LOL -a naked 70 year old LD isn't a pretty sight in HD. Richard Lewis is also looking noticeably older.

The episode started slow but picked up steam and had tons of laugh out loud moments by the end. Definitely looking forward to the rest of S9. Hopefully we'll see much more of Cheryl this year; even better if she's the new flame for Ted Danson.

 

That did throw me for a jolt. He really has aged. Looked downright frail. Whereas Larry David, imo, hasn't aged a day. He looks great.

 

Love the show and am glad it's back. Thought the first episode was great.

 

Yeah - I really enjoyed it.

 

Richard Lewis looked even worse in season 6 (or whatever season he needed his kidney operation). Maybe part of that was makeup or his demeanor, but he was like death incarnate until that vignette where he got Larry's kidney and was on beach hanging out with some babe, while Larry was on his deathbed.

 

The door was ajar.

 

Would you stop saying that?!

 

And there was only a brief, in the background showing of Susie being frustrated with the new assistant; that's what really bothered me. It would have been nice to see her really mess something up and Susie realize.

 

Yeah, to me, it seemed like they wanted to fit every main character into the first episode and ended up rushing some things.