Think seinfeld is the GOAT but for some reason never gave Curb the chance. just watched the first season on HBO Go and loved it. bout to get my marathon on.
Think seinfeld is the GOAT but for some reason never gave Curb the chance. just watched the first season on HBO Go and loved it. bout to get my marathon on.
One of my favorite shows, going through the whole series again.
Season 3 right now, forgot about "fukk Hugh".
The perfect set up. Calls him "You" the entire episode, gets him pissed off and when it is time for Larry to ruin another relationship he breaks out "fukk Hugh".
I love this show. Some of my favorite episodes are the one with the chick with the big vagina, Seinfeld reunion ones and the one where Vivica A. Fox fine ass cursed out Susie
This made me remember that Bill Simmons rated the Curb seasons like a pitchers career.
Q: Is Larry David having a career year?
— Coos Bay, Oregon
SG: Great question. I wanted to break down his “stats” for each season, but first, I had to figure out what sport and position worked best. I settled on Curb being a durable power pitcher, someone who consistently topped 200 innings, struck out a ton of guys and had a better WHIP than you’d think. Anyway …
The Pilot (1999): 4-1, 3.04 ERA, 45.2 IP, 50 K’s, 1.12 WHIP
A one-hour mockumentary about Larry’s “return” to standup comedy that paved the way for Curb to become a series (almost like a mid-August minor league call-up). All the seeds are here — Jeff (his adulterous agent), Cheryl (his wife), the overall “Wait, this feels a little Seinfeld-ish, only with the line being pushed a little more — did Larry David have more to do with that show than we realized???” vibe, and of course, the shameless lying (in this one, Larry pretends that his stepfather died to get out of doing an HBO special). I remember watching this in the moment, thoroughly enjoying it, and figuring it was just Larry’s way of taking some of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary territory. I certainly never imagined it would become a series. And yet …
Season 1 (2000): 17-9, 2.60 ERA, 218 IP, 276 K’s, 1.07 WHIP
… bam! A tremendous rookie season highlighted by Gil Bang (a pantheon episode, probably no. 2 all time for me)
“Welcome to the house that C*m built!” Gil Bang was in the fourth episode that season — which was also the one that made everyone realize, “Good god, this show has a chance to become one of the all-time greats.” A little like Louie’s “Bully” episode last season.
, two borderline pantheoners (the one with the blind guy, and the one with the incest survivor group), and Richard Lewis somehow pulling off a James Earl Ray joke in the “Affirmative Action” episode (odds of that one working without causing a public backlash: 200-to-1). The only issue when you’re rewatching these shows: Larry David hadn’t totally hit his stride as an actor yet (he’s a little subdued). I used Dwight Gooden’s rookie stats from 1984 as the doppelganger here — one of the best rookie pitching seasons ever and a good parallel because of Doc’s high K rate (mirroring that Curb season).
Season 2 (2001): 23-7, 3.23 ERA, 259.1 IP, 316 K’s, 0.97 WHIP
One of only two Curb seasons with two pantheon episodes (“The Doll” and “The Shrimp Incident”), as well as one memorable moment (tripping Shaq at the Lakers game), two funny one-show wrinkles (the thong-wearing psychiatrist and the happy-ending masseuse), one unexpected subplot (Larry’s wife going from sneaky-cute to sneaky-hot), a solid running storyline (Larry pitching a show with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and repeatedly sabotaging it) and degree-of-difficulty points for successfully using the C-word as a plot device (in “The Shrimp Incident”). A sleeker version of Season 1 with more innings, more K’s and a slightly better WHIP, only a higher ERA as well (like Curt Schilling’s 2002 season).
Season 3: (2002): 23-4, 2.07 ERA, 213.1 IP, 313 K’s, 0.92 WHIP
You’re damned right I’m using Pedro’s holy 1999 for this one. Season 3 of Curb featured the best beginning-to-end subplot (Larry and his buddies trying to open a restaurant), my single favorite episode (“Krazee Eyez Killa”)
I remember calling my buddy House after the “Krazy Eyez Killa” episode and rehashing it for 20 minutes like we had just seen MJ’s “The Flu Game” or something.
, one of its ballsiest episodes (“The Terrorist Attack,” which aired only 13 months after 9/11), and its only pantheon episode/season finale (the Tourette’s chef flipping out and everyone in the restaurant happily screaming obscenities). It’s the only Curb season in which you can say three words or fewer from every episode and any other true Curb fan will know what you mean: Chet’s shirt, Benadryl brownie, club soda, nanny from hell, terrorist attack, mom’s grave, corpse-sniffing dog, Krazee Eyez Killa, the housekeeper, Tourette’s chef. Also, you could argue that (a) Larry’s first scene with Krazee Eyez Killa is the greatest Curb scene ever, and (b) Susie yelling at Cheryl, “F*ck you, you car wash c***!” (in the season finale) is the single greatest Susie moment.
Season 4 (2004): 23-7, 3.28 ERA, 244.1 IP, 329 K’s, 1.18 WHIP
A classic year-after season: totally uneven, a little too star-heavy (I never thought Ben Stiller’s extended cameo worked) and a semiridiculous premise (Larry being wooed to star on Broadway in The Producers) … and yet, we had one pantheon episode (the one in which Larry took the African-American call girl to the Dodgers game)
I rewatched this on WGN recently — edited with commercials — and couldn’t believe how badly they mutilated it. Has anyone ever enjoyed watching an edited HBO show on basic cable? Does this person exist?
and one borderline pantheon episode (“The Surrogate,” in which Wanda thinks Larry is a racist); we finally met the immortal Marty Funkhouser; and we had maybe the single strangest Curb episode (the one with the Hasidic dry cleaner and the Survivor/Holocaust survivor mix-up). I didn’t mind the season finale with the Mel Brooks/Anne Bancroft twist. Let’s use Randy Johnson’s 1998 season — the one in which Seattle traded him to Houston and he went lights-out down the stretch.
Season 5 (2005): 12-11, 3.52 ERA, 220 IP, 228 K’s, 1.21 WHIP
The worst season of Curb episodes (a story arc centered around Richard Lewis’ kidney transplant and Larry believing he was adopted) was redeemed somewhat by the season finale, in which Larry has a near-death experience and briefly thinks that he’s Catholic.
Interesting real-life foreshadowing here: the throwaway moment when Larry is coming in and out of a coma and Cheryl notices his seems happy that he’s about to die. He got divorced in real life two years later. Hmmmmmm.
No pantheon episodes this season, although the one with Larry’s racist dog is close. I remember thinking that Curb was winding down at this point, that there were no lines left to cross and nowhere else for the characters to go. Let’s give this Nolan Ryan’s last Astros season, from 1988, when it looked like his career might be petering out.
Just for fun, check Ryan’s stats from 1980 to 1988, then 1989 and 1990, and see if anything weird jumps out at you. We’ll be back on America’s favorite new game show, I Wonder If They Were Cheating, right after this.
Season 6 (2007): 18-4, 2.98 ERA, 214.1 IP, 218 K’s, 1.16 WHIP
Big comeback season as the Blacks (a displaced family from Hurricane Katrina) move into Larry’s house and Funkhouser gets more and more run. No pantheon episodes unless you want to count “The Freak Book” (the one with Larry moonlighting as a chauffeur and a gift book of freaky pictures) or the season finale (in which Larry separates from his wife and drifts towards Loretta Black). These episodes were more fun in the moment; except for JB Smoove’s winning our hearts, the shows haven’t held up so well . Kind of like Clemens’ 2004 Cy Young comeback season.
Season 7 (2009): 19-4, 2.20 ERA, 232 IP, 177 K’s, 0.95 WHIP
The “Return of Seinfeld” gimmick, Larry’s waiting for Loretta’s biopsy results before breaking up with her, Jeff’s being seduced by Bam Bam Funkhouser (Marty’s mentally ill cousin),
“fukk me Fat Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”
Larry and Seinfeld finally sharing the screen (and being genuinely funny together), the “Who really owned the George Constanza character, Larry or Jason Alexander?” gimmick (never resolved, actually), the fake Seinfeld comeback episode shot on the actual set, a quality season finale in which Larry and his wife seemingly get back to get together, and arguably the single funniest moment of any Curb episode (when Marty tells the “your C*** is in the sink” joke to Seinfeld). Just a thoroughly enjoyable season, and also, the riskiest Curb season because the worst-case scenario for a Seinfeld reunion far exceeded the best-case scenario for it. I thought it warranted Maddux’s 1997 season — fewer K’s, less firepower, but pinpoint control and veteran savvy.
Season 8 (on pace): 19-5, 1.74 ERA, 223 IP, 223 K’s, 0.92 WHIP
Has a chance to be as remarkable as Season 3: We’ve already had one pantheon episode (“Palestinian Chicken”), one borderline pantheoner (last Sunday’s “Vow of Silence”), some epic Funkhouser, three hilarious everyday terms for us to steal (“the social assassin,” “Koufaxing” and “chat-and-cut”), and best of all, they finally moved away from the “every season needs a gimmick” subplot. Even with five episodes left, I couldn’t resist blessing Season 8 with Koufax’s 1964 stats to bring it full circle.
As an actor, doesn’t it feel like Larry is at the peak of his powers this season? Like he’s gotten better? One running dilemma hung over the first seven seasons: Could Larry act like an unredeeming a-hole without driving his wife away from him? Now she’s gone and Larry has been unleashed as a full-fledged social assassin … and even better, he’s embracing it. This should have happened three seasons ago. Sorry, Cheryl, you’re the latest example of the Ewing Theory.
I think season 5 is one of the best. Racist dog, Larry going to Lewis uncles hospital to see if he will die first, the ski lift episode is one of my GOATs, the Big Vagina and the season finale are all classic Curb Episodes. I think Seasons 3 and 4 are kind of slow when comparing them to 5-8
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