…would not have been quite a catchy title for Larry David’s Curb your Enthusiasm, so it’s a good thing I’m not paid to come up with these things.
I picked up the first season of Curb for two reasons. Firstly, I’d seen snippets of it on MoreFour (and, previously, BBC Four) and it was rather amusing but for some reason I never sat through an entire episode. Secondly, I love improvisational stuff - I’m a huge fan of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Annually Retentive (the latter was at least partially inspired by Curb). Thirdly (I can add more reasons if I like, who says I can’t?) I’ve seen Larry David in interviews on television - he was interviewed by Ricky Gervais for More4 some time during the last 18 months - and he’s a genuinely funny guy. Funnier than Gervais, at the least.
Finally (this being the fourth of the two reasons), it was on sale for £15. I later found it for £11, and I do believe I screamed with primal rage at the discovery.
I won’t write a lengthy review - odds are you know what Curb is and if you don’t then you need to do some research - but I will say that I wasn’t enjoying it at first. As I watched each subsequent episode and I started to get into the rhythm of the show, I began to enjoy it more. There is a Basil Fawlty / David Brent style mentality behind the version of Larry David portrayed in Curb that I find compelling to watch, and the improvisational nature of the show makes things seem that bit more real. That someone could behave like that in real life is rather chilling. A lot of Curb features “I can’t watch” moments that you… just… can’t… look… away… from. I wish I had the sufficient vocabulary and linguistic dexterity to sufficiently define the show, but I don’t. It’s improv with a plot, it’s the most British humour I’ve ever seen come out of American television.
And I love it.
Honestly, I didn’t think I would enjoy it when I picked it up. I thought I’d be disappointed because I can’t relate to the characters, who are all over their 30s. It seemed very much to be a show geared at an “older” audience, although this was just the impression I had sitting in my head at the time. I was very, very wrong.
I’m going to stop typing now because I am tired.
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