One of the most Politically Incorrect shows on TV returned this year. Actually, it’s not TV, it’s on HBO. Curb Your Enthusiasm just finished its tenth season. One of the creators of All in the Family once gave an interview. He lamented about how he felt the public (especially at the time All in the Family aired) identified with Archie Bunker. I often felt the same problem existed with Curb Your Enthusiasm. The public identifies with Larry David too much.There is an HBO promo that says “Deep down you know you’re him.” Unfortunately, HBO is right for too many people.
There are plenty of Curb Your Enthusiasm moments like The Doll, where Susie curses out Jeff and Larry after they steal the head of Jeff’s daughter’s doll that are pure genius. The episode where the Orthodox Jew jumps off the ski-lift (in order to avoid missing a religious curfew) is a genius idea because that may well be what an Orthodox Jew would do in that situation. However, those are all jokes about a religion, they are not engineered by Larry David’s attitude. Bill Maher once joked that Curb Your Enthusiasm was about glorifying selfishness.
All joking aside, Curb Your Enthusiasm is just that. This article examines times when Larry David was right, like the time when someone who does not work in a theater tells Larry he is not allowed to bring water in the theater. The situation where Larry and Jeff try to avoid donating the kidney may be something anyone can relate to. Another occasion where Larry David is right is when he complains about assigned seating at a party that is designed to force people to talk to strangers. There are times when the Larry David character is right. Times is the key word.
Larry David takes the “criminal indifference” Seinfeld contained to a new level. One example of how Larry David has an attitude that the majority of the public identifies with (in a bad way) is Season 4 episode in New York City, where Larry David clashes with the hotel staff about how you cannot have any sort of interaction with them without it ending in money. After one of these encounters with a room service person, David mutters how the room service waiter would have more money than him if everyone gave him a certain amount of a tip. In a recent episode, Larry David opens a coffee shop (long story) and Larry David forbids the use of a “tip can.” He compares the use of a tip can to panhandling.
Believe it or not, Mr. David, that is why people take jobs at hotels and restaurants, for money and tips. Have you ever read Nickel and Dime?
There was once a review of Curb where the writer said that the show became too unrealistic. The author points out that while we have all had fights with waiters, few of us would casually walk into a room, insult our in-laws religion, and expect to get away with it(as Larry David did). However, even this article sympathizes with David’s indifference to people like waiters.
One of the best examples of the Larry David ideology going over the top is the season one finale “The Group.” This episode contains a scene that mocks the subject of sexual harassment. This does escalate into a funny situation later on, but it makes light of the subject of sexual harassment.
In another episode, Larry David implies that a widow should be “finishing the grieving process” after just several months. Even Archie Bunker didn’t do that. In yet another episode Larry David doesn’t thank a soldier for his service. This sets the stage for a funny situation, but it poses the question how many people do in fact really have this indifference, and may not feel the need to thank soldiers for their service. Some people are disgusted by all of Larry David’s attitude, let alone some of it. The consequenceofsound.net article does a good job examining Larry David’s values. If the HBO promo is right, and if deep down we are all in fact Larry David, this article teaches us how to moderate our inner Larry David.