Thursday, January 13, 2011

25 Greatest Episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

25. The Group (S1, E10) - Jeff offers Cheryl a role in The Vagina Monologues, Larry runs into an old girlfriend who asks him to go to an incest survivors group with her.

24. Ben's Birthday Party (S4, E2) - Larry is reunited with his blind friend, Michael; the Davids are invited to Ben Stiller's birthday dinner.

23. The Bare Midriff (S7, E6) - Larry and Jerry have problems with their assistant, who always wears clothes that expose her large stomach. Larry continuously offends Richard Lewis and inadvertently causes a "miracle" to occur.

22. Porno Gil (S1, E3) - Larry and Cheryl are invited to a dinner party thrown by a retired porn star, Gil Bang. Jeff, who is in the hospital after a routine check-up reveals he urgently needs emergency bypass surgery, asks Larry to hide his porn collection from Susie in case something happens to him.

21. The Larry David Sandwich (S5, E1) - Larry is changed by a near-death experience and a revelation about his father; on the lighter side, he finds that an unappetizing sandwich was named after him.

20. The Surrogate (S4, E7) - Larry befriends a surrogate mother; Larry confronts his doctor about the waiting room's magazine selection. He also needs a clean bill of health for his lead role in The Producers but finds himself in more awkward situations with racial encounters and dealing with the father of David Schwimmer to name a few.

19. Opening Night (S4, E10) - Larry opens on Broadway with The Producers and forgets his lines during the performance; Cheryl reminds Larry to cash in on his present before "midnight" of the opening.

18. Shaq (S2, E8) - Larry accidentally trips Shaq at a Lakers game, which works out to be beneficial for Larry. 

17. The Shrimp Incident (S2, E4) -  Larry accuses HBO executive Allan Wasserman of stealing shrimp from his Chinese food; Julia Louis-Dreyfus wants to pitch the show to HBO.

16. The Black Swan (S7, E7) - Larry repeatedly runs into trouble at his golf club when he is blamed for two deaths, protests an unorthodox tipping policy and forgets to turn off his BlackBerry. He also seeks to correct a spelling mistake on his mother's gravestone. A generous gift to cousin Andy elicits a greedy response.

15. Vehicular Fellatio (S7, E2) - Larry enlists the help of a doctor, who is renowned for encouraging cancer patients to remove themselves from bad relationships, in a bid to break it off with Loretta. Meanwhile, Larry is repulsed by Richard Lewis' new girlfriend after he finds out she gave Richard a blowjob in the car. 

14. The Car Salesman (S2, E1) - Larry shocks his wife and friends by deciding to take a job as a car salesman, but is foiled when "high-maintenance" Richard Lewis shows up at the dealership. Larry and Jason Alexander contemplate making a new TV series about an actor who can't find work because he is typecast as his character from a hit television show. 

13. The Therapists (S6, E9) - Larry alienates Cheryl by following the advice of his therapist (Steve Coogan). In an attempt to win her back he tries to curry favor with Cheryl's therapist by staging a mugging attempt. Marty Funkhouser collects money for a charity under false pretenses.

12. The Weatherman (S4, E4) - Larry is angered by a weatherman's wrong forecast; Larry scares the Greenes' daughter with a hideous photograph of his tooth plaque. 

11. Beloved Aunt (S1, E8) - Cheryl's parents ask Larry to write an obituary for Cheryl's aunt, and a newspaper error results in the letter 'c' replacing the 'a' in 'aunt.'

10. The Car Pool Lane (S4, E6) - Larry finds an innovative way to use the HOV lane while driving to a Los Angeles Dodgers game on time: hiring a prostitute as a passenger in his car so he can drive through the carpool lane; Larry attempts to get medicinal marijuana for his father; Marty Funkhouser is reluctant to give up his dead father's seat.

9. Chet's Shirt (S3, E1) - Larry becomes obsessed with a shirt he sees in a dead friend's picture; Larry and Jeff become investors in a swanky new restaurant with Ted Danson and Michael York.

8. Seinfeld (S7, E10) - Larry is hopeful that his plan is working when Cheryl invites him over to review the Seinfeld reunion script. But when an attempt to right a wronged Mocha Joe causes Larry to miss the date, Cheryl ends up turning to Jason Alexander for coaching.

7. The Ski Lift (S5, E8) - Larry and Jeff befriend the head of a kidney transplant consortium in an attempt to get Richard Lewis on the top of the hospital waiting list; Jeff and Susie invite Larry and Cheryl to spend the weekend at their ski lodge; Larry learns something about Jeff's penis.

6. The Anonymous Donor (S6, E2) - The Davids and the Blacks move into a new house; Larry has a wing named after him but is upstaged by an anonymous donor. Larry takes an ejaculate-stained bed sheet to the dry-cleaners and finds that his shirt has been picked up by another patron.

5. The 5 Wood (S4, E5) - Larry faces termination from his country club if his locker is not cleaned; Larry steals a golf club from a deceased person's casket.

4. The Doll (S2, E7) - Larry and Julia successfully pitch the show to ABC; Larry then traumatizes the executive's daughter by cutting her priceless doll's hair off.

3. Trick or Treat (S2, E3) - Larry refuses to give candy to some uncostumed teenagers on Halloween. As a result the vengeful teens toilet-paper his house and spray-paint "Bald Asshole" across his front door. Larry and Cheryl attend a handicapped friend's movie premiere. 

2. Krazee-Eyez Killa (S3, E8) - Larry befriends Wanda's fiancé, a rapper, and searches L.A. for a jacket he urgently needs for the re-shoot of an upcoming Martin Scorsese feature.

1. The Table Read (S7, E9) - At the Seinfeld reunion table read, Larry befriends a nine-year-old who later starts constantly sending him text messages. Leon poses as a man who died of Groat's Disease in order to calm Michael Richard's nerves. Jerry Seinfeld and Marty Funkhouser bond over a tasteless joke. Larry regrets lending his pen to Jason Alexander.

19 comments:

  1. More or less one of the most overrated TV shows ever made. I found it irritating, hard to identify with and dull.

    That man...makes me cringe.

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  2. It's certainly not for everyone. Along with Seinfeld, it is one of my favorite shows. Half of what happens to him is his own fault, but often I find myself thinking, "I wish I had the guts to say what he did, because I was thinking the exact same thing."

    Thanks for the comment!

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  3. Poor Larry...I always feel so sorry for him on the show! I worked on it as an extra over the summer and after that watched all of the episodes. I think it starts off really funny and then after a while he repeats some of the jokes which is sad. But I still really like the show!

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  4. You worked as an extra on Curb? The upcoming 8th Season? That's really cool!

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  5. Yes! It was a lot of fun! Its amazing how they improvise everything!

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  6. If you don't "get" Curb Your Enthusiasm, you're probably one of the insufferable idiots he makes fun of on the show. No offense.

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  7. Man, I love CYE. This is a pretty awesome list -- it's made me want to go back and watch the entire show all over again. My personal favorites are "The Car Pool Lane" and "Krazee-Eyez Killa", although some of the recent Seinfeld episodes were pretty great as well. Larry David is the man.

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  8. The Car Pool Lane. Brilliant television. Also, the episode in which Leon repeatedly states "You got them big ass balls, Larry."

    This season has been seriously on point as well.

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  9. I love this show; best comedy on TV. My favourite episode will always be THE BARE MIDRIFF, though. I was actually in stitches several times, which is rare for just one episode.

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  10. That is one of the zaniest episodes ever on the show. "You splashed up didn't you?"

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  11. @ Alex - Any episode with Leon in it is a highlight for me!

    @ Eric - I live on the Jerry Seinfeld/Larry David bible sometimes but am too scared to go the 'full Larry.'

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  12. This is the best show to come over from the US ever. Larry David is god and there are so many belly laugh moments.

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  13. 'Larry David is God.' Amen to that.

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  14. the group is the best so far, I am only on season 2, catching up on hbo.com. love it..

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  15. the surrogate needs to be higher up :)

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  16. The doll is my favourite

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