Curb Your Enthusiasm

Graham Craycraft

Curb your Enthusiasm season nine debuts with the episode "Foisted." Larry David is finally back after many years of a break from the show. The time in between season eight and nine was much longer than any usual break. Larry David loves doing this show and has said before that it is the most fun thing he does right now. So why the large gap? Well David said for years after season eight that he was thinking of revamping the show but just still wanted it to be funny. The same issue plagued Seinfeld during those years. One of the most popular shows in television history did not return after season nine because they wanted it to be funny up until the end. So with that in mind let's get into the new season.

As previously stated, the first episode is named "Foisted," and begins in a kind of strange way. After the immediate hilarious opening of David in the shower trying to open a bottle of pump shampoo, ultimately ending with him destroying it in utter frustration, we get into the real meat of the episode. When I watched this beginning on HBOGo I was not impressed. It felt extremely forced and was as if David and team just needed a way to get into the show. But having said that, I understood its un-organic approach. It is not easy to naturally pick a fight with a lesbian because of not holding the door open for her. So it needed to be a tad forced. The episode is a mix of David trying to get rid of his incompetent assistant without firing her, fighting two lesbians over bride and groom assignments, and dealing with the Fatwa placed on him by the Ayatollah because of his play "Fatwa."

The new season features old characters such as Leon Black, the Greenes, Shara (the anti-semitic Palestinian Chicken owner), Ted Danson, and others. The dark humor that the show is known for is also back in full effect as well as the iconic hilarious minutia that David and George Costanza are so well known for (such as everyone wanting to open up a jar of pickles in season nine episode two). One major difference I noticed in this new season is a lesser concern for realism or possibility of events. Now I know that every season (and probably every episode) has been filled with completely unrealistic events that make the show what it is, this new season just goes even further in its outrageous hilarity.

am looking forward to the coming episodes and the season as a whole. I fully believe that it will be a success and that David is chock full of brilliant ideas after the long break from the show. After re-immersing myself in Curb because of the new season I have come to the conclusion that the world does not need any more Larry Davids (as it would plunge the world into anti social chaos), but that there should always be a Larry David to point out society's fatal and annoying habits.

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