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Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm title card
Genre	Comedy
Creator(s)	Larry David
Starring	Larry David Cheryl Hines Jeff Garlin
Opening theme	Luciano Michelini - Frolic
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	50 (List of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	approx. 0:30 (with several extended episodes)
Broadcast
Original channel	HBO
Original run	October 15, 2000 – present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy, though not in the traditional sitcom format, starring Seinfeld writer, co-creator, and executive producer Larry David. Since its 2000 series debut, the HBO show has enjoyed wide critical acclaim and a steadily growing, dedicated audience that has helped it emerge from its early cult status. Through 2004, it has been nominated for twenty Emmy Awards (winning one) and has won a Golden Globe for best television comedy (2003). The series was inspired by a 1999 one-hour mockumentary titled Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm, which David and HBO had originally envisioned as a one-time project. Season six will be aired beginning September 2007.

Contents 1 Concept 2 Characters 3 Plots 4 Season 6 5 Running gags 6 Trivia 7 Book 8 Music 9 See also 10 External links 11 References

Set in Los Angeles and loosely based on David's life as a semi-retired multi-millionaire in the world after Seinfeld, the series is often described as a more subversive take on that hit program's "show about nothing" motif.

Shot on location with hand-held cameras, Curb Your Enthusiasm is produced unconventionally, eschewing traditional scripts in favor of detailed scene outlines from which actors improvise dialogue retroscripting. Curb Your Enthusiasm develops ongoing story lines and in-jokes set around David's interaction with his patient but put-upon wife (played by Cheryl Hines). Larry's loyal manager Jeff Greene (played by Jeff Garlin) is always by his side through thick and thin. Jeff's outburst-prone wife Susie (played by Susie Essman) has a tendency to see right through Larry and Jeff's plans.

The show is punctuated between scenes with music orchestrated by Wendall J. Yuponce (first season), and from a music library company called Killer Tracks (seasons two to five). The bouncy opening and closing theme song (not mentioned in the credits) is "Frolic" by Luciano Michelini.

Though many scenarios are drawn from his own experiences, the real-life David has downplayed the notion that he is like the character portrayed onscreen. In a Bob Costas interview, he said that the Larry David of the show was the one he can't be in real life due to his sensitivity to others and to social conventions.

Production on the show's fifth season began in January 2005, with the season premiering on September 25 of that year. According to HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht, David was asked to make the episodes run less than thirty minutes. Upon receiving the first two new shows, Albrecht discovered that David had turned in episodes clocking in at 29 minutes, 59 seconds with credits [1].

The show's natural, fly-on-the-wall style – together with the fact that David and many other characters play "themselves" – have contributed to the show's blurring of distinctions between fiction and reality, again echoing Seinfeld.

• Larry David (as himself) – The star of the show. The rich but prickly David has terrible luck in social situations (with a few notable exceptions) and is often on the losing end of heated confrontations with "the help" — waiters, retail clerks, secretaries, etc. Politically liberal and socially obtuse, Larry can be sensitive to the need to avoid offending others (such as the handicapped, African-Americans, etc), but often only retrospectively. He is a perpetual victim of not only his own petty neuroses and obstinance, which render him incapable of admitting fault, accepting blame and letting matters rest, but also of fate and circumstance (which seem to actively conspire against him) and, on occasion, the sometimes ridiculously over-sensitive and easily-offended natures of those he happens to encounter.
• Cheryl David (played by Cheryl Hines) – David's wife. A foil for David equipped with angelic patience, although she is often exasperated by his eccentricities.
• Jeff Greene (played by Jeff Garlin) – David's friend & manager. He doggedly sticks up for his client and friend. Among his character quirks is an obsession with sex, complete with hidden pornography collections and a string of infidelities.
• Susie Greene (played by Susie Essman) – Jeff's wife. Often reacts to Jeff and Larry's shenanigans with extensive profanity. Often shows more affection to her dog, Oscar, than her husband.
• Richard Lewis (as himself) – A neurotic, recovering alcoholic standup comedian. He is one of Larry's closest friends (in real life) having also come to LA from New York and so perhaps relates to some of Larry's eccentricities. Like Susie Greene, Richard Lewis does not appear in every episode but is heavily featured in Season 5, when Larry vows to donate Richard a kidney.

Guest stars frequently play key roles. Richard Lewis and Ted Danson often appear as Larry David's friends, Wanda Sykes features as a friend of Cheryl's and Shelley Berman plays Larry's father. Others have included former Seinfeld stars Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, along with Martin Scorsese, Alanis Morissette, Hugh Hefner, David Schwimmer, Mel Brooks, and Ben Stiller. Most play themselves. Jerry Seinfeld made an uncredited cameo appearance in the Season 4 finale. Dustin Hoffman, Sacha Baron Cohen and Bea Arthur appear in the Season 5 finale. Steven Kriozere has been rumored as a guest for season 6.

• See also: List of celebrities appearing on Curb Your Enthusiasm

With the exception of Season 1 (2000), seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm are linked by a story arc. David took a similar approach on Seinfeld during seasons four and seven.

• Season 2 (2001) – Larry David pursues a new television project, first with Jason Alexander, and then Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The premise: an actor who starred in a famous television show (Seinfeld being the obvious reference point) finds it difficult to secure work because of the public's strong association with their famous former character. David pitches the idea to executives for several different networks, who are initially receptive but ultimately back away for a variety of reasons, usually involving a mishap with Larry.
• Season 3 (2002) – David joins a restaurant venture with a group of investors that includes Ted Danson. The season ends with the restaurant's grand opening. A sub-plot involves Larry being cast in a Martin Scorsese movie.
• Season 4 (2004) – David works with Mel Brooks, Ben Stiller and David Schwimmer to star on Broadway in The Producers. He also struggles to fulfill his wife's tenth anniversary present to him – a one-time-only extramarital sexual encounter.
• Season 5 (2005) – Larry's friend, comedian Richard Lewis, is in dire need of a kidney; out of sheer feelings of paranoid guilt, Larry offers one of his own kidneys to Richard if he cannot find a suitable donor in time. Larry then makes many concerted, ridiculous efforts in finding Richard a kidney donor, including frequent visits to Richard's estranged, comatose cousin, in the hopes that he will pass away, resulting in a perfect kidney for Richard, and also befriending an Orthodox Jew who happens to be the head of the kidney donation board. Larry also feels excited that he may be adopted due to a misunderstood word his father said (and no longer remembers) while in the hospital; Larry hires a private investigator (Mekhi Phifer) to look into it.

• See also - List of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes

After months of speculation, HBO officially confirmed that there will be a sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.^[1] Production offices opened in September 2006. The new episodes will air sometime in late 2007. It is unknown if the sixth season will be the last.

At a post-Emmy show for E! News on August 27, 2006, Cheryl Hines confirmed that the sixth season would begin filming on October 16, 2006; however, she was uncertain of the air date.

Vivica A. Fox will star in the upcoming season as part of a family who moves into the expensive home of Larry David and his wife Cheryl following a natural disaster.

Steve Coogan has also recently finished filming a small role as a psychiatrist.

On his website, long time Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert Weide has confirmed that the sixth season had commenced shooting in October 2006, for a probable air date of Autumn 2007. Weide also confirmed that this season would be his last involvement with the show.^[2]

• When Larry feels it's appropriate he will respond to someone's question with, "Pretty good. Prettaaaaay, prettaaaaay, prettaaaaay, pretty good."
• When he suspects someone of lying, he will gaze into their eyes to see if they crack, while “The Puzzle” by Franco Micalizzi plays in the background. After several seconds, he will say, "Alright. Okay." nod his head, and walk away having apparently reached some sort of conclusion.
• In his conversations, Larry will often take the opportunity to ask about something he has found odd or dubious from a previous encounter. He will always start this line of questioning with the phrase "Let me ask you something..."
• David often quarrels with his wife about telephoning friends late at night, insisting that he is doing so before "the cut-off".
• The "cut-off" frequently appears in other contexts, such as birthday parties, weddings and Halloween trick-or-treating age limits.
• Like the gags about the phone cut-offs, Larry will often refer to the 'stop-and-chat' situations, in which he has to stop and exchange pleasantries with an acquaintance, a ritual he regularly tries to avoid.
• Larry makes an assumption or typecast and then finds Wanda Sykes nearby, thinking he made an offensive gesture or remark.
• Larry constantly finds himself having to sack/ replace the people he employs for overstepping the mark. See episodes with his Dentist, Acupuncturist, Shrink, Personal Assistant etc...
• Susie (Jeff's wife) will often fit as many swear words as she can into one sentence. These sentences are directed at either Larry or Jeff.
• A number of episodes feature quarrelsome exchanges between Larry and the physically handicapped.
• Larry often doesn't have cash with him, causing him problems.
• Much of the show's humour comes from Larry's twisted facial expressions.

• The show's theme music was discovered by Larry David while watching a bank advertisement years before the show was created. The piece is called "Frolic" and was written by Italian composer Luciano Michelini ^[3].

• In 2003, Juan Catalan, a resident of Los Angeles, was cleared of premeditated murder charges against a material witness (a crime eligible for capital punishment) after cut-out footage shot for the "Carpool Lane" episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm showed him and his daughter attending the Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves baseball event some 20 miles from the scene. , resulting in a $320K settlement ^[4]

• In the first season episode AAMCO, guest star Michael G. Hagerty (as Mike Duffy) asks Larry if he still gets royalties for his work on Seinfeld. Duffy guest starred on Seinfeld as a sales clerk in the episode The Raincoats. Later, Duffy proposes a toast to Larry David saying "Here's to friends. That was a good show, eh? Friends?", and asks if Larry had anything to do with that show. Michael G. Hagerty played Mr. Treeger in Friends.

• In the 2005 movie The Upside of Anger, Kevin Costner's character and two girls are watching TV, and though the screen is never shown and the sound barely audible, closed captioning confirms they are watching Curb Your Enthusiasm. They are watching "Trick or Treat", where Larry is complaining about two girls defacing his house after he refuses to give them candy. Mike Binder, who directed The Upside of Anger, appeared in the CYE Season 2 episode The Massage.

• In The Sopranos episode Where's Johnny?, Junior Soprano is seen watching the episode The Doll. Due to his increasing dementia, he mistakes Larry David for himself and Jeff Garlin for Bobby Baccalieri, and is confused as to why they are on television.

• In the same episode where Dustin Hoffman and Sacha Baron Cohen appear as Larry's guides in Heaven, Larry and Cheryl argue over who misplaced the cover for a DVD of The Sopranos.

• In Season 1, a hobo thanks Larry for the chicken l'orange in the episode entitled "The Bracelet", but Larry is shown giving this food to the hobo three episodes later, in "AAMCO". This probably indicates that HBO aired or received these episodes out of order.

• In 2005, Danish comedians Frank Hvam and Casper Christensen created the comedy series Klovn, which is inspired by Curb Your Enthusiasm.

• Starting 2005, German comedian Bastian Pastewka produced the heavily acclaimed (German Comedy Prize, Rose D'Or, Best Sitcom) comedy series Pastewka, which is also loosely based on CYE. Though scripted and not improvised (as CYE is); similarities go as far as to its title theme which closely resembles CYEs original (Frolic by Luciano Michelini).

• In "Chick Cancer", an episode of Family Guy, CYE's theme music is parodied when Luke Skywalker is left confused after arguing with a fellow Rebel about the attack on the Death Star during the Yavin 4 briefing.

• In the 14th season hallowe'en episode of The Simpsons, Homer kills death and after Marge asked him to take it out to the curb, Homer replies "I'll curb 'em... without enthusiasm."

• In "Making a Stand", an episode of Arrested Development,Rolando asks Michael if the improvisation will be "unscripted like Curb". Jeff Garlin (Jeff in 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'), appears as recurring character Mort Meyers on Arrested Development.

A Curb Your Enthusiasm book was released October 19, 2006, published by Gotham Books (ISBN 1-59240-230-5). The book contains:[2]

• stories from Larry David's past
• original interviews and commentary
• episode outlines
• episode guide
• over 100 full-color photographs

In May 2006, Mellowdrama Records released an unofficial Curb Your Enthusiasm soundtrack, which contained much of the music used in the show. It featured the following tracklisting:

1. "Frolic" - Luciano Michelini
2. "Bubba Dub Bossa" - Robby Poitevin
3. "Beach Parade" - Armando Trovaioli
4. "For Whom The Bell Tolls" - Gianni Ferrio
5. "The Stranger" - Alessandro Alessandroni
6. "Tango Passionate" - Piero Umiliani
7. "Ein Swei March" - Renato Rascel
8. "Suspicion" - Ennio Morricone
9. "Solo Dance" - Italo Greco
10. "Moulin Rouge Waltz" - Teddy Lasry
11. "Walk Cool" - Nino Oliviero
12. "Slow On The Uptake" - Luis Bacalov
13. "Corfu" - Eric Gemsa
14. "Thrills And Spills" - Stefano Torossi
15. "The Puzzle" - Franco Micalizzi
16. "Au Vieux" - Christian Sebasto Toucas
17. "Merry Go Round" - Armando Trovaioli
18. "Riviera Nostalgia" - Jacques Mercier
19. "La Ballada Di Periferia" - Jacques Mercier
20. "The Little People" - Carlo Rustichelli
21. "Mazurka Bastiaise" - Jean Michel Panunzio
22. "Spinning Waltz" - Piero Umiliani
23. "Amusement" - Franco Micalizzi
24. "Frolic (30 Second Edit)" - Luciano Michelini

• Larry David
• List of celebrities appearing on Curb Your Enthusiasm
• List of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes
• Seinfeld

• Curb Your Enthusiasm at the Internet Movie Database
• HBO: Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Whyaduck Productions, Inc. — Curb Your Enthusiasm, executive producer/director Robert B. Weide's website
• 40-minute audio interview with Executive Producer Robert Weide on The Sound of Young America
• 60 Minutes II interview with Larry David hosted by Bob Simon which aired on August 11, 2004 (there is also a link to a portion of the video from the interview)
• Hour-long video interview with Larry David from January 2006
• Review of the Curb Your Enthusiasm Soundtrack with sound clips

1. ^ HBO Says Yes to Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 6 and Cancels Rome
2. ^ Frequently Asked Questions about Whyaduck Productions
3. ^ Michelini's official site (in Italian))
4. ^ ABC news article