TV REVIEW: CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM - Season 11

4/5

She Plonked. 

10 Episodes. Starring: Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, J.B. Smoove, Cheryl Hines, Ted Danson, Vince Vaughn & Richard Lewis. Directed By: Robert B. Weide. 

A dog is for Larry, not just for Christmas. 'Tis the season my family finally got a dog...or a pooch, as my mother affectionately calls them. My sister rolled out a Sausage Dog just after Christmas Day and out came the names. Frank. Rocky. Larry. I vowed that if it was the latter I would move home from Japan, buy a chocolate labrador and name it Mocha Joe as I drink from the Latte Larry mug she got me last Christmas. But that was barred. Or better yet, call it Susie so we could go on dog dates in the park and Susie could bark at Larry like, "OK, Larry get the f### out my park!" Alas my plan like many in life and this year turned out to be directed by Robert B. Weide. So cue the iconic, comedic frolicing Luciano Michelini theme (it goes over a scene from 'Squid Game' like it does 'Se7en', no spoiler alert, just trust me) music like a meme. 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Season 11 on HBO Max is here. And for people like me and my sister, who still think exchanging Larry themed Christmas cards and saying things are "pretty, pretty good" (or "splendid" thanks to a cubed Bill Hader) is hilarious, this season this fall is exactly that. Even if Larry David's 90's golden era gem 'Seinfeld' has finally made its way to Netflix, which gives me nine seasons worth of a train to Tokyo every morning for the next six months...even if I do want to shove that bass guitar up Jerry's pretzel thirsty ass. Falling over ourselves like Kramer, that show is good...but it could be 'Frasier'. And it may be chicken before the egg, but somehow 'Curb' just gives us more enthusiasm. Is this still CNN? I don't know maybe that will cause offence. Meh! 

"When are you gonna die. Will you please just die." They are the worst words you've read in your life, right? You don't even want to say them. Well I promise you the way a laughing with surprise at even how far he's taken it Larry David, has never delivered something more affectionately and beautifully as he welcomes his castmate and long time comedy club friend Richard Lewis back to the show, warmly. Refusing to pussyfoot around his partner ("I'm sorry, are we married? Am I dating you") who returns to the show after recovering from three significant surgeries. Lewis appreciating the genuine gesture, hidden behind jest in a lovely moment that reminds you this show is still improvised and still how inspired that is. And just wait the man in black hits back as he takes to his wardrobe like Cabana wear moths. This is his best line since "call me by sundown", Gary Cooper. Lewis like Larry back with the hilarious one-liners, social assassin faux pas' and Chaplin like physical comedy that knocks it over the five-foot fence, is a bona-fide, bony legend too (hey, skinny people can call other thin men that). Add 'The Book Of Leon' and all J.B. Smoove's House Husband, "Stockholm tapping" quotables. The marriage of comedic convenience in the screaming until you're hilariously hoarse Jeff Garlin and the music to my ears Susie Essman (check her Spotify album release), that will never get the f### out. Cheryl Hines and the 'Cheers' of Ted Danson still going steady and testy with Larry. And an improv legend on a legendary improv show Vince Vaughn (the moment where he burns himself in his closet is classic, gregarious Vinny) practically becoming a series regular as a Funkhouser in perfect tribute to the late, great genius Stewart Robert Einstein. And you have one hell of a show to plonk yourself down for, this season. 

Sōdesu. From offending Japanese waiters (what else is new), to actually ripping off 'Chappelle's Show's' Oscar speech walk off music, everyone can get it as this show wraps it up. But 'Only Fools and Horses' Del Boy falling through a bar has nothing on Larry walking into a pane of glass. No greater GIF can better describe my life this year (stepping into 2022 like). Or Larry's stuck between a rock and a hard place as his 'Young Larry' show (how about a spin-off?) meets an "actress" whose father blackmailed her way in due to a lack of fencing around a pool. Yep, it doesn't get much better or improvised than that in a season that greets us with the return of Larry himself, Jon Hamm ("come and take a look at this Jon Hamm"), COVID hoarder Albert Brooks having his own pre-death wake (he isn't even ill. But he is sick), Ted Danson's old barman Woody Harrelson bringing grape carnage, a viking Seth Rogen, a holy trinity of Bill Hader's (one of the funniest men alive) and more Mary Ferguson's than you could shake a phone book at. All coming into the horizon of the Strauss '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' theme for this brave new world that is actually Larry's triggering bald head causing an eclipse for this writer that is losing more lines than he is Bumble matches. It's a new world, but it's the same old bald f###...and we wouldn't have it any other way. Season 11 of Curb may just be one of the best yet. And you can't fence that in. Ba dum bum! TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: Pretty, pretty, pretty much nothing is like this...oh, and 'Seinfeld'...that's now on Netflix for the nostalgia and annoying bass for your face.