LARRY DAVID: CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (TV)
Summary
This HBO comedy special, the pilot for a series of the same name that came one year later, blends fact and fiction to create a "mockumentary" about the return of "Seinfeld" creator Larry David to stand-up comedy after a ten-year absence. Clips of the interactions of David and his agent Jeff Greene with HBO executives about a comedy special for that channel are intercut with "testimonials" about David's personality from peers and co-workers including "Seinfeld" stars Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld; "Seinfeld" writers Larry Charles and Glenn Padnick; and comedians Richard Lewis, Carol Leifer, and Rick Newman. In addition to the clips of the HBO meetings, the program offers several bits of footage from David's day-to-day neurosis-filled life, as well as highlights from the stand-up routines themselves. Most of David's humor comes from his hyperbolic sense of self-deprecation; he emerges from almost every interpersonal interaction feeling defeated and frustrated. In one bit, David attempts to check surreptitiously out of a classy hotel that HBO has provided for him, but before he can sneak out, the hotel's receptionist and the HBO accountant have a loud debate over whether HBO will pay for the pornographic video David ordered the previous night. In one of his stand-up bits, David considers whether a man in Communist China has more freedom than he does in his marriage; in another bit, he tells an unimpressed crowd that he is far more disappointed in himself than they could ever be in him. In the centerpiece of the special, David is spotted by a friend of his wife as he reluctantly escorts his agent's mistress through Central Park. When his wife confronts David about what she has heard, he is unable to explain the scenario without digging himself more deeply into a hole.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: October 17, 1999 Sunday 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:63617
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Larry David … Executive Producer
- Jeff Garlin … Executive Producer
- Gavin Polone … Executive Producer
- Mark Farrell … Producer
- Robert B. Weide … Director
- Wendell Yuponce … Music by
- Linda Bates … Cast, HBO Production Team Member
- Mark Beltzman … Cast, Mourner
- Cynthia Caponera … Cast, Wife's friend
- Julie Claire … Cast, HBO Production Team Member
- Donna Cooper … Cast, HBO Receptionist
- Ed Crasnick … Cast, Larry's Suite Mate
- Larry David … Cast, Himself
- Jeff Garlin … Cast, Jeff Greene
- Eric Scott Gould … Cast, Jeff Yerkes
- Allen Havey … Cast, Himself
- Cheryl Hines … Cast, Cheryl David
- Michael Patrick King … Cast, HBO Publicist
- Don Lake … Cast, HBO Director
- Losmir Marin … Cast, Hotel Clerk
- Susan Marque … Cast, HBO Assistant
- Suzy Nakamura … Cast, HBO Production Designer
- Mike Reynolds … Cast, Himself
- Caroline Rhea … Cast, Herself
- Stefanie Singer … Cast, HBO Receptionist
- Suzy Soro … Cast, Herself
- Larry Thigpen … Cast, HBO Production Team Member
- Paul F. Thompkins … Cast, Largo Host
- Becky Thyre … Cast, Jeff's New York Girlfriend
- Judy Toll … Cast, HBO Executive
- Allan Wasserman … Cast, HBO Executive
- Jason Alexander
- Larry Charles
- Carol Leifer
- Richard Lewis
- Rick Newman
- Glenn Padnick
- Jerry Seinfeld