On April 7th, Larry David’s sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm—which debuted in 2000 and ran on and off for 24 years—concluded its twelfth and final season. For many critics, the finale marked not only the completion of a beloved show that sometimes seemed like it would run forever, but also the end of an era of American Jewish comedy, embodied by David and other comics of his generation. Curb follows the everyday antics of a fictionalized version of David, living a posh life in Los Angeles following the success of the iconic ’90s sitcom Seinfeld, which he co-created with Jerry Seinfeld. David’s avatar is an over-the-top archetype of a Brooklyn Jew raised in the mid-century, and the show is animated by the character’s dry affect and hyperbolic intransigence, which often put him at odds with reigning social mores, fueling absurd interactions with strangers, friends, and foes. Over the course of Curb’s long run, it’s had a profound impact on the shape of modern American comedy, while the caricature at its core has emerged as one of the defining representations of American Jewishness.
On this episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman, executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker, contributing editor Ari M. Brostoff, and contributing writer Rebecca Pierce discuss Curb’s depictions of Jewishness, Blackness—and, in one famous episode, Palestinianness—and share their thoughts on the show’s final season and David’s comedic legacy.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles, Episodes, and Films Mentioned:
“The Ski Lift,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The End,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“American Jewish Comedy Sings a Swan Song,” P.E. Moskowitz, Vulture
“Meet the Blacks,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
“Atlanta,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The Lawn Jockey,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The N Word,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“Palestinian Chicken,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“No Lessons Learned,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The Finale,” Seinfeld
“Jerry Seinfeld Admits He ‘Sometimes’ Regrets the Seinfeld Finale,” Corinna Burford, Vulture