Curb Your Enthusiasm...and the temptation to watch it!

To get to the point, and simply put, this is the greatest, funniest, and the most hysterically entertaining show in all of television history.

Created by Larry David, co-creator of the megahit TV show Sienfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm circles around Larry David himself in all of his daily predicaments and embarrassments, and his relationship with a demanding wife Cheryl and friendship with his fat friend Jeff. But when I say "himself," I need to make clear that this isn't a reality show. Far from it, it's metafiction. The character Larry David in the show is a fictionalized version of his real-life self - part true personality, part just made-up. Not just him; most other characters appearing in the show also are fictionalized versions of themselves, and to signify this, they change the second name of their character and retain the first from their real names. This concept was first created by Larry David for Sienfeld (in which he never acted) and now for CYE.

To quote the tagline of the show, "He's got it all: a loving wife, good friends, a successful career, a great home...what could possibly go wrong for Larry David?" That's right, he's just perfect! Except that he regularly trips into disastrous social humiliations, sometimes because of his obsessive nature of blowing things out of proportion, sometimes because he can't figure out what's really important, and sometimes because he just forgets what politeness is. He has a naive outlook on human nature, and he is agitated over trivial things said and done by others when a lot more is at stake. He tries to be affable at times, but always ends up saying the wrong things. He is insensitive to the feelings of others and runs into the the wrong people. He can neither foresee the ramifications of his actions nor watch his tongue in social gatherings. He is a victim of misunderstandings.

The embarrassment that rushes at you when watching the show is similar to the experience of watching Borat for the first time. (Some episodes are even directed by Larry Charles, director of Borat). I feel it would be apt to classify this show as foot-in-mouth comedy. But beneath all the humor, I think Larry represents the irrationality of the common man in many ways. Everything he says and does represents some aspect of our stupidity, which is why it's easy to relate to the character.

And Jeff Greene and his Italian-American, psychotic wife Susie Green make for a lot of entertainment as well.

Watch it once, and you won't stop watching the rest of the seaons or laughing while you do. A word of warning, though: sometimes, the humor can be subtle. Remember that, unlike most sitcoms and comedy flicks, CYE has its hilarity in the characters, not in dialogues or jokes. A sample should prove it:

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