Larry David: "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

In the most recent "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry has a problem. His ex-wife's sister wants to sell her house. But Larry is the one who purchased the house for the sister in the first place.

A normal person might say, "There is a tremendous income gap here, and I'm happy for my struggling acquaintance to make some cash on the house sale."

But Larry--being Larry--wants the money. And he isn't shy to talk about that want.

He goes to confront his acquaintance--Becky--and she sobs and compels him to change her mind. Then, possibly as a "thank you," she sleeps with him.

This leads to furor; the ex-wife, Cheryl, can't believe what Larry has done.

Meanwhile, Larry asks not to have a dinner with a certain friend's significant other--and the way this is accomplished is through a fake story. Larry "can't have dinner with semi-strangers" because of a "bleeding rectum." The discomfort, the blood: It's not something Larry wants to share with a person he doesn't know well. Through many complex and intricate twists, Larry *does* end up eating with the woman he dislikes, and though his rectum behaves well, a large splotch of pseudo-bloody red hot sauce winds up on his chair.

In this same episode--this same episode!--Larry discusses whether you can ask an Asian-American person what he orders in an Asian restaurant, whether the word "appreciate" has more heft than it ought to have, and whether you could start a business to relieve newsstand workers when they have to pee. ("Poober." "Gotta Go.")

As others have noted, Larry has made a change over ten seasons. In early years, he was at least an intermittently sympathetic shlemiel, someone who tested boundaries in ways basically any viewer could understand. More recently, Larry has become an outright monster--unabashedly narcissistic and unpleasant. He is someone who will leave his injured girlfriend to suffer alone in a hospital for over 24 hours while he waits for a flight with a first-class seat.

Here's the thing. Larry doesn't *need* to be sympathetic. A story just needs interesting schemers. You're not watching for a warm, fuzzy feeling. In fact, happiness and decency can be really, really difficult to dramatize. There's something breathtaking in the risks Larry David takes after ten seasons--ten seasons!--of filming. You can tell just by looking at the guest list: Jon Hamm, Jane Krakowski, Ted Danson, Timothy Olyphant, Isla Fisher, Lin-Manuel Miranda. These people are here because they admire David's chutzpah. They want to have fun.

When I watch "Curb," I think of the novelist Barbara Pym, who said, "Little things matter. Trivial details matter. We reveal ourselves through trivial details." This is why we have the comedy of manners. This is actually the tradition Larry David is writing in.

I also think of Stephen Sondheim, who maintained, at seventy, "I never, never grew up." Larry David is an artist who is still *playing* ....He is still someone with a childlike sense of wonder, even if the way that wonder manifests itself is vulgar and bizarre.

I remain in awe of Larry David. Awed and inspired. Of course, I'm not alone.

How to Host a Baby

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Raymond Carver: "What's in Alaska?"

Outside, Mary held Jack's arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic. She raised her head. "When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight." She tightened her hold on his arm. He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light. "Come to bed," she said. "I'm coming," he said. He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom. "Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!" "Jesus Christ, it's me!" he said. "I'm trying to get the light on." He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and b...

Liars and Saints

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