I don't usually review comedies - I'd rather just laugh than try to explain to myself and to you why I'm laughing, which is what it takes to write reviews of comedies - but after watching and reviewing tonight's episode of Ray Donovan, I need to write about something that lightens my soul.Fortunately Curb Your Enthusiasm, back for its ninth season after who knows how long, more than fits the bill. Like the prior seasons, it's flat out hilarious. And I've got to say that Larry David is not only uniquely funny but pretty lucky, giving Jimmy Kimmel a central role in tonight's episode. I mean, Larry could gave chosen the other Jimmy, and missed getting all the well-deserved good vibes that Jimmy Kimmel now brings to anything he says.
Meanwhile, Larry continues with his unerring sense of putting various kinds of truth up there for us to laugh at. The Ayatollahs in Iran do have very similar sounding names. Various plastic devices including soap dispensers are indeed infuriating to use (in a previous season, Larry railed against plastic packages that were impossible to open). And his riff on why to hold open or not hold open doors for approaching people, based on an algorithm of how far away they are and what they look like, is right on.
Larry's strength has always been standing up for what we all want to, but getting burned by it. He's completely right, also, that it's hard to get too upset about a friend's parakeet kicking the bucket, even if it has been saying "Seinfeld".
Speaking of which, it was good to see at least a few of his funny friends back in action, including Richard Lewis. I'm looking forward to more, and I'll be watching every episode, but don't expect me to write about it. This review may have been ok, but it didn't do the comedy the justice it deserves.
Hey, if you'd like to read a better analysis of Curb Your Enthusiasm, here's an essay written a few years ago by my daughter.
And more humor here, in Extra Credit, an academic, science fictional farce ...
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