"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Monday, October 9, 2017

Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.2: Wife Swapping

Well, it wasn't really wife swapping, and I said I wouldn't be reviewing any more episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm - because I don't usually review comedies - but here I am with a review of Curb 9.2, in which the wife swapping which wasn't really wife swapping was one of the funniest parts.

It's not really wife swapping because Larry and Cheryl (the fictitious couple) are no longer married, though Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen really are - in reality - even though not on the show.  Which means (I think) that by the internal logic of the show (or any logic, even Aristotelian), Larry and Ted would not have been trading mates if all parties had agreed to Larry's suggestion after Ted came to ask/inform Larry about Ted's interest in Cheryl. Not that anyone actually said it was wife swapping.  But what is the case is that Cheryl and Mary both look great, and Mary turning Larry down because he's just not her "type," only to be seen by Larry walking cosily with a man who looks a lot like Larry was pretty funny, too.

By the way, speaking of what Larry looks like, wouldn't you agree that he never looked better than in his Buck Dancer disguise, that he's using to avoid the fatwa?  He looks, like, I don't know, maybe an older rock star who can still do a good concert, or even like Don Johnson and whatever he might look like now.

The other best part of tonight's episode for me were actually two unrelated things that both speak to same brilliant part of Curb Your Enthusiasm: the difficulty of opening a pickle jar, and the stupidity of using tongs to pick up cookies from a table in a hotel lobby (or, by extension, at any public event).  Larry always has a way of putting his finger - in this case, a hand, or a tong - on an aspect of our lives which is illogical, even ridiculous, but we somehow put up with, anyway.  Larry in effect is the voice for what we all believe but never quite get around to actually saying or complaining about.

Lots of other funny parts in tonight's episode, but, as I said last week, I don't like assessing what makes comedies comedies, so I'll end this now and may or may not be back here next week.

See also: Curb Your Enthusiasm 9.1: Hilarious! 


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