Streaming on: Sky Comedy / NOW
Episodes viewed: 9 of 10
Larry David will do pretty much anything to get a laugh. In the opening episode of this 12th and final season of Curb, he spends most of the time wearing a pair of incongruous horn-rimmed ladies’ glasses after his old friend Auntie Rae (Ellia English) tries his specs on and bends them out of shape due to her “freakish” big head. With echoes of the ridiculous wig disguise he wore in Season 9 when he faced a fatwa, every single shot of Larry in these “lady glasses” is stupidly funny.
Throughout the storied history of what must be the most consistently hilarious TV comedy of the last few decades, David has deployed all manner of weapons in his considerable comedic arsenal, from wigs and glasses, beautifully timed slapstick and ingenious plays on words to extreme profanity, unlikely sex scenes, catchphrases and running jokes. He also delves fearlessly into every hot-button subject of our time, but does so with such charm that his puncturing of taboos ends up disarmingly funny rather than cheaply offensive. And he loves to get famous people yelling at him, and he’s outdone himself in this final run, with appearances from Tracey Ullman (returning as Larry’s nightmare girlfriend from the previous season), Sean Hayes, Dan Levy, Conan O’Brien, Troy Kotsur, and, best of all, Sienna Miller, playing a version of herself absurdly obsessed with Judaism.
As ever, there’s a pleasing overall arc to the series, this time involving some unexpected legal proceedings hanging over Larry’s head, in a possible nod to the ending of Seinfeld when the core gang went on trial, and, as is tradition, every episode ends with seemingly disparate story strands drawn together in deeply satisfying style. But it’s a measure of just how willing David is to mine anything and everything for comic effect that some of the funniest scenes this season occur when David is simply a vessel of impotent rage, at inanimate objects or unwitting service-industry workers. Those particular scenes don’t really go anywhere, and don’t need to. The show still makes time for some purely preposterous comedy shtick, and thank heavens for that.
Quite how David has decided to sign off from Curb remains to be seen, with the finale being kept under wraps, but however it ends, it’s pretty clear this has earned its place as an all-timer in the TV comedy hall of fame.