It is impossible to avoid mentions of age when you were young and followed the Seinfeld phenomenon, breaking impossible barriers in pre-digital, pre-social media, and even pre-globalized times. Talking and laughing specifically about New York and still winning over a worldwide audience is still a challenge today, but the sitcom proved that everyday life, or “nothingness”, as they said, is effectively the same no matter where we are. It went off the air in 1999 to monumental boos with an ending that some considered brilliant, others lazy, and almost everyone defined as unsatisfactory.
The following year, the director and co-creator of the series, Larry David, a name and man that the greater public really didn’t know much of, got his own series on HBO: Curb Your Enthusiasm. And 24 years later he says goodbye to a loyal audience, closing a long cycle and making history. And to prove his brilliance, he tied the ending with that of Seinfeld – something that all fans realized from the beginning would be the case – and more than nostalgic perfection, he “fixed” the “error” of 25 years, with the participation of Seinfeld himself citing the fact. Enough to laugh and get emotional.
It’s remarkable that Larry David, whose humor was defined as “politically incorrect” even before today’s culture changed the parameters of what’s a joke and what’s not, survived the change while it was happening and he was still on the air. Larry didn’t change his style, but, as he joked, he survived the cancellation.
In 12 seasons, some less funny than others, the comedian has confronted us with many small issues, which is where he (and Seinfeld) find the biggest source of laughs. Doubts about etiquette, misunderstandings, encounters and disagreements, everything that is part of anyone’s day-to-day life, but which, under a magnifying glass, can be laughable while still being unpleasant.
Following the formula that closed the previous sitcom, the last season follows Larry dealing with the consequences of a small thoughtless gesture that leads him – literally – to a trial that could imprison him for a year. In the case of Seinfeld, it was the lack of help from the protagonists that put them in trouble, here it is the opposite: Larry is attentive when he could not be. And now? Hero or Villain? Bright!
With that, the final episode where he warns that no lessons were learned, and the entire gang of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), Ted Danson, Jeff (Jeff Garlin), Susie (Susie Essman), Leon (J. B. Smoove) and Richard Lewis (in his last performance before his death a few months ago) will support him, this time with Jerry Seinfeld as well. And then, anyone who saw Seinfeld picked up the quotes, copying the format of the previous series.
What changes? The result. Thanks to Seinfeld’s help, Larry is acquitted. And the two poke at the critics: “Why didn’t we think about doing it like this 25 years ago?”, shrugging their shoulders. Who didn’t laugh with them? Cynics forever.
Just as Seinfeld went off the air on the upward curve, Curb Your Enthusiasm says goodbye with a sense of duty accomplished. He didn’t need to stop, but he didn’t need to continue either. And I thank Larry David for giving me more than 30 years of fun. New York and Los Angeles became much funnier thanks to him. Now it’s up to MAX to find a suitable replacement. He’s already done his part. Congratulations!
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