Favorite Episodes From Curb Your Enthusiasm

Comedy TV shows are mainly based on personal preference; everyone has a different perception of what's funny and what isn't. For me it happens to be people making idiots out of themselves (in public or private), being put in socially awkward situations and pushing the envelope on things that wouldn't normally be condoned as "right".

Curb Your Enthusiasm just so happens to be all those elements wrapped into one. Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld, is in his retirement days in L.A. and trying to live life like the rest of us commoners but with his Hollywood friends. The only thing is is that he's not a people person and generally keeps to himself. When he does go out, he doesn't hold back on his comments or opinions one bit. Practically all of these episodes come full circle at the end whether its bad karma on Larry or someone he knows.

Over the past couple of years I've noticed that I'm slowly morphing into this comedic legend. I'm not sure whether I should be afraid of that or not. One thing's for certain though, this one's up there as one of my favorite TV shows of all time! You can watch all of the episodes on HBO Max now.

Here's part 1 of my favorite episodes from Curb:

Palestinian Chicken (Season 8 Episode 3)

After looking over every episode in Curb's history, this one is by far and away the best of the entire series (so far)! There's just SO much going on in this episode it's hard to quantify it as anything less than the best. After finishing a practice round of golf at the country club, Larry and his agent Jeff Garlin have lunch at this Palestinian Chicken restaurant. The chicken there is so good that they believe this would be the perfect place to have an affair (since they're Jewish and no one they know would bother coming there).

A few days later Larry and Jeff, along with their partners Ron and Eddie, have a dinner with their wives at Eddie's house. However, Jeff's wife Susie brings their daughter Sammy to this adult dinner party. Towards the end of dinner, Larry voices how the potatoes were cold, tells a joke about a woman's V in front of Sammy and doesn't allow Eddie's wife Juliette to have a piece of cake after she told him not to let her have one no matter what before the dinner.

The next day, Ron approaches Larry and tells him he admires his blunt honesty. He asks Larry to try and convince his wife Ilene to stop saying "LOL" whenever something is funny instead of actually laughing. She catches on to the two of them and calls Ron out.

Later that day at the Palestinian Chicken restaurant, Larry and Jeff notice Eddie and Ron's wife Ilene together. The two assume that they're dating and Eddie comes over to their table to tell them they are. The two of them go back to Jeff's house and Sammy eavesdrops on their conversation. Just as Larry is about to leave Sammy comes up to his car and gives him an ultimatum. Either he tells her mom, Susie, to stop smacking her lips and saying "Ah" obnoxiously after every time she drinks something or she's going to let everyone know that Eddie is having an affair.

The Black Swan (Season 7, Episode 7)

For the longest time I considered this episode to be my all time favorite. However, I believe that Palestinian Chicken had just enough to put it over the top. But this episode is a VERY close second. Larry's cousin Andy is in town and they're getting to play a round of golf with Larry's friends. At their breakfast before the round, Andy orders his onions extra crispy with his eggs (but that'll take longer to make). Because of that the group has to play behind the slowest group in the club. When the four of them catch up to their group, Larry gets agitated at their slowest player, Norm, and tells him they're playing through. Norm doesn't want any part of that so Larry and the guys decide to call it a day.

Back in the locker room a member from the "slowest foursome" approaches Larry and tells him that Norm had a heart attack and died from the stress Larry caused him. The next day the group decides to take an early tee time to get a whole round in. Larry slices his ball near a pond on the same hole that Norm had the heart attack. And just as he's about to take his second swing, a black swan starts running at him and Larry swings his club at the swan and kills it. In an effort to cover up his act he buries it in the woods nearby.

What Larry comes to find out is that that swan is the pet of the country clubs owner, Mr. Takahashi, and is what the club is named after...

Side Plot:

• Larry's dad had a stonemason spell "past away" instead of "passed away" on his wives headstone to save a couple extra bucks. When Larry calls the stonemason to correct it, he's having a conversation with his cousin Andy at the same time. Larry mentions Deter Jeter and the stonemason goes on about how he's overrated and him and Larry get into a fight. At Norm's memorial, Larry is talking with Marty telling what a moron this guy was and the stonemason is standing next to Marty. Lets just say this comes around full circle at the end.

The Bare Midriff (Season 7, Episode 6)

Sometimes a miracle is really just a misunderstanding. Larry and Jerry Seinfeld are trying to do work one day when their assistant Maureen (Jillian Bell) walks in. She's only slightly overweight and is wearing a tiny cropped t-shirt around the office. Larry goes and asks her if she could wear something that doesn't show her stomach so much. Maureen takes offense to this and decides to quit on the spot.

When Julia Louis-Dreyfus finds out, she gets angry at Larry too. She tells him that Maureen's mom used to babysit her daughters when they were younger. Julia also brings up how she thinks Maureen's mom might still be mentally unstable and that this news of her daughter losing her job might lead her to committing suicide.

Larry goes over to Maureen's house and apologizes and tells her she can come back to work and wear whatever she wants. Maureen's mom comes back home and is completely taken aback by Larry. She tells him he looks exactly like her husband who died. Larry has a hard time seeing a resemblance.

Before he leaves he asks to use the bathroom. Larry has a very strong stream flow when he goes and manages to get some urine in the eye of a painting of Jesus hanging up. Larry leaves it be and leaves in a hurry. Maureen walks in later and sees the painting and shows it to her mom. They come to the conclusion that it's a miracle, Maureen has to quit her job for the second time and they have to go around the country together showing it off.

Later when Maureen is getting her stuff out of the office, her and her mom stumble on Larry taking a pee outside the studio because the doors are locked. He managed to get some on Maureen's face. Maureen's mom puts two and two together and realizes Larry is the culprit.

When Larry and Maureen are fighting, Maureen's mom makes her way to the roof of the studio. As Larry saves Maureen's mom from jumping he loses his balance and grabs on to the only thing he can...

The Doll (Season 2, Episode 7)

Currently, this is the highest rated episode in the series (as it rightfully should be). At an after party at an ABC executives house, Larry needs to use a bathroom. When he finds out that the downstairs one doesn't have a lock on the door, he makes his way upstairs and uses the executive's daughters bathroom. On his way out he spends a little time with the executives daughter and is shown her doll, Judy. Larry makes a suggestion to cut Judy's hair. Just as him and his wife Cheryl are about to leave, the girl runs downstairs yelling and screaming thinking the hair on her doll would immediately grow back.

Now Larry has to figure out a way to replace Judy's hair so that his new show with Julia Louis-Dreyfus goes through with ABC. He finds the answer by stealing the head off of one of Jeff's daughters dolls. Susie finds out and demands that the two of them replace this dolls head now or else.

Side Plots: Before the first screening Larry had a bottle of water. A woman at the doors told him he couldn't take it in with him and that he'd have to drink it out in the lobby. When Larry and Cheryl find their seats the woman is sitting a few rows ahead of them. Larry thought she worked there and thought it was an actual rule that had to be enforced. He starts yelling at her in the middle of the screening asking her why she was going around and taking charge. At the end of the episode she's standing at the door again and Larry, who has a water bottle on him again, decides to go to the bathroom to finish it.

At the ABC executive's house, Larry notices how there isn't a lock on the downstairs bathroom. When Larry goes to use the one upstairs, Cheryl went into the one downstairs without Larry guarding the door. In the heat of the moment when the girl came back downstairs, the ABC executive walks in on Cheryl. At the end of the episode Larry decides to go into the women's restroom because the men's isn't clean enough. Cheryl stands in front of the door for a couple of seconds but decides to leave Larry hanging and leaves. The executives daughter walks in a couple seconds later.

The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial (Season 6, Episode 3)

There are things you should do and things you ABSOLUTELY shouldn't do. This is definitely one of those situations where you shouldn't do it! Larry's friend, Marty Funkhouser, just had his mom Ida pass away after getting hit by a car. One day Larry runs into him on a jog. Marty goes on about how he's an orphan now even though he's in his 60's. And while Larry thought he wouldn't get $50 off of him from a bet, Marty reaches into his shoe and gives Larry a $50. It's crumpled and sweaty and Larry demands another one but Marty says take it or leave it.

Later that day while in line at an ice cream shop, Larry insults a woman and tells her that she's abusing her sampling privileges. When Larry gets back home Cheryl tells him that that woman just so happened to be the headmistress of a private school that he's trying to Loretta Black's kids into (The Black's are an entire family that moved into Larry's place after Hurricane Katrina).

Now in an effort to apologize, Larry goes out to buy some flowers. The thing is is that no one's taking the $50 Marty gave him. Larry becomes desperate to the point when on the way back home he stops at Ida's roadside memorial. He decides to steal a couple of arrangements of flowers from her memorial without anyone noticing (for now)...

The Car Pool Lane (Season 4, Episode 6)

In this one, Marty's dad dies. Marty has season tickets to Dodgers games and Larry wants to go since the Yankees are in town. That's put on hold though when he has to go in for jury duty. Larry is able to get out it by pointing out how to person he'll have to judge is black. When he gets back home Cheryl surprises him with tickets to the game. A little later Larry meets up with a guy on a street corner and very awkwardly buys marijuana off of him for his dad who has glaucoma.

Now, Larry's off to Dodger Stadium but the traffic is backed up on the freeway. The only way he can get to the game on time is if he gets into the carpool lane. Larry is approached by a hooker and decides to take her to the game in order to use the carpool lane.

While at the game, the two of them are seen by two conservative country club owners that interviewed Larry and Cheryl earlier that week. Larry also sees that Marty showed up to the game even though he said he wasn't going to go. Afterwards Marty is having trouble starting his car so he asks Larry to give him a ride to LAX.

When they get to the airport Larry sticks the bag of marijuana in a jacket that he lets Marty borrow. Marty gets caught by an airport security dog and gets arrested. Now, Larry has to come to court to testify for Marty. The only problem is is that it's the same judge that was residing on the trial for his jury duty case.

The Ski Lift (Season 5, Episode 2)

Time's running out for Larry's friend Richard Lewis. Richard is in need of a new kidney or he might die soon. As Larry is leaving the hospital he runs into George Lopez. He tells Larry he knows a doctor that might help him get higher on the wait list.

Larry finds this doctors car in a parking garage and purposefully hits it and leaves a note hoping to meet up with him. The two end up meeting for lunch at a kosher restaurant. Larry offers to pay for the damages and also puts up this facade that he's a practicing Orthodox Jew (even though he really doesn't follow Judaism strictly). After the doctor mentions he loves skiing, Larry says he's going to a ski lodge for the weekend and invites him along.

At the lodge, Dr. Heineman decides to bring his daughter Rachel along. Larry also decides to invite Susie and Cheryl and pretends that Susie is actually his wife since she's Jewish and Cheryl is actually Christian. Rachel knows something is off from the start but can't exactly put her finger on it.

Towards the end of the first day, Rachel wants to take one last trip down the mountain. Dr. Heineman asks Larry to look after Rachel as she goes down one last time. And as luck would have it, Larry and Rachel get stuck on the lift before sunset. According to Jewish law, a single woman can't be with a man after dark. Adamant at the fact of abiding by the Torah, Rachel says one of them has to jump so the rule isn't broken.

Trick or Treat (Season 2, Episode 3)

Larry and Cheryl go and attend a premiere of a movie written by their friend Cliff Cobb. Before the premiere all of them, including Cliff's wife Shelly, go out to dinner. Cliff and Cheryl are friends and are talking up a storm. Cliff makes all these substitutions to the Cobb Salad and Larry points it out. Cliff then goes on to tell everyone that his grandpa invented the Cobb Salad and that it was okay to substitute things.

For the rest of the night Larry tries to butt in to Cheryl and Cliffs conversation but they aren't paying any attention to him. Now, he has to talk to Shelly for the rest of the meal. Larry starts telling jokes and saying that he might go out with Shelly with no recognition from Cheryl and Cliff. Larry's obviously joking but Shelly doesn't think he is.

While waiting in line at the theater, Larry starts whistling the overture to a German song. A man in front of them recognizes the tune and calls Larry out for it because he's Jewish. To make matters worse, during the premiere Larry yawns because he's tired but Cliff notices him and believes that Larry thinks his movie is boring.

A few days after the premiere it's Halloween. Larry opens the door to a couple of teenage girls that aren't dressed up. He tells them that they can't exploit Halloween for their personal gain of getting candy and closes the door in their faces. The next morning Larry and Cheryl wake up and find their drive way and back yard tee-peed.

In the end, Larry finds the guy who yelled at him in the theater line and has an orchestra play the overture in his backyard.

Kamikaze Bingo (Season 5, Episode 4)

Larry and Cheryl are having dinner with their friend Yoshi, a Japanese art dealer. Yoshi brings up how his dad and Larry's dad are hanging out and getting along well at their retirement home. Yoshi also brings up how his dad was a kamikaze pilot in WWII. Larry goes on to say that he shouldn't be alive since the point of being a kamikaze pilot is to kill yourself. He insinuates that Yoshi's dad deliberately skimmed the surface of a ship to stay alive. Larry keeps mentioning the word "chicken" at dinner, leading Yoshi to believe Larry's calling him a chicken.

Later, Larry goes to Yoshi's brother-in-laws (Kevin Nealon) house to play cards. Kevin gets a call from the hospital saying Yoshi tried to kill himself. Larry and a couple other people there keep playing while Kevin is the only one that leaves. It turns out that Yoshi tried to kill himself because of what Larry said about his dad.

The next day Larry gives Yoshi a call to apologize. But while he's making the call he's eating pistachios at the same time. Yoshi takes offense to this and doesn't accept his apology.

Later on Larry gives is dad a visit at the retirement home. The two of the go in the bingo hall to play a couple of games. After winning a game but being denied of it, he believes that his dad's friend Ruth and the checker Lenore are in kahoots and that the games are fixed.

In the end, Yoshi reluctantly meets with Larry and Cheryl at the same Japanese restaurant from the beginning of the episode. The chef calls Larry "chicken teriyaki boy" because that's what he usually gets, but Yoshi believes that they are mocking him again. Larry goes back to the retirement home again to play some bingo. When Larry accuses Lenore, the lady in charge of the game, an older lady points out how he "tried to kill" Ruth earlier. Yoshi's dad leads a charge with all these old people trying to trample Larry to death with their canes and wheelchairs.

Officer Krupke (Season 7, Episode 8)

Larry is going shopping for some more beige colored pants at Banana Republic. The fire alarm goes off while Larry's in the dressing room so he has to run outside. While everyone's waiting outside, Larry strikes up a conversation with a police officer. He notices his name badge says Krupke like the policeman in West Side Story. Larry starts to sing the song about Officer Krupke from the movie but he doesn't know it.

Later on, Susie finds a pair of panties in Jeff's car and accuses him of having an affair. He tries to convince Larry to cover for him by telling Susie that he enjoys women's panties. Also at Jeff's house is Elisabeth Shue and John Schneider. The two of them start telling the story of how they met but Larry isn't exactly interested. Instead, he decides to walk down the street and stops at a kids lemonade stand. He pays for a cup but immediately spits it out. He starts to get into an argument with these kids about how he got ripped off and that he wants his money back.

After this, Larry meets with Cheryl for lunch. During their conversation, she brings up how Elisabeth and John asked if she wanted to have a threesome with them. Larry's completely taken back by this and decides to confront John at his job. He tells Larry that he did ask Cheryl and that her being his ex doesn't mean anything.

The next day Larry gets a call from Jeff saying that Susie isn't buying their lie. He also said that she's going to leave him if he doesn't tell the truth. On his way over to Jeff's house Larry is singing the Officer Krupke song and has his windows down. The kids that sold him that lemonade have their stand set up again and as Larry passes them he says "Krup You". And as you can imagine they mistook that for the other 4-letter word.

When Larry gets to Jeff's, Officer Krupke shows up because of a call from the mom of the lemonade stand kids. Larry tries to talk his way out of it but he still has those pants on from the beginning of the episode with the tag on them. Officer Krupke tells him to take them off and everyone sees Larry wearing panties. He ends the episode saying, "I'm Larry David and I happen to enjoy wearing women's panties!"