Don't bother curbing your enthusiasm

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

Like the Wizard of Oz in, Larry David, the comedic genius and man behind the curtain of television's Seinfeld, probably prefers that everyone leave him alone.

Therein lies the fundamental gut-wrenching conceit of David's quasi-biographical HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm: nothing can ever go Larry David's way, mostly because of his own smug and neurotic demeanor.

With Season One now on DVD, thanks to HBO Video, anyone can now gleefully watch the antics of King Larry David, the man with a poison touch. The series seems surreal, thanks to the improvisational nature of the show. With only a vague plotline behind each episode, David and the actors he has hired to play his fictional wife, manager, and other everyday characters speak ad-lib with very little written dialogue. As a result, the absurdity that sometimes limited the humor in Seinfeld comes off as authentic "Larry" in Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Though the premise of the show is Larry David's daily disasters, David is in fact playing a caricature of himself. Social etiquette is tossed out the window, leaving a wonderfully malicious schlump -- a different, but not too different, bizarre "Larry David".

Alongside "Larry" are Cheryl Hines as his wife "Cheryl" and Jeff Garlin as his manager "Jeff." If Cheryl is the mellowing factor that keeps Larry in check, then Jeff is the devil on his shoulder, egging him on. The two are like mischievous children; their judgment so many miles away from the social norm that even when they act with their best intentions, there is no way the situation can turn out well.

For instance, in the episode "Beloved Aunt," Larry takes it upon himself to write an obituary for his wife's aunt. Using Jeff's connection to the obituary writer for the local paper, Larry dictates an obituary for his "beloved aunt." The inevitable problem? The paper prints it as "beloved c-nt". Cheryl's family blames Larry, kicking him out of the house for the night. He takes refuge at Jeff's house, but is evicted from there too because Jeff's mother thinks Larry copped a feel. It's all a typical day in the life of Larry.

In addition to all ten episodes of the first season, the Season One DVD has the hour-long original HBO Comedy Special that inspired the entire series and a Bob Costas interview with Larry David. While light on special features, the Costas interview is rather interesting, especially for those interested in how each episode is produced.

As a whole package, the first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm doesn't measure up to the glories of the second and third seasons. Whereas Season Three had an overarching theme of Larry opening a restaurant, Season One lacks any cohesion, and suffers from it. Without any connection between events in each episode, the show seems a bit irrelevant. Yet the unstoppable laughs anyone will have when watching Curb outweighs that small detriment.

While watching Curb, one cannot miss the show's connections to Seinfeld, the series that made this failed stand-up comedian famous. Again, David's inherent sense of ridicule for the idiosyncrasies of ordinary life has made a show about "nothing" into "something."

The other obvious connection to Seinfeld is that George Costanza was the clear caricature of Larry David. They share the same apathy for others' well-being, as epitomized by George's indifferent reaction to his fianc‚e's death, and total self-adoration (see Larry's magnanimous dismissal of his lawyer).

But like George, Larry is a bit much to take in extended periods of time. So don't try and watch all ten episodes in a row, or otherwise you'll start hating him more than you should. Taken in small doses, Curb Your Enthusiasm is a fantastic second act for Larry David, as he portrays "Larry David."