This Is Unbelievable! Facts You Didn’t Know About Curb Your Enthusiasm
"I was planning on my future as a homeless person. I had a really good spot picked out," Larry David once said. From Seinfeld to Curb Your Enthusiasm, we're glad David's former plans didn't come to fruition. The past few decades, the comedian has brilliantly provided his fans with some of the best in comedy. Sometimes, it feels like you're watching the real David and not just a fictional character when enjoying Curb. If you've felt like that, then we've got some facts for you! There are so many gems from this series you'll be glad you kept reading more.
Larry IS George Costanza
Those who've watched Seinfeld more than likely made the transition to Curb Your Enthusiasm once Larry David debuted his series two years after the finale of Seinfeld. If you were one of those fans, then something might've seemed familiar to you.
While both David and Jerry Seinfeld worked on Seinfeld, each added their own twists to the characters. Something you might not know is that George Costanza's personality is based on David! As you watch both shows, the similarities become apparent.
Curb Helped Exonerate A Man In Prison!
In 2003, Juan Catalan got arrested for murdering a young girl, but he swore he didn't do it. Catalan alibi was that he was enjoying his time at a Los Angeles Dodgers game during the time of the crime.
As it turns out, Curb Your Enthusiasm was in the process of filming at the same game Catalan said he was at. Thankfully, the raw footage proved that Catalan wasn't telling a lie and in 2007, he ended up getting $320,000 in a lawsuit he filed against the police department.
David's Wife In The Show Didn't Think She'd Get The Part
Cheryl Hines was utterly nervous that she wouldn't win the job as David's wife. Her background was in The Groundlings improv, and she only had a clue about who David was.
"I wasn't very stressed out about the audition, because I thought 'It’s not going to happen,'" Hines said. Only four hours after her audition she received a call that she won the role! The crew wanted an unknown, so that worked to Hines' advantage because she "had absolutely nothing" on her resume.
She Isn't Based On David's Former Wife
People thought that Hines' character was playing a version of David's former wife, Laurie David, but that wasn't the case at all. She was an entirely different person and wasn't based on anyone.
At one point, Hines even asked David if she should hang out with Laurie, but he told her no. "It was confusing to people because people would ask me what kind of research I did on Laurie before I started playing her. And I had to say I wasn't playing her," Hines said.
Richard Lewis And David Were Rivals
In the show, David and Richard Lewis are the best of friends, but their relationship can be toxic at times. Perhaps, this has something to do with the fact that they were teenage rivals.
When the two were 12, they attended a sports camp together, so you can imagine how competitive that became. "I despised the guy and he hated me," Lewis told OC Weekly. “It was like Curb Your Enthusiasm, but at 12.”
People REALLY Want Susie Essman To Be Rude
In the show, Susie Essman plays Jeff Garlin's wife, and she has quite the attitude. Granted, David does force her over the edge plenty of times, but that isn't how she is in real life.
She's said that people will come up to her while grocery shopping, begging her to tell them to go [expletive] themselves. "People are visibly disappointed that when they meet me I'm not this screaming, yelling crazy person," the actress said in an interview with Esquire.
Tragedy Helped J.B. Smoove
Before acting on Curb Your Enthusiasm, J.B. Smoove was a writer for Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, his contract didn't get renewed, so he hit the road to do a comedy stand-up tour.
Along the way, he made a quick detour in Los Angeles to attend a friend Oji Pierce's funeral. During his time in L.A., Smoove's agent did his job and sent him to audition for Curb and as they say, the rest is history after that.
Jeff Garlin Isn't A Fan Of Jeff Greene
Jeff Garlin plays David's agent, pal, and fellow trouble-maker in Curb. He gets himself into plenty of catastrophic situations that nearly cost him his marriage, so Garlin doesn't think Greene is too smart.
"He's an idiot. He’s not a good guy. He wants to get laid constantly, by anyone, any time," Garlin said. When you're the complete opposite of the person you're playing, it's fair to criticize and clear the air. It would be awful if people thought he was like that in real life.
David Got The Theme Song From A Bank Commercial
Long before Curb had its theme song, it was used in a '70s Italian film called La Bellissima Estate. After that, it sat dormant for years before David heard it in the background of a bank commercial.
The name of the tune is "Frolic" and it's by an Italian composer named Luciano Michelini. After David listened to it one time, he knew it was the one. "There was something circusy about it," David said. "I like to get away with things, comedically, and sometimes music can help in that regard."
Hines' Kept In The Dark
Savvy viewers of the show might've caught this, but we'll break it down for everyone. If Hines seems genuinely surprised upon hearing the current load of shenanigans David presents to her, its because she is.
Hines never receives the full plot of the show to ensure she stays in the dark. That enables her to have genuine reactions to all of David's lies, antics, and everything else. This tactic is genius, especially given the type of things David gets himself into.
The Title Has Two Meanings
David chose to name the show Curb Your Enthusiasm for two reasons. First, he wanted to those obsessed with Seinfeld not to expect his show to be another version of that.
Secondly, in true David fashion, he wants people not to be so excited. "Also, people should keep enthusiasm curbed in their lives," David told Time. "Always keep it. To not is unattractive. It's unseemly." Well, it's tough to say that he's lying, but this pessimism is fitting for the star.
There Is No Dialogue Written For The Show
In Curb, each episode is based on an outline. The series became a milestone show thanks to mostly being an improvised format. David only wrote a rough outline for the episodes and let the actors and actresses do the rest.
"I write the scenes where we know everything that's going to happen," David told NPR. "There’s an outline of about seven or eight pages, and then we improvise it." You've got to be pretty funny and adept at what you do to pull that off.
Keeping The Marriage Authentic
How many perfect marriages are there in the world? As rhetorical as that question is, David wanted to make sure that the marriage on Curb was as authentic as it could be. He didn't want people thinking it was fake.
"I don't want to see anybody that happy, because it makes me a little sick," David said. "I’m trying to strike the balance that you believe the marriage, that they really like each other, but he’s really not that happy."
Curb Shows The Idealized Version Of David
As much as David wants to be rude and transparent in real life, he still has his manners. Thankfully, he gets to act on TV how he wants to be in social interactions. Curb portrays an idealized version of David.
"The character really is me, but I just couldn't possibly behave like that," David said in an interview with Time. “If I had my druthers, that would be me all the time, but you can't do that."
Art Mirroring Reality
In real life, David split then divorced his former wife, Laurie David. That happened in 2007, but in the 7th and 8th season of Curb, (the seasons following his divorce), he and Cheryl ended up splitting as well. David's co-star, Essman thinks David did that unconsciously.
"Larry works on a very deeply unconscious level that even he's not aware of," Susie Essman told Rolling Stone. “As an outsider, I can see it. I think that that's basically it. That if he’s not married, he doesn’t want to be married fictitiously, either."
David Watches His Manners
Contrary to popular belief, David isn't as rude and inconsiderate as Curb paints him. One thing David will not do is make fun of a character's physical attributes or anything else related unless given permission.
One example of that is Garlin explicitly giving David the go-ahead to call him fat on the show. This is a consistent plot point in the series too, so David can thank Garlin for being a good sport and letting them joke about his weight.
A One-Time Special?
At the very beginning, Curb was only going to be a one-time special mockumentary. It was going to showcase David's long-awaited return to stand-up comedy after the end of Seinfeld.
Well, that didn't happen and fans ended up getting a decade's worth of a series that follows an idealized version of David. Lovers of Seinfeld couldn't have asked for more, as Curb is somewhat of an unfiltered version of the show about nothing. Keep those seasons coming, David!
Finding A Loop Hole For A Reunion
Something both Seinfeld and David object to is doing a reunion episode for a show. It's not their vibe, but David figured out a way to do one, which he thought would be funny. In season seven of Curb, he brought back the original cast of Seinfeld and had them do a reunion episode through Curb.
"[It] was a perfect way to do something like that but not to do it. Under the guise of doing the Curb show, it was very relaxed and loose and easy," David said.
An Episode Based On A True Story
The episode titled "Mary, Joseph, And Larry" stems from a hilarious observation from Hines. It's the 2002 Christmas episode where Hines' family visits and David eats the cookie with baby Jesus on it. Hines couldn't hold it in when she thought of the idea.
She told TV Guide how that arc came about: "When I was home in Florida, my family had made a manger scene out of cookies and everyone was walking around saying, 'Don't eat baby Jesus.' And I immediately called Larry and said, ‘If you were at my house right now, you would eat baby Jesus"
There Will Never Be A "Final" Episode
Thanks to the backlash David and Seinfeld received after how the series finale of Seinfeld unfolded, David will never make another last episode. Fans soured the experience for the Curb actor, so he doesn't want it to happen again.
Before season nine became official, things could've ended after season eight and no one would've been the wiser. With season ten starting January 17th, 2020, fans can only hope David will continue to provide the hilarious content that many love.
