Is the last “Larry David Moment” the end of humor?
As the world went mad about halfway through Curb's run – snowflakes to the left of me, MAGA to the right – it is a wonder it managed to survive
My first “Larry David Moment” came in college. My roommate was holding court in the cafeteria with a group of young women listening rapt to his well-worn tale of how his father survived Auschwitz. I muscled in and offered: “You must be very proud.”
“Sure,” Lawrence replied, trying his best to project melancholy (not so easy for a Canadian). “Wait! Why?” Whereupon I quipped: “It’s like the Harvard of concentration camps.” I remember the shock this caused. I remember my satisfaction at the shock this caused. Somewhere in the world, another Lawrence was starting out in comedy.
The college memory came back as I watched the apparently last-ever episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the vehicle for Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, which many consider brilliant and boring people find insufferable. For the former there is no more pleasurable use of their time (with one exception) than to watch old episodes. That will soon be all there is, because David seems to be calling it quits after a 12-season, 25-year run which I am seriously suspecting will mark the end of humor on TV.
Considering that the world went mad about halfway through the run – snowflakes to the left of me, MAGA to the right – it is a wonder David managed to survive, as there is almost no group he avoided trying to offend. David is a tribune for the liberal center that can stomach such a thing and that can introspect – but he’s not for the faint of heart.
This is a man who takes in a family called the Blacks displaced by Hurricane Katrina (to curry favor with his wife) and is then is surprised to an awkward extent that they turn out to be black.
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