Everyone has heard of ‘Seinfeld,’ but not everyone knows the mastermind behind the show. Writer Larry David co-wrote the show with the titular character, Jerry Seinfeld. The show was stated to be “the show about nothing” and it changed the entire television scene. Rather than shows focusing on large plots the shows simply followed a group of characters and comedic events that occurred through their lives. This laid the foundation for many sitcoms to come after it.
However fewer people know about Larry David’s recently finished show ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Though this show didn’t change television in the way that Larry’s original work did, it has a similar premise. The show follows Larry David through his everyday life as himself. He portrays an exaggerated version of himself that ends up consistently in conflict with people around him.
What makes Curb Your Enthusiasm so interesting as a show is that the majority of the show is improvisation. The scripts for an episode have been said to be as small as 6 pages long for a 22 minute episode. Larry David fills his cast with great comedians that take this improvisation and turn it into one of the funniest shows of all time.
If the show is almost entirely improvisation, how can it attest to Larry David’s genius? He frames the show and chooses the situations that allow for the comedic actors do the work they do. As a star actor in the show he also is consistently taking scenes in a certain direction with improvisations of his own. This shows that not only is he an excellent writer, but that he can write comedy on the spot in real time.