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Jul 06, 2012 By John Everhart Issue #41 - Yeasayer

Remarkably, Curb Your Enthusiasm has now wrapped eight seasons of simultaneous self-effacing and self-aggrandizing of writer/creator/actor Larry David’s absurdist travails. His prior crowning glory, the epochal and definitive ‘90s comedy Seinfeld, only completed nine, albeit with considerably lengthier seasons.

Seinfeld called it quits when it began to suck, as the characters became pathetic parodies of themselves, throwing in the towel before it could irreparably damage its legacy. But Curb has avoided this fate over the course of its lengthy run, and the eighth season continues to polarize, eliciting repulsion from the non-converted and unwavering devotion from hardcore supporters.

As Elaine Benes’ character once stated in Seinfeld with breathless exasperation, “Every 10 minutes do we have to pore over the excruciating minutiae of every single daily event?” In the instance of any David-helmed series, the answer is a resounding yes, and he’s as effective as ever during this season of Curb at melding that minutia with an off-the-charts gross out quotient while invoking modern culture’s most forbidden taboos.

David will push your buttons. The only question is to whether those buttons activate laughter or annoyance. He toys with textbook psychological sublimation and reaction formation, the defense mechanisms regulating laughing instead of crying, and on the eighth season of Curb, the humor will kill you inside like never before.

(www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm)

Author rating: 8/10