"Curb Your Enthusiasm" The Freak Book (TV Episode 2007) Poster

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9/10
Burying plots
jotix1007 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
After securing plots in a local cemetery, six spaces were bought so Larry and Cheryl, Jeff and Susie, and Ted and Mary, can be buried next to each other. After all, their friendship will appear to continue for eternity. The Davids are glad this situation is resolved as they are preparing to go to Ted and Mary's party. Cheryl has ordered a limousine to they can enjoy themselves and not worry about drinking. Larry's gift is a book on freaks, something he thinks Ted would appreciate because he finds it hilarious. Larry, who evidently drove a cab years ago, becomes interested in what the driver will do for three hours he has to wait for them to take them back home. He is puzzled this man doesn't even have a book, or a newspaper to read, or even a crossword to work.

The hosts are glad the Davids came. Larry goes to get a drink; he is surprised the catering staff has to wear bow ties, which the bartender tells him it was specified by the hosts as to what they wanted the servers to wear. Larry finds it strange the young man has to suffer because of this silly request. When he questions Ted, he is told they were going for a "classy" look. Larry asks if he could bring the driver to the house. Ted doesn't mind if he goes and sits in the kitchen.

As the presents are opened, Larry is taken aback by Ted's reaction to his present; it is obvious Ted didn't see the humor in it. He asks to show it to Jeff, and both have great fun laughing at the freaks in the photographs. At that time, Charlie, the driver, shows up drunk. What's even more outrageous is that he has groped Mary as she has gone inside the house. The Davids are told to leave the party at once. The problem is what to do with their drunk driver. Larry solves the problem by taking him home and keeping the limo to be returned the following day.

Jeff and Susie and the Davids are going to a Paul McCartney concert that evening at the Staples Center. Larry goes to return the car to Charlie and finds he is in no shape to do anything. His wife who is wheel chair bound, is upset because her father is dying. Charlie asks Larry to do him a favor by going to LAX to pick up a VIP client he was supposed to meet. The client happens to be John McEnroe, the former tennis star.

Larry who is upset at the way Ted had treated him the night before had asked Jeff and Susie to change places in the burying plots with him and Cheryl because he doesn't want to be next to the Dansons, but the request is met with a refusal.

As Larry is taking McEnroe to the Staples Center, he passes by the cemetery where the plots have been acquired. He excuses himself for a moment and goes to see what can be done about a possible switch. He is told there is not a chance, but an empty plot is available. John McEnroe, who has stayed in the car, goes looking for Larry, who returns to find a grieving Mexican family is in the car, thinking it's their limo. McEnroe is upset at having to share the car with these strangers. He invites Larry to come with him to the party before the concert and as the two of them are laughing at some of the freaks in the book, Heather Mills walks in on them.

Bryan Gordon directed this installment of the 2007 series. The idea of the burial site is something few of us will see in a funny way. Larry makes fun of the way some people deal with the subject as well as the other theme that gets Larry in trouble for speaking in favor to the bartender and the driver only to have it backfire on him.

The idea of a straight faced John McEnroe putting up with Larry is too funny. Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen do well as the party hosts. Toby Huss has some good moments, as well as Jamie Ellman, the bartender.
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10/10
Less palatable, but does that make it lesser of a program?
hyperjulius16 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
"Let's face it, Seinfeld was a much more palatable vehicle than 'Enthusiasm.'" This was a previous comment made by another IMDb user made against CYE. He also felt that the limousine scene with John McEnroe and the erratic Hispanic mourners was painful, but however it was one of the best examples of why Curb Your Enthusiasm contains some of the most brilliant comedy ever. Larry David has a strong ability to take totally unrelated things and create a cohesive story out of their existence within the plot (added with the impressive task of keeping it solid while improvising almost every line), but I digress. If you feel that it's not funny, that's fine. It's your personal taste. However if you feel that it's not as good because it's less "palatable," then I believe that you should question why you decide to dub things lesser than it's popular and far more readily available counterpart due to that.

Now, what's interesting about this particular season of Curb Your Enthusiasm is in how we've encountered "Evil Larry," the new version of the Larry David character who is very selfish and careless but still works within what David tends to do, is to take every last possible (and in this season, probable!) uncomfortable and sometimes horrific encounter/concept there is, and any last inconsiderate (yet legal) thing you can do to someone else when you're not thinking about the consequences that can backfire in all directions. This episode is no exception. Larry laughing at a book on freaks throughout the episode, an alcoholic limousine driver, etc. Pretty dark stuff, but these are things that people are either too afraid to discuss, or even acknowledge. What Larry's doing there is mentioning these things in such an extreme by creating satire out of it all, and thus (I feel) destroying attached fears and taboos by having people laugh if they're willing to go along.

Life is not palatable, so why should Curb Your Enthusiasm be? Plus, there's way more hardcore stuff out there, like Brass Eye...
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10/10
Must we?
termsandconditionsapply30 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I find myself between a rock and a hard-place in making this point. The internet is after all a wealth of opinions - so I will add my two cents worth anyway. CYE is the most sophisticated comedy to ever have come out of America - without question whatsoever. Can you not see the comedic Elysium that is John McEnroe shouting his lungs off at the wailing souls? Just the idea of pitching this episode to McEnroe is hilarious.

However, dissecting comedy is by far the most pointless exercise since Frank Zappa cited "talking about music is like dancing to architecture" Guys, go for a walk, get a breath of fresh air - get over it.

"Hey Mac, I'm sh*t-faced, we're gonna need a driver" -
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6/10
Slowly becoming something else
born_naughty16 November 2021
This is what I mean when I say the shows writing is going downhill. There's still some good stuff in here but there's just no attention to detail this season. First Larry hates the bow tie for some reason even though he loved the private detectives bow tie so much in a previous episode that he decided to wear one himself. Then we're expected to believe that a guy who wrote intelligent comedies like Seinfeld and Curb your enthusiasm thinks a book of "freaks" is absolutely hilarious and can look at that thing for hours. Just like the previous episode, a few tweaks would have made for a superior episode. The Larry David character is slowly deteriating.
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3/10
terrible episode
dajkarata6 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Was really into the show until this episode popped up...basically, nothing smart about it just Larry being really obnoxious talking gibberish and doing annoying illogical things all episode long....i'm a really big fan of curb but barely watched this one till the end. He really is a genius at what he does and its an amazing show, but i guess he just didn't have any inspiration to make this one a decent episode.
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3/10
Larry David raised to the highest power = unpalatable for all but the most fervid fans
Jefl0079 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
After securing sequential burial plots for themselves and four friends (Jeff & Susie, and Ted & Mary), Larry and Cheryl head to Ted's birthday party with a limo driver who turns out to be a drunk. Larry also gives a wildly inappropriate gift to Ted (a book about "freaks"), and he and Jeff make a spectacle of themselves during the party enjoying it. As a result, Ted kicks Larry out of the party, who ends up driving the limo the next day and chauffeuring John McEnroe, finally committing the same faux pas with "Johnny Mac" that he did the previous night with Jeff (i.e., reading the "freak book" in a public venue).

I am a die-hard fanatic of Seinfeld, and normally I appreciate the painful awkwardness and self-imposed situational comedy of Larry David. However, this episode completes what I view as David's fall over the precipice of what most audiences can appreciate as humor into the self-indulgent void that consumed much of Andy Kaufman's brilliant, yet tragic, career. The majority of the laughs from this episode should ostensibly come from repeated scenes where Larry makes an ass of himself, and where people scream at each other at the top of their lungs. Unfortunately, these situations have become so ludicrous, so mean-spirited, and without redemption, that I can't find it enjoyable to watch, no matter how hard I try. The limousine scene in which Larry, John McEnroe, and several funeral mourners shriek at one another for a full two minutes is a particularly extreme example, and nearly made me turn off the episode. It's just not funny. I think this may be the case of a wonderful creative mind having too much control over his product. Take for example, Mike Myers, whom I also find brilliant. Mike's many characters and distractions may be hilarious, but sometimes you get the feeling that there is just a little too much Mike Myers in his films. (I think Jay Roach does an excellent job of reigning this in.) Let's face it, Seinfeld was a much more palatable vehicle than 'Enthusiasm.' As much as Jason Alexander may have played a pretty "David-esque" character, he was much more sympathetic. Moreover, it was easier to swallow the absurd behaviors (which invariably led to characters' downfall) when it was spread across all four characters. In 'Enthusiasm,' there is only Larry landing himself in his own preposterous situations. Maybe I am just getting soft in my old age, but this episode in particular goes beyond what I can find comically palatable... and I hope someone can reign him back in. (Jeff Garland, where are you?)
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