Six years ago, Larry David insulted Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s, made presumptions about a little boy’s sexuality, and got kicked out of New York City by the mayor. Then his semi-autobiographical sitcom “Curb Your Enthusiasm” disappeared, and he spent the meantime making a smash hit on Broadway, a star-studded movie, and playing Bernie Sanders on “Saturday Night Live.”
But now, finally, in 2017, his ground-breaking HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which paved the way for “30 Rock” and “Louie” and “It’s Always Sunny” with its improvised dialogue, ‘friends’ hurling insults at each other, innocent bystanders getting screwed by circumstances, and light handling of dark subjects, will finally return for a ninth season.
Prett-ay, prett-ay, pretty good.
Most of the cast is back
Unlike David’s previous series “Seinfeld,” “Curb” does not feature an ensemble cast of characters. Instead, it solely follows David around Los Angeles, with other characters only dropping by if the story provides a reason for him to yell at them or for them to yell at him. Series staples Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen were entirely absent from the eighth season, but they’ll be back this year for the ninth. (So Ted must have forgiven Larry for not having a bite of that pie.)
Also coming back are JB Smoove as Larry’s loudmouthed housemate Leon, who has become perhaps the most popular character on “Curb” since his season 6 debut, as well as Jeff Garlin and Susie Essman, who have been a part of “Curb” since the very beginning.
Essman has also noted that to get into her character’s signature rage these days, she channels it towards President Donald Trump, saying, “There’s a certain male that I can use to fuel my anger.”
Also returning to “Curb” is Cheryl Hines, despite divorcing Larry in the last season, and Richard Lewis, real-life friends with David since childhood, who has had to cancel some stand-up shows to make room for filming in his schedule.
No cameos confirmed
In the past, a whole host of Celebrities have shown up in “Curb” portraying themselves in the satirical Hollywood world that Larry inhabits, from Ricky Gervais to Alanis Morissette to Martin Scorsese. However, there have been no celebrity cameos confirmed for the ninth season. They could either be being kept as surprises, or there may be none at all.
Larry told The Huffington Post that he only casts a guest star after the part has been written: “We never write anything just to get a person on the show.”
Season 9 will be set back in Los Angeles
After a foray to New York for "Curb" season 8, Larry will be staying close to home for season 9, confirming that the whole season will be shot in Los Angeles. The reason for coming back to LA is because the filming caused a lot of riff-raff with fans who spotted the production on the streets of New York, whereas in Los Angeles, according to David, “nobody really cares, because they see so much of it.”
Also, we can expect good things to come from the stories of the episodes, which are typically filled to the brim with funny ideas on “Curb,” since executive producer David Mandel predicts that during the six-year hiatus in which David has done everything from theatre to an appearance in a CNN documentary, “he just kept filling that notebook, which is a good thing for everybody.”
