Curb Your Enthusiasm

Creator Larry David (left) stars as a fictional version of himself; he also writes the story outline for each episode. Cheryl Hines (right) portrays Larry's fictional wife.

Jeff Garlin (left) stars in the series and is also an executive producer and has directed an episode. Susie Essman (right) plays the wife of Garlin's character.

J. B. Smoove joined the series in season 6 as Leon Black. His character quickly became a fan favorite.

• Larry David (Himself) – The show's idiosyncratic, tactless and curmudgeonly protagonist, Larry David is a semi-retired television writer and producer. Born and raised in New York, he is the only child of Nat and Adele David. He is Jewish, although he is not observant and is willing to betray his heritage when it suits him. He gained massive success with the sitcom Seinfeld. Having made a fortune off of the show, Larry now works only occasionally. Stubborn and self-centered, Larry frequently flouts social conventions which he perceives as pointless, inconvenient or nonsensical. At the same time, however, he openly rebukes friends, acquaintances and complete strangers for their failure to adhere to his self-imposed (and often equally nonsensical) social rules. Larry often becomes obsessed with minute, insignificant details of others' behavior, and is seemingly unable to let any grievance, annoyance, or inappropriate remark go unexpressed. Larry is often reluctant to apologize to people he has offended, firmly believing himself to be in the right, and frequently going to extreme lengths to prove the righteousness of his beliefs and actions. When he does apologize, however, he usually only does so because he needs something from the person in question, and he is often more self-defensive than truly apologetic. All this aside, however, Larry is generally well-intentioned, and is oftentimes simply a victim of circumstance, finding himself at the center of complex misunderstandings, or falling victim to others' selfishness and/or stupidity. He is even at times celebrated by those around him for his candor and his willingness to call others out for their hypocrisy.

• Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin) – Jeff is Larry's manager and best friend. He is married to Susie Greene (Essman), with whom he has a daughter, Sammi (Ashly Holloway). Jeff and Susie have an ultimately loving but tumultuous marriage, due in large part to Jeff's frequent extramarital affairs, as well as Susie's incessant criticism of Jeff, most often in regards to his weight. Jeff often recruits Larry in his efforts to cover up his affairs from Susie, although these efforts usually fall apart and are quickly discovered by Susie. Jeff Garlin has stated that he does not empathize with his character at all[9] and described him as a "pretty evil guy" who has "no morals, no scruples".[10]

• Cheryl David (Cheryl Hines) – Cheryl is Larry's long-suffering wife (and later, ex-wife). Patient, friendly and generally easygoing, she serves as a comic foil to the stubborn and nit-picky Larry, and often serves as a voice of reason. She is nominally an actress, although she is not shown working for most of the series. She is very environmentally conscious, and devotes a great deal of her time and money to charitable causes, particularly the NRDC. Unlike Larry, Cheryl is outgoing, enjoys most social functions, and is the primary agent in maintaining many of the couple's friendships. Cheryl is also the driving force behind many of Larry's apologies. While she feels a deep affection for Larry and often shows a near super-human patience with his various foibles, she has her limits, particularly with his obsession over minute, unimportant details. She is finally pushed to her breaking point in the season 6 episode "The TiVo Guy" when, onboard a flight experiencing severe turbulence, she calls Larry to tell him she loves him. To her shock and anger, Larry pays no attention to what is ostensibly his wife's final goodbye, and instead berates her with questions about their DVR. In the wake of the incident, Cheryl leaves Larry. They briefly reunite at the end of season 7, before Cheryl is once again driven away by Larry's obsession over minor details, in particular, a stain left by Cheryl's coffee cup on Larry's table. They finalize their divorce at the start of season 8. In season 10, Cheryl begins dating Larry's friend Ted Danson. Prior to this, she and Ted shared a close, platonic friendship, one of which Larry was always suspicious.

• Susie Greene (Susie Essman) – Jeff's shrill and overbearing wife, known for her explosive temper and her filthy mouth. Her interactions with Larry often begin friendly and quickly degrade into vicious arguments that occasionally border on physical violence. Shrewd and perpetually suspicious of both Jeff and Larry, Susie is often the first to uncover Larry and Jeff's schemes and wrongdoings and will often rebuke them with profanity laced tirades. Susie and Jeff have an "on-again, off-again" relationship. She often uses Larry as a scapegoat for her marital problems. She is known to refer to Larry as "Larry Fucking David", "Bald Asshole", and "Four-Eyed Fuck," and when he crosses her, she is known to respond "Fuck you, Larry David!" Her most common epithet for her husband is "You fat piece of shit!" She often defends traditional moral standards, such as the sanctity of marital vows and fealty to hearth and home, at times against her husband, at others against Larry, and usually against both. Susie Essman was upgraded from guest star billing to main cast billing beginning with season 8.

• Leon Black (J. B. Smoove) – Larry's friend and, later, housemate. He is the brother of Loretta Black, a single mother whose New Orleans home was destroyed by Hurricane Edna. When Larry and Cheryl take in Loretta and her family, Leon moves in, too, despite living in Los Angeles and thus having been unaffected by the Hurricane. When Loretta and her children finally move back to Louisiana, Leon stays behind. He and Larry develop an unlikely friendship, with Leon frequently offering Larry questionable advice on romance, business, and social interactions. Like Larry, Leon is blunt and often confrontational, although unlike Larry, his confrontations with others will end favorably for him. Leon first appears in the season 6 episode, "The Anonymous Donor". Smoove was upgraded from guest star billing to main cast billing beginning with season 9.

Among the show's many recurring roles, Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, and Wanda Sykes play fictionalized versions of themselves as old friends of Larry with whom he frequently butts heads. Shelley Berman played Larry's father, Nat David. Bob Einstein frequently appeared as Marty Funkhouser, another of Larry's oldest friends. Kaitlin Olson recurred as Becky, Cheryl's sister. In seasons 6 and 7, Vivica A. Fox appears as Loretta Black, a member of the Black family, a family of hurricane evacuees who take refuge in Larry's house upon Cheryl's invitation. Loretta eventually becomes Larry's primary love interest for a time once he and Cheryl split up. Saverio Guerra plays Mocha Joe who first appeared in season 7 and returned as Larry's nemesis in season 10.

Celebrities, including actors, comedians, authors, musicians and athletes, often make guest appearances on the show, with a large portion of them playing themselves, or fictional versions thereof. Some of these guest stars who appear as fictionalized versions of themselves include Mary Steenburgen, Lin-Manuel Miranda, F. Murray Abraham, Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Michael York, Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Christian Slater, Martin Short, Jimmy Kimmel, Lucy Lawless, David Schwimmer, Shaquille O'Neal, Laverne Cox, Rosie O'Donnell, Philip Rosenthal, Josh Mankiewicz, Ricky Gervais, Michael J. Fox, Salman Rushdie, Elizabeth Banks, Christine Lahti, Hugh Hefner, Alanis Morissette, Chris Martin, Bill Buckner, Mookie Wilson, Jon Hamm, Clive Owen, Sean Penn, Jonah Hill, Mila Kunis, Colby Donaldson and the main cast of Seinfeld – Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, and Wayne Knight. Notable people who filled in fictional roles include Bea Arthur, Ed Asner, Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher, Stephen Colbert, Steve Coogan, Wayne Federman, Gina Gershon, Dustin Hoffman, Bobby Lee, Samantha Mathis, Tim Meadows, Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine O'Hara, Elisabeth Shue, Melissa McCarthy, Jane Krakowski, Chaz Bono, Vince Vaughn and Frank Whaley.

Curb Your Enthusiasm has received critical acclaim, praised particularly for its writing and the actors' improvisational comedy. The show has enjoyed largely positive critical reception since its debut and has outgrown its early "cult" status.

On Metacritic, the first season of the show scored 80 out of 100 (based on 20 reviews),[13] 93 for season 3 (based on 12 reviews),[14] 88 for season 4 (18 reviews),[15] 91 for season 5 (five reviews),[16] 89 for season 6 (nine reviews),[17] 81 for season 7 (18 reviews),[18] 86 for season 8 (six reviews),[19] 74 for season 9 (10 reviews)[20] and 78 for season 10 (5 reviews).[21]

Slate named the characters of Cheryl David and Susie Greene as two of the best on television and as reasons to look forward to the return of the show in the fall of 2007.[22] Curb Your Enthusiasm has also received praise from Galus Australis magazine for being even more unabashedly Jewish than the Seinfeld series.[23]

Of the show's depiction of Jewish characters, academic Vincent Brook stated, "Curb's commitment to Jewish identification greatly enhances its storytelling capacity, as it lends greater realism and dimension to the characters and opens the show up to episodes with meaningful Jewish themes."[24]

The character of Larry on the show is in many ways reminiscent of the Schlemiel character often present in traditional Yiddish folklore. The schlemiel is usually a comic character whose actions lead to his inevitable downfall, but also stands as a form of resistance to social and cultural values and norms. David Gillota wrote:

As a true schlemiel, Larry's failure serves as a direct challenge to the status quo and encourages viewers to question the myriad unwritten rules that we follow in our everyday lives. Whereas the schlemiel of Eastern Europe encountered problems that mostly affected Eastern European Jews (such as anti-Semitism and economic survival), Larry encounters problems that affect contemporary middle- to upper-class American Jews, namely, Jewish assimilation, secularism, intermarriage, and, as all of these suggest, the Jews' precarious ethnic identity in an increasingly multicultural environment.[25]

In 2016, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone ranked Curb Your Enthusiasm as the 19th greatest television series ever made.[26]

Journalist James Andrew Miller made the first chapter of his new podcast "Origins" about Curb Your Enthusiasm. The chapter goes across five episodes and was released on September 6, 2017. It documents the genesis of the series, and uses conversations with people involved in the show. The conversations themselves are also released.[27][28]

The series has received a total of 47 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning twice: Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for Robert B. Weide for "Krazee-Eyez Killa" in 2003, and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series for Steven Rasch for "Palestinian Chicken" in 2012. The series has received nine nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and holds the record for most nominations in the category without a win. Larry David has received six nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Cheryl Hines has received two nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Shelley Berman and Michael J. Fox have each received a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. The series has also received ten nominations for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.[29] The ninth season received four nominations at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Comedy Series, Larry David for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and Bryan Cranston and Lin-Manuel Miranda each for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[30] The tenth season was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, and the series received three further nominations in technical categories.[31]

The series has also received five Golden Globe Award nominations (in 2003 and 2006) and won for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2003. Larry David has been nominated for three Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2003, 2005, and 2006.[32] It has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards, two for Larry David and two for the ensemble cast.[33][34] It has been nominated six times for the Producers Guild of America Award, winning twice in 2003 and 2005.[35] It has been nominated for eleven Directors Guild of America Awards, winning twice for Bryan Gordon for "The Special Section" in 2003 and Robert B. Weide for "Palestinian Chicken" in 2012.[36] It has been nominated fives times for the Writers Guild of America Award, winning once in 2006.[37]

The first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm was released on VHS in a three-volume box set.[42]

Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons come in a two-disc DVD set with ten episodes.

A Curb Your Enthusiasm book was released October 19, 2006, published by Gotham Books. The book contains stories from Larry David's past, original interviews and commentary, episode outlines, episode guide, and over 100 full-color photographs. The contents of the book span the first five seasons of the show.[46]

The show is punctuated between scenes with music orchestrated by Wendell Yuponce and from a music library company called Killer Tracks.[47] Frequently heard are instrumental arrangements of the whimsical "Three Little Maids From School Are We" from The Mikado, and the rhythmic Gypsy dance "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" from Carmen. The opening and closing theme song (not mentioned in the credits) is "Frolic" by Italian composer Luciano Michelini. Larry David heard the music used in a bank commercial years before the show was created and thought it had a lighthearted, joyful quality.[48] An unofficial soundtrack was released by Mellowdrama Records in 2006.[49]