Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Larry David, who wrote "Seinfeld", has written and produced his own show on HBO for 6 seasons, "Curb Your Enthusiasm". The first time I watched this show I laughed so hard that tears poured down my face. I couldn't believe what I was seeing on TV! It was outrageous! The topics, the language, the silliness, the honesty! I was hooked in the first 10 minutes and I have seen every episode since that first one - and sometimes more than once!
The genius of Larry David is to take one of our society's unwritten rules and write a storyline that exposes the unnecessary rigidity of the rule. For instance last week a scene took place in a restaurant where Larry and Jason Alexander (no characters here; everybody plays themselves) have lunch together and then ask the waiter to split the bill. When the waiter returns to the table with the two bills - ostensibly the same bills - Larry leans over and quietly asks Jason what he is leaving for a tip. Jason says, "Larry, just leave whatever you want. You don't have to know what I am leaving." Larry replies, "Oh, come on, everybody figures out the tip together on a split bill because nobody wants to leave more or less than their friend." "No," replies Jason, "I'm not telling you. You'll just have to do what you think is right." "Oh come on. Everybody agrees on the tip together!" whines Larry. Jason continues to argue with Larry and finally gets up and hands his bill and some amount of cash to the waiter and walks out the door.
I was dying over this scene because I ALWAYS confer with my friends about the tip when we split the bills. I certainly don't want to look cheap nor do I want to overtip and have them look bad. So, of course, we agree on a fair tip that we will both leave and the waiter will not think poorly of either one of us. That's just the way to do it! But, Larry David has used this normal everyday practice to make a hilarious scene on his TV show.
There are many, many examples of Larry David's exposure of society's rules that are so true .How about the "rule" not to call your friends to chat after 9:30pm? How about the "rule" that you can't break up with someone who is terminally ill? How about the rule that you shouldn't let people know that you have re-gifted their present to you? How about the rule that you should thank both husband and wife if they give you a present even though only one may actually earn the money? How about the rule not to tell your friends that their child has no talent and shouldn't sing for company? Hopefully you get the idea...and will enjoy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as much as I do!
Real Estate Hint - Never sell your own house! Recently I went to a broker's open house to see a $1.6 million home that had just come on the market. The homeowner was a commercial realtor and his wife worked with him in his company. Therefore, they were able to list the house in the mulitiple listing service without hiring a residential realtor. Both the husband and wife were hosting the broker's open house. In fact, they were serving lunch for the brokers and trying to make it quite a festive occasion. In their enthusiasm to tell the brokers all about the house and show all the features that they had the builder construct for their personal enjoyment, they talked much too much and and the brokers couldn't wait to leave. Homeowners almost always talk too much about their own likes and dislikes and less about what makes the house salable for the prospective buyers. Realtors see hundreds of houses and need very little input from brokers and/or homeowners to discern the facts in order to show a property in its best light to prospective buyers.
The genius of Larry David is to take one of our society's unwritten rules and write a storyline that exposes the unnecessary rigidity of the rule. For instance last week a scene took place in a restaurant where Larry and Jason Alexander (no characters here; everybody plays themselves) have lunch together and then ask the waiter to split the bill. When the waiter returns to the table with the two bills - ostensibly the same bills - Larry leans over and quietly asks Jason what he is leaving for a tip. Jason says, "Larry, just leave whatever you want. You don't have to know what I am leaving." Larry replies, "Oh, come on, everybody figures out the tip together on a split bill because nobody wants to leave more or less than their friend." "No," replies Jason, "I'm not telling you. You'll just have to do what you think is right." "Oh come on. Everybody agrees on the tip together!" whines Larry. Jason continues to argue with Larry and finally gets up and hands his bill and some amount of cash to the waiter and walks out the door.
I was dying over this scene because I ALWAYS confer with my friends about the tip when we split the bills. I certainly don't want to look cheap nor do I want to overtip and have them look bad. So, of course, we agree on a fair tip that we will both leave and the waiter will not think poorly of either one of us. That's just the way to do it! But, Larry David has used this normal everyday practice to make a hilarious scene on his TV show.
There are many, many examples of Larry David's exposure of society's rules that are so true .How about the "rule" not to call your friends to chat after 9:30pm? How about the "rule" that you can't break up with someone who is terminally ill? How about the rule that you shouldn't let people know that you have re-gifted their present to you? How about the rule that you should thank both husband and wife if they give you a present even though only one may actually earn the money? How about the rule not to tell your friends that their child has no talent and shouldn't sing for company? Hopefully you get the idea...and will enjoy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as much as I do!
Real Estate Hint - Never sell your own house! Recently I went to a broker's open house to see a $1.6 million home that had just come on the market. The homeowner was a commercial realtor and his wife worked with him in his company. Therefore, they were able to list the house in the mulitiple listing service without hiring a residential realtor. Both the husband and wife were hosting the broker's open house. In fact, they were serving lunch for the brokers and trying to make it quite a festive occasion. In their enthusiasm to tell the brokers all about the house and show all the features that they had the builder construct for their personal enjoyment, they talked much too much and and the brokers couldn't wait to leave. Homeowners almost always talk too much about their own likes and dislikes and less about what makes the house salable for the prospective buyers. Realtors see hundreds of houses and need very little input from brokers and/or homeowners to discern the facts in order to show a property in its best light to prospective buyers.
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