From “The Doll” to “Palestinian Chicken,” Curb Your Enthusiasm has delivered a ton of classic episodes in the more than two decades it’s been on the air. The best Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes make relatable observations about the mundane aspects of everyday life. They give Larry David a hilarious scene partner to bounce off of, like Chris Williams as Krazee-Eyez Killa or Michael J. Fox as himself. They dovetail their storylines for a brilliantly ironic payoff in the final scene.
“The Ski Lift” sees Larry impersonating an Orthodox Jew in a bid to secure a new kidney for Richard Lewis. “The Black Swan” sees Larry killing the beloved pet swan of his country club’s manager and doing everything in his power to silence the witnesses. From “Seinfeld” to “The Car Pool Lane,” these are the greatest episodes from Curb Your Enthusiasm’s entire run.
15 The Corpse Sniffing Dog
Season 3, Episode 7
Larry’s restaurant faces yet another setback in season 3, episode 7, “The Corpse Sniffing Dog,” when Jeff and Susie’s dog Oscar – a former police dog trained to sniff out dead bodies – finds something buried underneath the kitchen. It turns out to just be a bra, but Jeff has bigger problems: he’s allergic to Oscar, so he’ll either have to move out or find Oscar a new home. Larry sets out to find a new home for Oscar, but that, naturally, just creates more problems.
Sometimes, the sharpest Curb storylines are the simplest. “The Corpse Sniffing Dog” sees Larry taking Oscar back and forth between two houses, but gets plenty of laughs as he keeps disappointing people. By bringing the dog to the Braudys, he infuriates Susie; by taking him back, he infuriates the Braudys; and by bringing him home, he forces Jeff to move back out. This is a classic case of Larry trying to do something good and still turning everyone involved against him.
14 The Ski Lift
Season 5, Episode 8
In his bid to find Richard Lewis a new kidney, Larry befriends the head of a kidney consortium and invites him to join Cheryl, Jeff, and Susie on a skiing vacation in season 5’s “The Ski Lift.” Since the head of the kidney consortium and his daughter are Orthodox Jews, Larry has to pretend to be one, too, and Susie has to pose as his wife. “The Ski Lift” is a masterclass in improvisational comedy, because it allows Larry to play a character within a character, like when he impersonated a W.A.S.P. to gain membership at a conservative country club.
“The Ski Lift” has a ton of fun with the premise of Larry putting on an Orthodox facade and Susie begrudgingly pretending to be married to him. The episode culminates in Larry and the head of the kidney consortium’s daughter being stuck on a ski lift. It builds to a hysterical climactic sequence that sees the woman jumping from the ski lift, Larry eating a pair of edible underwear to survive, and Larry’s cell phone showing up inside Richard’s nurse’s “unusually large” vagina.
13 Meet The Blacks
Season 6, Episode 1
In the season 6 premiere, “Meet the Blacks,” Larry and Cheryl welcome the Black family into their home after they’re displaced by a hurricane. This episode introduced fan-favorite characters like Loretta and Auntie Rae, setting up a whole new dynamic in the David household, and brought back icons like Ted Danson and Marty Funkhouser for more classic disagreements with Larry. “Meet the Blacks” got season 6 off to a great start by succinctly setting up the season’s story arc and working as a terrific standalone episode in its own right.
There are a ton of great ideas in this episode, like showing up for a party on the wrong night as an excuse for not attending, which backfires every single time Larry tries it. There’s also the hilarious visual gag of Larry unwittingly eating an erotic cake. “Meet the Blacks” is a classic case of a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where every storyline lands and they all converge beautifully in the final twist.
12 The Group
Season 1, Episode 10
Curb Your Enthusiasm introduced its ability to wring dark laughs out of the most horrifying subject matter in its season 1 finale, “The Group.” Larry bumps into an ex-girlfriend who asks him to accompany her to a support group for incest survivors. At the meeting, Larry makes up a story about being sexually assaulted by his uncle. When that uncle comes to visit and the director of Cheryl’s production of The Vagina Monologues turns out to be another member of the group, calamity ensues.
This episode is full of shock laughs, but the premise of “The Group” isn’t just shock humor for the sake of shock humor; that premise paves the way for a ton of hilarious situations. There’s a great cut from Larry promising the Vagina Monologues director that he won’t break the group’s confidentiality to Larry telling Cheryl every single detail from the meeting to explain why he lied to her. “The Group” ends Curb’s first season on a huge laugh when the director meets Larry’s uncle and furiously berates him.
11 The Grand Opening
Season 3, Episode 10
The season 3 story arc of Larry investing in a new restaurant in L.A. comes to a head in the finale, “The Grand Opening.” The restaurant was plagued with disaster from the beginning, but it gets even more disastrous in the final days leading up to the opening. Larry fires their chef, breaks a famous critic’s thumbs, and the replacement chef has Tourette’s syndrome and screams curse words from the open kitchen.
“The Grand Opening” has arguably the greatest final scene of any Curb season finale. The episode hilariously pays off Larry’s pledge to show solidarity for someone the way Sammi’s classmates shaved their heads to show solidarity for a kid going through chemotherapy. When the chef curses up a storm and brings the packed restaurant to a stunned silence, Larry yells out his own sweary tirade, followed by Jeff and the other investors, and eventually Cheryl, Richard Lewis, and everyone else in the restaurant. The final shot of Larry proudly looking around the restaurant is comedy gold.
10 The Anonymous Donor
Season 6, Episode 2
Larry learns the virtues of anonymous philanthropy the hard way in season 6’s “The Anonymous Donor.” Larry donates a wing to the new NRDC building and gets a feeble round of applause when the wing is unveiled with his name on it. Then, a second wing is unveiled that was donated by “Anonymous” – who everyone knows is Ted Danson, because he kept his name off and told everybody about it – and it’s met with uproarious applause that puts Larry’s fanfare to shame. The show brilliantly uses Ted’s anonymity to highlight his bloated ego.
“The Anonymous Donor” marked a watershed moment in Curb Your Enthusiasm history. This was the first episode to feature Leon. J.B. Smoove brought a whole new energy to the show and shook up the dynamic with his electric on-screen chemistry with Larry, introduced in the hilarious scene in which Larry interrogates Leon about a mysterious stain on his bed.
9 Shaq
Season 2, Episode 8
Larry scores courtside seats at a Lakers game in season 2’s “Shaq,” and while stretching his legs, he accidentally trips and injures their star player, Shaquille O’Neal. Larry quickly becomes public enemy number one. Since he’s a Knicks fan, the Lakers fans think he tripped Shaq on purpose. He’s berated on the street, his name appears on an endless news cycle, and his office is flooded with angry calls.
The episode crosses over from a great Curb episode to an all-time classic when Larry realizes his public condemnation is a sort of superpower. Cheryl’s parents end their visit early, Larry’s acquaintances ask him not to follow through with favors he was dreading, and he finds he can do and say whatever he wants, because he can’t possibly sink any lower. This episode is full of iconic Curb moments, like Larry brazenly ordering “one of the vanilla bulls*** things” at a coffee shop.
8 The Black Swan
Season 7, Episode 7
The season 7 episode “The Black Swan” is essentially a Curb Your Enthusiasm whodunit. While trying to get his golf ball out of a water hazard, Larry is attacked by a black swan. He swings his club in self-defense and accidentally kills the swan, which turns out to be the prized pet of the club’s owner, Mr. Takahashi. Larry spends the rest of the episode trying to silence witnesses and avoid Mr. Takahashi’s accusatory glare.
“The Black Swan” is a prime example of intriguing setups building to unexpected payoffs. It was great to see Curb Your Enthusiasm apply its twisty storytelling style to an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. This episode established Larry’s rivalry with Mr. Takahashi, which has since become one of the show’s funniest running gags.
7 Larry Vs. Michael J. Fox
Season 8, Episode 10
Curb Your Enthusiasm’s New York-set eighth season saved its best episode for last. “Larry vs. Michael J. Fox” sees Larry butting heads with his new neighbor, Michael J. Fox. Fox’s cameo in Curb, satirizing his own affliction with Parkinson’s disease, is undeniable proof that comedy is the greatest weapon against adversity. Larry’s rivalry with Fox is full of great comedic premises, like “P*ssed or Parkinson’s?” and the shaken soda bottle, and it never feels like punching down because Fox has the moral high ground in every interaction with Larry.
This episode also has one of Curb’s funniest one-episode characters in Larry’s girlfriend’s hilariously flamboyant son, Greg. “Larry vs. Michael J. Fox” is full of classic Curb moments, like Larry teaching Greg how to make a swastika, Jeff taking a “bullet” for Susie, and Larry unwittingly doing “the violin sign” during Fox’s heartfelt speech. It was hilariously fitting for Curb’s New York season to end with Mayor Bloomberg kicking Larry out of the city.
6 The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial
Season 6, Episode 3
One of the joys of watching Curb Your Enthusiasm is seeing Larry cross all kinds of lines with despicable behavior and then cringing as he faces the consequences of those decisions. In the season 6 episode “The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial,” Larry does one of the worst things he’s done in the whole show. He needs flowers to apologize to Cheryl and a school admissions director he had an altercation with, and the florist won’t take his money, so he steals flowers from the roadside memorial site dedicated to Funkhouser’s late mother.
“The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial” has some of Curb’s most excruciatingly funny scenes, like Funkhouser stopping by Larry’s house to complain about the stolen flowers and slowly realizing Larry is the one who stole them. The late, great Bob Einstein was always the best “straight man” opposite Larry, and he nailed the painful awkwardness of this situation. The episode also has some relatable observations about mundane everyday things, like “sample abusers.”
5 Krazee-Eyez Killa
Season 3, Episode 8
At Wanda’s engagement party, Larry strikes up a friendship with her fiancé, a popular rapper, in the season 3 episode “Krazee-Eyez Killa.” Larry learns that Krazee-Eyez frequently cheats on Wanda and accidentally lets that secret slip in front of Cheryl, who instantly makes plans to tell Wanda. Based on the violent imagery of Krazee-Eyez’s lyrics, Larry starts fearing for his life.
Chris Williams became a Curb Your Enthusiasm icon within a single episode with his turn as Krazee-Eyez. His hilarious dynamic as Larry’s “Caucasian” is endlessly watchable. As a streetwise ladies’ man whose sensibility is the polar opposite of Larry’s, Krazee-Eyez was essentially a prototype for the Leon character.
4 The Car Pool Lane
Season 4, Episode 6
While he’s stuck in traffic on the way to a Dodgers game, Larry decides to pick up a sex worker named Monena, so he can use the carpool lane in the season 4 episode “The Car Pool Lane.” Kym Whitley is a hilarious scene partner for Larry in the role of Monena. Larry wants to keep everything on the down-low and go unnoticed, while Monena is completely shameless and outspoken. The dynamic between these two characters never gets old.
Not only is the central premise of “The Car Pool Lane” one of Curb’s best; the ancillary subplots around it are all hysterical, too. It’s fun to see Larry try to get out of jury duty, or attempt to talk a grieving Funkhouser into giving him his late father’s ticket. There are plenty of laughs in Larry trying to buy weed for his father’s glaucoma on the street, then smoking that weed with his dad and having a freakout in the bathroom mirror.
3 Seinfeld
Season 7, Episode 10
Larry managed to do a Seinfeld reunion without doing a Seinfeld reunion by bringing the cast back together for an in-universe reunion in Curb Your Enthusiasm season 7. As with all of Larry’s ventures, the Seinfeld reunion is a disaster from day one, and all the conflicts come to a head in the season finale, aptly titled “Seinfeld.” Larry’s plan to use the reunion to get back together with Cheryl backfires when she starts falling for Jason Alexander in the guise of a fictional version of Larry.
The season 7 finale is full of great moments, like Larry playing George Costanza and having a classic stare-down with Jerry Seinfeld. “Seinfeld” also marked the first appearance of Curb’s greatest villain, Mocha Joe, and kicked off his arc with one of his funniest – and most frustrating – clashes with Larry. To top it all off, the episode ends with the delightfully ludicrous twist that Larry finally gets Cheryl back and immediately turns her away again when he realizes she doesn’t “respect wood.”
2 The Doll
Season 2, Episode 7
In season 2’s “The Doll,” Larry threatens his deal with ABC when he meets the president’s daughter and offers to cut her Judy doll’s hair, without realizing she doesn’t know it won’t grow back. “The Doll” is a perfect example of Curb’s signature dovetailing. Larry’s failure to guard the bathroom for Cheryl, his medically required consumption of water, and his replacement of the Judy doll all come crashing together in the hysterical final scene.
Cheryl abandons her post out of revenge, leaving Larry alone in the bathroom, and he puts his water bottle in his pants for safekeeping. Then, when the president of ABC’s daughter comes in and thanks him with a hug, she’s horrified to find “something hard in his pants.” Of all the great punchlines that have ended Curb episodes, this is arguably the funniest (and most shocking).
1 Palestinian Chicken
Season 8, Episode 3
The greatest episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s entire run is season 8’s “Palestinian Chicken.” This episode hilariously reduces the historic conflict between Israel and Palestine to a chicken restaurant in Los Angeles. Larry and Jeff become obsessed with a new Palestinian chicken restaurant in L.A. in the lead-up to a big golf tournament. When an extramarital affair within their foursome threatens their chances in the tournament, Larry tries (and fails) to fix everything.
From Larry being cheered by the restaurant patrons for wrestling Funkhouser’s yarmulke off his head to having sex with a Palestinian woman who gets off on making antisemitic remarks in bed, “Palestinian Chicken” is a wonderfully absurdist satire of a serious subject. There are also plenty of classic Curb concepts peppered throughout the episode, like Larry’s short-lived career as a “social assassin” and the loose definition of the phrase “no matter what.” “Palestinian Chicken” is the perfect Curb Your Enthusiasm episode.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Cast
- Larry David , Jeff Garlin , Cheryl Hines , Susie Essman , J.B. Smoove
- Streaming Service(s)
- Max
