From retconning characters to losing cast members, Curb Your Enthusiasm faced a lot of major changes over the years – and the Larry David sitcom reinvented itself every time. Curb Your Enthusiasm had to reinvent itself from its very first episode. The show started out as an hour-long special that wasn’t supposed to be the beginning of a series. When HBO expanded Curb Your Enthusiasm to a half-hour series, David had to retool some elements of the special, like Larry and Cheryl having kids, to make it work as a series.

Over the next 12 seasons, Curb Your Enthusiasm was constantly evolving. Susie was given a much smaller role in the early seasons, but that role was expanded when it became clear that she was one of the funniest characters. When Larry and Cheryl got divorced, the show suddenly had the opportunity for dating storylines and new love interests. After the passing of Bob Einstein, a different Funkhouser was brought in to fill the void. Curb Your Enthusiasm never settled into a formula, because its cast and its tone and its format were always changing.

10

Retconning Larry & Cheryl’s Kids

Larry’s Unseen Kids Were Removed For A Good Reason

When David conceived Curb Your Enthusiasm, it was never meant to be a series. It was originally just a half-hour comedy special with mockumentary vignettes in between footage of Larry’s standup sets. This special had a lot of the elements of what the series would become: Larry is married to Cheryl, his best friend and confidant is his manager Jeff, and all the dialogue is improvised from scene outlines.

But there’s one key difference: in the special, Larry and Cheryl have kids. David has kids, so this was closer to his real life, but when it came to expanding the special into a half-hour series, he made the crucial decision to retcon Larry and Cheryl to be a childless couple. This decision freed up the show’s storytelling, because it wasn’t required to explain where the kids were every week.

9

Giving Susie A Bigger Role

Jeff’s Wife Became Far More Prominent From Season 3 Onwards

In the first couple of seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Susie Essman didn’t have a huge role as Jeff’s wife, Susie Greene. She’s only in three episodes in season 1 and two episodes in season 2. But starting from season 3, when it had become clear that she was one of the funniest parts of the show, she started being featured in nearly every episode. Season 2, episode 7, “The Doll,” unlocked the perfect way for the series to utilize Susie.

When Larry and Jeff stole the head from Sammi’s doll, Susie furiously confronted them. This scene established that Susie is extremely volatile, and that Larry and Jeff live in fear of her. Susie’s screaming matches with Larry are one of the best running gags in the show, and it wouldn’t be as great without them.

8

Larry’s First Show-Within-A-Show

Larry’s In-Universe Productions Made For Perfect Meta Comedy

In the second season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry is reunited with Seinfeld star Jason Alexander and they start developing a new sitcom about a TV actor who can’t escape the role that made him famous. After a disagreement with Jason, Larry retools the show as a vehicle for Julia Louis-Dreyfus. This storyline introduced one of the key elements of the series’ meta humor: the show-within-a-show.

David’s fictional life in Curb Your Enthusiasm allowed him to explore ideas for various projects without having to actually commit to them. In season 4, he starred in The Producers on Broadway. In season 7, he reassembled the Seinfeld cast for an in-universe reunion show. In season 9, he wrote a musical comedy about Salman Rushdie’s death sentence. In season 11, he developed an autobiographical series called Young Larry.

7

Larry Invests In A Restaurant

Larry’s Season 3 Business Decision Led To Comedic Disasters

While the sitcom development in season 2 was technically a serialized story arc that stretched from the premiere to the finale, the season was still mostly made up of standalone episodes. The first proper season arc would arrive in season 3 when Larry, Jeff, and Ted Danson all invested in a new L.A. restaurant that turned out to be fraught with disaster. From losing chef after chef to opening a police investigation in the kitchen, the restaurant storyline opened up all kinds of comedic possibilities.

Every season after season 3 would have a similar serialized story arc. Season 6 sees Larry taking in a family left homeless by a Katrina-sized hurricane. Season 8 sees Larry taking a months-long trip to New York to avoid one day of charity work. Season 10 sees Larry opening up a “spite store” next door to Mocha Joe’s café.

6

The Introduction Of Marty Funkhouser

Season 4 Saw The Debut Of One Of Curb’s Most Popular Supporting Characters

In season 4, David introduced a new recurring character into his fictional alter ego’s social circle: Martin Norton Funkhouser. Bob Einstein fit the grounded absurdity of Curb perfectly, and proved to be the ultimate deadpan foil for David. While none of Larry’s friends are particularly amused by his antics (except maybe Jeff), none of them are as thoroughly unimpressed by his misadventures as Funkhouser.

Whether Larry snatched Funkhouser’s yarmulke off his head or left his anniversary party early to use the bathroom or stole flowers from his dead mother’s memorial site, Einstein was there with the perfect ice-cold glare. He had an amazing ability to be unceasingly hilarious just by committing to the reality of each ridiculous situation. Once Funkhouser joined the cast of Curb Your Enthusiasm, it was hard to imagine the show without him.

5

The Introduction Of Leon Black

Larry’s Unwanted Guest Outstayed His Welcome From Season 6 On

Another new character who totally changed Curb Your Enthusiasm for the better is Leon Black. Leon moved into the David household after his family was displaced by a hurricane and Larry and Cheryl opened their home to them. But Leon wasn’t affected by the hurricane; he already lived in L.A. and just wanted a free room in a nice house. He ended up being such a priceless addition to the show that he remained in Larry’s guest room for the rest of the series – and the longer he stayed with Larry rent-free, the funnier it got.

Everyone in Curb Your Enthusiasm is a great improviser, but J.B. Smoove just might be the best improviser of all of them. He could take a scene in five hysterical new directions in the space of a minute. There are two eras of Curb Your Enthusiasm: pre-Leon and post-Leon.

4

Larry & Cheryl’s Divorce

Season 6’s Heartbreak Unlocked New Storylines For Larry David

The character dynamics of Curb Your Enthusiasm changed drastically after Cheryl left Larry in season 6. Since the very beginning of the series, and even in the original special, Larry had been married to Cheryl. Not only did the divorce open up the series to explore new romantic interests and dating storylines; it also let Larry off the leash to become an even more misanthropic social wrecking ball.

Cheryl grounded Larry in the early seasons, but after she divorced him, there was no one keeping him in check – and no one in his corner to defend him. The divorce bumped Cheryl Hines out of the main cast and into the recurring supporting cast, but it paved the way for some great storylines. Without Larry and Cheryl’s divorce, Tracey Ullman would’ve never graced the show with her hilarious turn as Irma Kostroski.

3

The Long Hiatus Between Curb Your Enthusiasm

The Gap Between Seasons 8 & 9 Led To Greater Hype

Between seasons 8 and 9, Curb Your Enthusiasm was off the air for six long years. During that hiatus, it was uncertain if Curb would ever come back for new episodes. In the interim, David worked on a few other projects: he played Sister Mary-Mengele in the movie reboot of The Three Stooges in 2012, he co-wrote and starred in the made-for-TV comedy movie Clear History in 2013, and he wrote and starred in the Broadway play Fish in the Dark in 2015.

Eventually, in 2017, David returned for a ninth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. There’s a subtle but distinctive tonal shift between the earlier seasons and the post-hiatus seasons. Seasons 9 to 12 left behind the grounded tone of the previous seasons and focused more on cartoonish concepts and slapstick humor. It was still just as funny, but it was slightly different.

2

Cheryl Starts Dating Ted Danson

Season 9 Saw The Introduction Of A Great Villain Dynamic

In season 9, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen got a divorce (which was made up for the show; they’re still together in real life) and Ted asked Larry if it would be okay for him to ask out Cheryl. Larry said it wasn’t okay, but Ted went ahead and asked her out anyway, and that relationship ended up lasting until the end of the series. This love triangle ratcheted up the tension between Larry and Ted.

Larry and Ted were never on particularly good terms – they were always characterized as friends who kind of hated each other – but Ted’s relationship with Cheryl turned them from frenemies into full-blown enemies. It meant that Larry and Ted’s interactions were no longer just passive-aggressive; they were 100% aggressive. This felt like a natural progression for their forever-strained relationship.

1

The Introduction Of Freddy Funkhouser

David Filled A Tragic Void In Season 10

Einstein sadly passed away between seasons 9 and 10, leaving a huge void in the cast of Curb Your Enthusiasm. No one could replace the unique energy that Einstein brought to the show, but David brought in a new Funkhouser who brought his own unique energy to Curb. David recruited Vince Vaughn to join the cast as Freddy Funkhouser, Marty’s half-brother – another puzzle piece in the increasingly complex Funkhouser family tree – and he ended up being an invaluable addition to the ensemble.

Vaughn’s breezy, laidback, confident comedic persona marked a stark contrast with the neurosis and cynicism of Larry and co. He brought a refreshing lightheartedness to the ensemble scenes and knocked it out of the park whenever he took center stage. From his attempts to quash his uncle’s porn addiction to his fake bad dream about terrible parenting, Vaughn gave Curb Your Enthusiasm some of its funniest moments.