Larry’s obsession with a same-sex couple’s surnames in Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 5, “Fish Stuck,” calls back to an awkward storyline from way back in season 9. “Fish Stuck” sees Larry hiring a new lawyer, Christopher Mantle, because he shares his last name with Larry’s favorite baseball player, Mickey Mantle. However, Larry is dismayed to find that Christopher is giving up that legendary last name to take his husband’s last name, Zeckelman. Rather than keeping his thoughts to himself, Larry decides to interfere in the relationship.
This storyline brings in two of Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12’s biggest guest stars so far. Sean Hayes, best known as Jack from Will & Grace, plays Christopher Mantle, while Dan Levy, best known as David from Schitt’s Creek, plays his husband, Abe Zeckelman. Larry’s obsession with this couple’s marriage – and his unstoppable urge to make his opinions known – is similar to a different storyline from season 9 involving a lesbian couple in the midst of planning their wedding.
Larry Making Dan Levy & Sean Hayes’ Characters Argue Over Their Surnames Calls Back To A Season 9 Storyline
When Larry first meets with Christopher, he asks how he and his husband decided which of their last names they’d both take after getting married. When Abe confronts him about this at the temple, instead of just apologizing, Larry doubles down and continues to insist that Mantle would’ve been a better name to take than Zeckelman. Then, apropos of nothing, he starts trying to name their baby. Larry’s interference ends up causing a rift in the couple’s marriage that results in Christopher having to sleep in his office.
This is similar to a storyline from season 9, episode 1, “Foisted!,” in which Larry asked his barber Betty, played by Julie Goldman, how she and her fiancée Numa, played by Nasim Pedrad, decided who would be the “bride” in the lesbian wedding. Betty decided to be the bride, but Larry argued that Numa was more “bride-y” than Betty. It’s safe to say that Larry is pretty clueless about social graces when it comes to same-sex marriage.
Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12 Has Had Several Genius Callbacks To Old Storylines
David has filled Curb Your Enthusiasm’s final season with clever callbacks to old storylines from the show’s history. In his interview with Willie Geist, Larry retconned Hurricane Edna to be the real-life Hurricane Katrina. Ted’s anonymous donation of a brick at the temple calls back to his anonymous donation of a wing at the NRDC building in season 6, episode 2, “The Anonymous Donor.” Larry’s arrest and subsequent trial are a grand callback to a storyline that predates Curb Your Enthusiasm: the notorious Seinfeld finale.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is a Comedy television show created by Larry David, the same creative mind behind the wildly popular sitcom, Seinfeld. Starring Larry David himself, along with Cheryl Hines, and Jeff Garlin, the show acts as a semi-fictionalized look at Larry’s every day life and the people he would come in contact with.
- Cast
- Larry David , Jeff Garlin , Cheryl Hines , Susie Essman , J.B. Smoove
- Streaming Service(s)
- Max
