Steve Buscemi’s Curb Your Enthusiasm Role Is A Hilarious Reminder Of Seinfeld’s Greatest Missed Casting Opportunity

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 8.

Steve Buscemi’s guest role in Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 8, “The Colostomy Bag” recalls a popular fancasting from Larry David’s last show, Seinfeld, which was sadly squandered. In “The Colostomy Bag,” Buscemi plays Mike DiCarlo, who’s trying to sell a vintage Mercedes to Richard Lewis. Lewis needs Larry’s sense of smell to detect any unfavorable scents, and he picks up on a hint of tobacco. Mike uses Larry’s assumption that he has a colostomy bag to guilt-trip him into buying the car in spite of the tobacco smell.

It was great to see Buscemi pop up in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Not only is Buscemi a gifted actor; he also has impressive comedic chops, which are on full display here. Buscemi has been attending Curb Your Enthusiasm premieres for years, so he’s clearly a friend of Larry David’s and a friend of the show. Buscemi’s appearance in Curb Your Enthusiasm’s latest episode is a fun reminder of a popular Seinfeld fancasting that never came to fruition. Before he played an on-screen role in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld fans wanted Buscemi to play an off-screen character in that show.

Steve Buscemi Was A Popular Fancasting For Seinfeld’s Unseen Bob Sacamano Character

Like fellow unseen sitcom characters Maris Crane and Debbie Wolowitz, Kramer’s friend Bob Sacamano was often mentioned but never actually appeared on-screen in Seinfeld. Whenever Kramer was having some off-screen antics, they often involved Bob Sacamano, but he was never seen. Jerry never met Bob Sacamano, even off-screen. Seinfeld fans have often speculated about who they would have liked to see play Bob Sacamano if he did appear in the show, and many people favored Steve Buscemi as someone who could play him based on his descriptions.

Why Steve Buscemi Doesn’t Play Himself In Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12

Most of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s high-profile guest stars play themselves. Just this season, Jimmy Kimmel, Stacey Abrams, Bruce Springsteen, Sienna Miller, Troy Kotsur, Willie Geist, Lori Loughlin, and Conan O’Brien have all played themselves. But some of Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12’s biggest guest stars, like Sean Hayes and Dan Levy, have played fictional characters separate from their own public persona. The show has never been 100% clear about where it draws the line at which someone is too famous to play someone other than themselves.

As a globally revered veteran movie star, Buscemi is famous enough that he could play himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm. But some of Curb’s most famous guest stars, from Dustin Hoffman to Vince Vaughn, have avoided playing themselves. Buscemi might be playing a fictional role because the story called for it: his character is supposed to be strapped for cash, which might not have been believable if he was playing himself as a famous actor. Plus, playing a fictional character allows guest stars to escape the trappings of self-parody and just bask in Curb’s awkward, improvised situations.