If you've been around comedy series long enough, you'll know it takes a certain kind of indulgence to get into the rhythm of the thing, to the point where the plot often becomes too convoluted or too particular (if the series takes place in a specific field for example). The thing about Larry David and his humor is that anybody, from any culture or background, could understand at least what the main point of the episode is, and understand what the humor is conveying. It doesn't necessarily cater to the American, upper middle class, L.A./N.Y. crowd, which is what we see of most onscreen. It's just so easy to watch, and so intuitive it requires little effort to fully immerse into an episode. The character Larry lives the fancy life of a successful wealthy old guy, but he doesn't behave like one, which shatters the boundaries of social class and even culture. He sees everything from his own personal point of view, and will contest anything and everything he deems unfair, whether christian or jewish, black or white, rich or poor, handicapped or able-bodied, male or female.
Now, that premise alone of the ever-critical New York Jew with little regard for sensitivities is indeed funny, but wouldn't fill out 10 full seasons in any substantial enough way. Larry David merely sets the tone of the show, but doesn't flesh it out. The magic in the series happens with the writing, and particularly the interconnected structure of each episode. We'll be shown something at the start of each story, we'll then be shown a couple more seemingly innocuous and independent events, but our attention is focused so much on the present disasters we're shown we'll forget about those earlier occurrences, which somehow come back to connect with the other subplots, with each episode being a climactic converging of all those brewing catastrophes. And it's not just each individual episode that works that way, but the full season. And there's always a subtle yet unconventional moral at the end, some kind of ironic twist of fate.
Never at any point does the series look like it's out of breath, as Larry David continues with his perfect 100% record from Seinfeld to this latest CYE season 10. As everything it could be criticized, loathed even, but it is at least consistent with what it does. Times change, but Larry David's character and humor, and virtuosity at his craft, remain.
Now, that premise alone of the ever-critical New York Jew with little regard for sensitivities is indeed funny, but wouldn't fill out 10 full seasons in any substantial enough way. Larry David merely sets the tone of the show, but doesn't flesh it out. The magic in the series happens with the writing, and particularly the interconnected structure of each episode. We'll be shown something at the start of each story, we'll then be shown a couple more seemingly innocuous and independent events, but our attention is focused so much on the present disasters we're shown we'll forget about those earlier occurrences, which somehow come back to connect with the other subplots, with each episode being a climactic converging of all those brewing catastrophes. And it's not just each individual episode that works that way, but the full season. And there's always a subtle yet unconventional moral at the end, some kind of ironic twist of fate.
Never at any point does the series look like it's out of breath, as Larry David continues with his perfect 100% record from Seinfeld to this latest CYE season 10. As everything it could be criticized, loathed even, but it is at least consistent with what it does. Times change, but Larry David's character and humor, and virtuosity at his craft, remain.