Curb Your Enthusiasm’s brilliance is that it reveals our own inner Larry Davids. It’s wish fulfillment for the petty, vengeful, self-righteous instincts we suppress in order to function in society. But how funny is Larry David, now that we’ve all become Larry Davids?
Two years ago, the show introduced one of its best ideas: the spite store. David, dissatisfied with his coffee at Mocha Joe’s, gets in a fight with the café owner, who eventually calls David an “old, bald nut.” David returns days later to announce, “I have leased the place next door, where I will be opening up a coffee shop exactly the same as yours, only charging much lower prices. All for the express purpose of taking you down.”
