The Freak Book (or what not to do at a party)
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- October
- 8
I can’t really put all the blame on Larry, to be fair. It wasn’t like he invited that grieving family into his limo. And if McEnroe had just stayed put and read the Freak Book like he was supposed to, they never would have gotten in. Larry would have switched burial plots and everything would have been fine.
See, it could happen to anybody.
But so go the days of Larry David. “The Freak Book” had fewer laughs than the first two episodes of this sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, in my opinion. But it was pretty tight from beginning to end, and I found myself locked in on the unfolding sequence of events. Sure there were familiar themes this show has gone over before: limousines, wheelchairs and concerts. But the awkwardness of stranding a grieving family by the side of the road because your tennis legend is late for a show, that’s a new concept. Pretty, pretty new.
We start with Larry poring over a coffee table book about freaks, medical marvels and ghastly unfortunates. Who doesn’t love one of those? Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, that’s who. But guys tend to do that, pick out gifts they’d want for themselves. And Larry’s a giving guy. Why else would he invite his driver into Ted and Mary’s party? He was a driver; he knows how it is. And he couldn’t know the guy would get liquored up and grope the lady of the house.
So Larry, minutes removed from championing the plight of bow-tied bartenders everywhere, is tossed out on his ear. But his driver can’t drive the Davids home in his condition, so Larry takes the wheel—and ultimately the limousine itself for a few days. Charlie the limo driver’s got an angry, wheelchair-bound wife and a sick father-in-law at home. It’s no wonder he drinks.
Meanwhile, Cheryl’s got their burial plots all, well, plotted out. Jeff and Mary are the bookends, and Larry and Ted are side-by-side in the middle. (You’d think they’d just go boy-girl-boy-girl, right? Anyway…) But after Ted ousted him from his soiree, Larry doesn’t want to spend eternity next to the guy. When Susie says she doesn’t want him next to her and no one else will switch, Larry finds himself in the market for a new burial plot.
It would be pretty smooth sailing from there, but Charlie’s got some limo-driving to do and Larry’s got his car. Good thing Larry was getting suited up for the Paul McCartney concert at the Staples Center. He’s a bowtie away from looking like a real driver. And that’s just what Charlie needs him to be. John McEnroe needs a ride from LAX to the McCartney show.
When Larry started making conversation with a clearly uninterested Mac, it was about the funniest couple of minutes of TV I’ve seen in a while. “Do you like gardening?” “How often do you **** *** with your wife? I go about once a week.” “Have you ever played ping pong?”
I was pretty sure McEnroe was going to put a racket upside his head if he didn’t shut up, but Larry reeled tennis’s bad boy into the conversation. They’re best pals by the end of the night. That is, until they lose it over the Freak Book at the McCartney pre-party. Oh by the way, Cheryl had mentioned that McCartney and Heather Mills might be getting back together and that Mills might join him on-stage that night.
You just can’t yell “Freak!” when there’s a candidate for the book right there in the room and she happens to be the headliners’ ex-wife.
To top it off, Charlie’s father-in-law died, and the family can’t even afford to bury him. Luckily, Larry’s in a position to help them out.
I don’t know how he’s going to explain that to Cheryl.
This entry was posted
on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 9:14 pm by Brian Howard.
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