What I’m Watching: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 11, Episode 3 “The Mini Bar” (B+)

I like that this show feels predictable at times but still manages to chart an interesting course to get there, like with the hot dog eating contest, which I knew was going to be a mistake but didn’t take up too much attention. Since I haven’t consistently watched this show’s past ten seasons, I never know if we’re supposed to have seen someone before or not. I remembered Vince Vaughn’s Freddy but not Richard Kind’s Cousin Andy, and it looks like this actually was the first appearance for Patton Oswalt’s Harry. None of them had particularly hilarious material but instead served as the straight men for bits featuring others, like Andy and Cassie not being suitable middles for dinner table conversation and Larry’s extreme overenthusiasm for the mini bar stocking, which didn’t impress Freddy or his associates in any way. Of course Larry would be someone who slams the door without realizing it and then makes a big deal when people notice, and he used the “stage four cancer advice” to get Jeff to convince Marcos to pull Maria Sofia out of acting to do social media for his breakfast burrito idea. That didn’t work since Elon Gold’s head of Hulu went ahead and called Maria Sofia and Marcos directly to beg them to stick with the pilot. I loved watching Cheryl react to all of the absurdity Larry already knew existed, with her emotionless “no” responses to Cassie’s deathly boring questions and her bewilderment at Maria Sofia’s truly horrific acting.