# Jewish Americans: Are you offended by "Curb Your Enthusiasm".
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 11, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293 "2006-04-11T23:02:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/1 "2006-04-11T23:02:46Z")
Inspired by [Philster’s post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=366904).
Same question to my fellow MoT’s but with respect to Larry David and his schtick.
I know that I personally can’t watch him or his angst filled and annoying bit. I get physically uncomfortable trying to watch it for any length of time and have not sat through a single episode. He reminds me of some of the people I went to highschool with and grew up around.
Maybe I am a self hating Jew. ;j
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/2 "2006-04-11T23:29:36Z")
I think it’s one of the best shows EVAH. He’s hilarious and I can’t imagine why a Jew would be offended. I’m so bummed that I had to give up HBO. I’m missing a shitload of stuff that I used to love to watch. _Curb_ is quite possibly at the top of the list.
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### Author:  [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/3 "2006-04-11T23:39:39Z")
I’m not Jewish (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) but I love Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s great. It’s what Seinfeld woulda been if they had an R rating.
One can only imagine if Jerry and Larry could only get their show on HBO to begin with…_audible sigh_.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/4 "2006-04-12T00:19:37Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/5 "2006-04-12T01:01:57Z")
I can’t watch CYE very frequently either because it;s too horrible, but any Jew who finds it offensive should get over himself. For one thing, Larry’s many, many faults are not generally Jewish stereotypes. Sure, he’s chiselling, but the outbursts of temper and the irrational adherence to societal rules that only he understands is just him being an asshole, not a stereotype. Unless you’re saying that Jews should be offended when any Jewish person plays a clown. And that’s laughable.
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/6 "2006-04-12T01:28:28Z")
It offends me in that the situations are excessively contrived and repetitive. That the main character is Jewish doesn’t matter in the least.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/7 "2006-04-12T02:15:01Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Inspired by [Philster’s post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=366904).
> I get physically uncomfortable trying to watch it for any length of time
Who doesn’t? It is excruciating, and that’s why we love it. Too bad you can’t watch an ep 'til the end – that’s always the best part.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/8 "2006-04-12T02:47:09Z")
Offended? I love the show and so does my 68 year old Jewish mother.
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/9 "2006-04-12T02:50:21Z")
I hate the show, I don’t find it funny at all. I also hate Seinfeld. That type of humor doesn’t interest me; my whole life is a series of conversations with quirky, pompous people, and I’ve become thoroughly immune to humor involving it. I need something really shocking and over-the-edge to make me laugh (I think Freddy Got Fingered is one of the best comedies of the last 10 years…this should give you a good idea of what does make me laugh.)
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/10 "2006-04-12T03:05:22Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Maybe I am a self hating Jew. ;j
Wow, you must really hate South Park then.
A lot of comedy-hating going on lately, it seems. First Office Space, now CYE?
To all the haters: if you don’t think CYE is funny, what the heck _do_ you think is funny? We have one vote, from **Argent Towers** , for… Freddy Got Fingered.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/11 "2006-04-12T04:20:15Z")
My Jewish family loves it. Larry David the character is an asshole who happens to be Jewish, not a stereotype.
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### Author:  [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/12 "2006-04-12T04:39:09Z")
Freddy Got Fingered? Are you kidding me?
Well, to each their own…
Whoever DOESN’T like Curb Your Enthusiasm, what do you think is funny, then?
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### Author:  [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/13 "2006-04-12T11:34:31Z")
I don’t like curb. It has some funny bits, but the general mood is WAY too gloomy for me. I think I would find it funnier if the stuff happened to some young guy, instead of an old, bald, sad guy.
What I like about it is that it attempts to show the subtle humour in everyday conversation, which I love, and few shows do. Seinfeld did this brilliantly, without the sadness. Woody Allen did this brilliantly when he was at his best, as in Annie Hall.
I have the same problems with the office. I like the minor conversations, but all the embarrasing stuff is not my cup of tea.
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/14 "2006-04-12T11:42:03Z")
I just finished the final series last night.
It is one of the best comedy series I’ve ever seen. Easily up there with The Office etc.
Spoiler for the last episode in the final series I loved when he thought he was a gentile and he went all Christian and happy only to find out on the way to the operating theatre that he was really a Jew. His reaction and attempt to get out of the OP are hilarious
The depiction of him bluffing Yiddish with a orthodox Jew is sidesplittingly funny.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/15 "2006-04-12T12:25:34Z")
IANAJ, but I have had many Jewish friends and acquaintances, and any group portrayal in pop culture interests me. To me, _CYE_ seems to me to be dancing around Jewishness in a way they probably don’t want pinned down. Like _Seinfeld,_ there are Jewish actors, accents, signifiers, in-jokes, but they use it–they don’t use it–meh–nyeh–etc.
BTW, I don’t like the show. It doesn’t make me laugh. Larry David is ultimately a contrived character, a _putz ex machina._ His reactions to any situation, and others’ to him, follow too similar a pattern. Maybe there’s some dark philosophical point to that, but it’s not yuks to me. Although I have to admit, I do kinda like the dumb fuck.
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### Author:  [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/16 "2006-04-12T13:56:42Z")
He’s George Costanza.
I think that if you’re looking for a roommate, they (the paper) should ask what kind of personality you’re looking for. a Seinfeld or Friends character.
I think there’d be a bear market for Kramers.
Georges happen. Nobody wants to live with a Costanza.
There’s a new thread in here somewhere.
Anywhoot, I find it impossible to not love Larry David. He just can’t leave anything alone. Obviously, you see it coming and you end up talking to the tv and telling Larry to just go on his own way…and to let it go…but he never does.
My mother is the same way. Never lets anything go. We pick on her mercilessly.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/17 "2006-04-12T14:00:00Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#):
>
> BTW, I don’t like the show. It doesn’t make me laugh. Larry David is ultimately a contrived character, a _putz ex machina._ His reactions to any situation, and others’ to him, follow too similar a pattern. Maybe there’s some dark philosophical point to that, but it’s not yuks to me. Although I have to admit, I do kinda like the dumb fuck.
I saw a piece on 60 Minutes or somewhere. Actually, the character isn’t contrived at all. His friends/associates say he’s pretty much “that guy” in real life.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-americans-are-you-offended-by-curb-your-enthusiasm/352293/18 "2006-04-12T14:01:42Z")
My Wife is Jewish and she liked the show.
I’m Italian and I can’t stand it.
I has nothing to do with being offended, I got tired of Seinfeld bacause George got too annoying, so a show based on the “Real” George is too much for me.
He annoys me immediately. 😃
Jim {not a ;j }