Beloved Aunt

If you are naming the funniest comedic episodes in television history and this episode is not on your list, your list is not worth reading. This is the episode, with all its comedic tricks, that convinced me that Larry David was the genius behind Seinfeld and Jerry was just the main character. It has all of the earmarks of a classic Seinfeld episode, but "unplugged" if you will by the freedom of HBO. The first time I watched this episode I cried with laughter. Every move Larry makes to appease his in-laws or fulfill his social duties for a relative of his wife that he obviously didn't know or cared nothing for is either inappropriate or blows up in his face in hilarious ways. Just a great, great episode -- up there with "The Contest" from Seinfeld, "The Dinner Party" from The Office, or "The Garage Sale" from That 70s Show. A masterpiece from a very warped comedic mind.

... And her family needs to look up the word "mistake" in the dictionary.

Cheryl's aunt has died, and so Cheryl's entire family is hanging around Larry's house. Larry tries to make the best of an uncomfortable situation. He offers to write the obituary and have it published in the newspaper so the grieving family doesn't have to bother with it. At the funeral the boyfriend of Cheryl's sister asks Larry how to handle a breakup with her since he was just about to break up with her when the death occurred. Larry gives advice but asks not to be quoted on it. Finally, the only time he is able to break away from all of this forced togetherness is to do another good deed - Bring Jeff's mother a birthday present.

So this is an episode where Larry is not being a jerk and is doing good and unselfish things, and yet everything falls apart for him in a hilarious way, starting with a misprint in the obituary that Larry wrote having Cheryl's entire family mad at Larry, and Cheryl kicking him out of the house because of it! Things go wrong at Jeff's house too, and as a result Larry is looking at homelessness that night.

This is the kind of episode that I find funny enough when I watch it, but thinking about it later it becomes hilarious in retrospect.

It's my first time seeing this show and I feel like every episode I watch improves on the last. Sometimes the situations Larry gets in can be a little contrived but it's all for the sake of a good joke, and I haven't felt like something "hasn't worked" yet. Well this episode fires on every cylinder in the realm of humor cohesion. From the get-go he is adjusting the room temperature at the memorial for Cheryl's aunt, and the way it's filmed and edited is just perfect. I actually think this show hits the ground running as far as a first season; I've only seen select clips from future episodes so I can't speak to how much stronger they are than this beginning, but as far as first seasons go I think CURB is winning.