Last month my brother visited and, with cult-like pleasure, we enjoyed several episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the HBO comedy series about to enter its seventh season.Although our political viewpoints are totally opposite, I think Larry David, who stars in Curb and previously co-created Seinfeld, is a comedy genius.
WHY AM I DOING THIS?
Some years ago, while asembling a wooden cabinet, I had a disastrous experience. I got too cocky and made a mistake that caused the partially-built cabinet to collapse "like a house of cards". It was deeply disturbing at the time, but is hilarious in retrospect.
That experience inspired me to write a story concept where Larry David, who portrays himself in Curb as a clutz when it comes to manual skills, is shamed into tackling a do-it-yourself project. In my story idea he, in his inept way, ends up doing a better job than an expert cabinet maker.
Since Larry David does not accept story ideas from the general public, my story outline has mouldered away on a computer disk in my closet somewhere. After my brother's visit, I decided to resurrect the story idea and "free" it on the Internet.
HERE ARE THE LINKS
Football fans play "Fantasy Football", so why can't sitcom fans play "Fantasy Episodes" of their favorite series? I've started a new blog devoted to "Curb Your Enthusaism - Fantasy Episodes". Read the Welcome posting and the first Fantasy Episode DIY Larry.
The seventh season of Curb starts on HBO on this month (20 Sep). Here are some short highlight clips of past seasons of Curb and a tickler for the new season as well as a trailer for a new Woody Allen movie staring Larry David.
Enjoy!
Ira Glickstein
3 comments:
Thanks, Ira. I watched the clips of Larry David. It's funny, he sounds just like a cross between Seinfeld and Woody Allen. I'm also interested in your comedy skits web site. I was in a similar position of having a spoof that I wrote and tried to get to Saturday Night Live. I understand their legal problem , but gave it a shot anyhow. I don't know where I put the script, but I remember that it involved Hillary, Bill at a bar with sumo entertainment. Hillary isn't interested until one of the Sumotori dons a Rush Limbaugh mask. She then goes off the rails and beats the crap out of him while bill tries to hold her back.
With all the reality shows around and the frustrated amateur writers, I'm surprised that some producer hasn't come up with a contest format. People submit their skits and judges select a few to be produced for TV and voted upon. The winner gets to join some well-known writing team for a few days team. A professional writer can generate funny material on a regular basis, but any one of us has got at least a couple of funny skits based on a lifetime of mishaps. -Joel
Thanks for yor comments, Joel. I like your idea of a reality show for frustrated amateur writers. Perhaps someone with the proper contacts in TV will introduce a contest show of that type.
Prior to the easy availability of the Internet, frustrated writers had to mail their stuff out to try to get an agent since book publishers and TV producers will not look at stuff from the general public. And, it is almost impossible for an unpublished author to get an agent.
Now, anybody -such as me or you- can start a blog, and set their writings free, as I did with DIY Larry, and hope somebody will see it. The chances are small that anybody who has the power to publish it will see it, or if they see it that they think it will be good enough to publish, but the chances are greater than zero. That is better than let a manuscript moulder away in a desk drawer or on a computer disk in a closet.
Ira Glickstein
Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm opened this week on HBO and it looks great!
There are lots of new video clips about it on Comcast On Demand as well as http://www.hbo.com/larrydavid/.
This season the stars of Seinfeld all appear together in a non-reunion reunion. The video clips show Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander (George Costanza), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine Benes), Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer), Wayne Knight (Newman), and Estelle Harris (Estelle Costanza, George's mother). The original sets for Jerry's apartment and Monk's Cafe have been resurrected!
Best of all, it seems Cheryl and Larry are getting back together this season.
Ira Glickstein
Post a Comment