The 25 Best "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Episodes

Tonight Larry David stars in HBO's "Clear History," but he'll always be best on "Curb."

curb your enthusiasm

None

curb your enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm finally returns this fall after a long and excruciating six-year hiatus. Thankfully, even during the darkest point of the break when it seemed as if Larry David really might not return to grace us with 10 more episodes of misanthropic misadventures, we still had 80 episodes worth of excellence to fall back on. You can read this list two ways. On the one hand, these 25 episodes, from a series that's never produced a bad one (fight me), are a testament to the work David put in and the comedic treasures he'd already given us. A ninth was desired, but greedily nonetheless. But you can also view it as proof that Larry David is still gifted with the pen (a lot of late series episodes appear here) and was always undoubtedly capable of giving us at least ten more.

So if there's no such thing as an unpleasant episode of Curb, what are the criteria by which we determine the best of the best? A prolific Susie appearance always helps. Dialog that went on to birth an ingeniously relatable and applicable phrase for social behavior is even better. But truly, Curb is at its best when every subplot converges into a major intersection for a beautifully orchestrated pile-up of comedic proportions. LD is a master conductor, his wizardry is at its peak when even the most disparate of story threads weaves together under the radar to provide a worthy comeuppance to whatever self-righteous havoc he wreaked earlier in the episode. But to be honest, sometimes an episode just needs five minutes of Leon ranting to make the cut. Either way, you're in for one hell of a marathon. Here's hoping season nine leaves us scrambling to re-do this list at Christmas.

Written by Frazier Tharpe (@The_SummerMan)

RELATED: The 50 Funniest TV Comedies of All TIme

RELATED: The 50 Best Family Guy Episodes

RELATED: The 50 Best Simpsons Episodes of All Time

25. "The Freak Book" (Season 6, Episode 5)

24. "The Wire" (Season 1, Episode 6)

23. "The Bare Midriff" (Season 7, Episode 6)

22. "The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial" (Season 6, Episode 3)

21. "Mary, Joseph, and Larry" (Season 3, Episode 9)

20. "The TiVo Guy" (Season 6, Episode 7)

19. "Beloved Aunt" (Season 1, Episode 8)

18. "The Surrogate" (Season 4, Episode 7)

17. "The Anonymous Donor" (Season 6, Episode 2)

16. "The Ski Lift" (Season 5, Episode 8)

15. "Denise Handicap" (Season 7, Episode 5)

14. "Officer Krupke" (Season 7, Episode 8)

13. "The End" (Season 5, Episode 10)

12. "The Corpse-Sniffing Dog" (Season 3, Episode 7)

11. "The Grand Opening" (Season 3, Episode 10)

10. "Vow of Silence" (Season 8, Episode 5)

9. "The Therapists" (Season 6, Episode 9)

8. "Mister Softee" (Season 8, Episode 9)

7. "The Bisexual" (Season 8, Episode 7)

6. "The N Word" (Season 6, Episode 8)

5. "The Car Pool Lane" (Season 4, Episode 6)

4. "The Table Read" (Season 7, Episode 9)

3. "Seinfeld" (Season 7, Episode 10)

2. "The Doll" (Season 2, Episode 7)

1. "Krazee-Eyez Killa" (Season 3, Episode 8)

Latest in Pop Culture