Review: 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' - 'The Palestinian Chicken': The social assassin
Middle Eastern tensions come to Larry's neighborhood in a hilarious episode
Larry David and Jeff Garlin on "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
A review of tonight's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" coming up just as soon as I quote Theodor Herzl...
As with the season premiere, I didn't love the ending of "The Palestinian Chicken." I don't believe Larry cares about Judaism or his social standing enough to turn down either the chicken or the chance of more sex with Shara (and her sister), and therefore didn't buy him being caught between the two crowds, even as I understood the point being made. And yet as with the season premiere, the rest of the episode was so damn funny - and featured so many clever crossovers between the various stories and running gags - that I can deal with a slightly flat coda.
"Curb" is a very Jewish show to begin with (think "The Survivor," or "The Special Section"), and this may have been their most Jewish episode to date. Funkhouser doing a hardcore midlife recommittment to tradition was marvelous, as Bob Einstein speaking Yiddish and/or Hebrew will never not be funny. And even better was the story of the chicken restaurant itself(*), which played out as a parody of both Israeli/Palestinian tensions(**) and the Ground Zero mosque kerfuffle.(***)
(*) Out of curiosity, is Palestinian chicken an actual delicacy? Because this episode sure did its job in making me want to try some.
(**) It's at this time that I remind you of the No Politics rule, boys and girls. We can talk about the comedy here, but this blog is not the place to actually debate the geo-political situation in the Middle East.
(***) See (**).
And mixed in with Larry and Jeff enjoying the forbidden chicken, and Larry having hilarious, hateful sex with Shara ("I'm going to fuck the Jew out of you!") was the concept of Larry's friends finally trying to exploit his talents for social assassination for their own ends - and having it all, predictably, blow up for themselves and for Larry. Ron can't get his wife to stop saying "LOL" (and she's cheating on him, besides), Sammy(****) can't get Susie to stop smacking her lips and saying "ah," the golf team blows the championship, etc. About the only good that Larry accomplishes for himself is to chase the yarmulke-clad Funkhouser ("What is this, the raid on Entebbe?") away from the Palestinian chicken place, winning Shara's affections for the moment.
(****) I know the show's been around for a decade now, and that Sammy appeared a couple of times last season, but it's still kind of startling to see her as a full-blown teenager. It was very much a "Sunrise, Sunset" appearance, though the lyrics here would be "Is this the little girl whose doll Larry decapitated? Is this the little girl he got drunk?"
Throw in the fun of Larry taking his "no matter what" duties incredibly seriously, Jeff looking like Blofeld and random other historical Jewish references ("You're Koufaxing us?"), and you have yourself a damn fine, funny episode of "Curb."
What did everybody else think?
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Next 78 CommentsLame
July 24, 2011 at 10:39PM EST Reply to CommentWas stupid.
July 25, 2011 at 2:07AM ESTJim Jim Burn
July 29, 2011 at 6:35PM ESTbogas6
July 24, 2011 at 10:42PM EST Reply to CommentTop-notch Curb episode right there. I thought it blew the first two from the season out of the water. And to do it without a Leon appearance... I tip my cap to you, LD.
Joe
July 24, 2011 at 10:43PM EST Reply to CommentOne of the best episodes so far, definitelty best in last two seasons.
WaltEagle
July 24, 2011 at 10:46PM EST Reply to CommentThat felt like a "Louie" sex scene.
guest
July 24, 2011 at 11:26PM EST Reply to Commentfunny...??? he's a misanthropic, cynical, negative sorry schmuck...not funny, not even close...but to call it "very Jewish" or "most jewish" is additionally off....at best it could be human...but hardly representative of "Jews". Certainly not the Jews I've known who not such ascerbic, cynical, negative ashkenazi a**holes. Give me Sid Cesar, George Burns, Harvey Korman, even Soupy Sales.the Marx brothers...even Jerry Seinfeld had more soul than this bore.
July 24, 2011 at 11:36PM ESTJerseyRudy Watch it Eiseman, remember the "No Verbal Texting" rule!
July 25, 2011 at 12:18AM ESTGreat episode...funny from start to finish. The only depressing aspect of it is that there truly are no places left for Jews to safely cheat on their spouses!
Ryan You do realize that Larry david wrote about 90 percent of seifeild
July 25, 2011 at 2:51AM EST@Ryan "You do realize that Larry david wrote about 90 percent of seifeild"
July 25, 2011 at 2:20PM ESTOnly about 33%
jewjay Most of the comedians you mentioned are dead. It ain't the 50's anymore. Live in the now man. If you didn't find that episode funny then you shouldn't be watching the show. In the history of time, I'm sure nobody has ever said "I'm going to fuck the Jew out of you". It doesn't matter if your Askenazi, Sephardic, Muslim, or Christian. That's freakin hilarious.
July 27, 2011 at 5:04AM ESTadam_eiseman
July 24, 2011 at 11:35PM EST Reply to CommentEpisode was fantastic...I was "LOLing" whenever Larry was acting like a retiring hitman who had just finished his last job only to be hit up with one last job when Sammy came to him about Suzie.
fuck off
July 25, 2011 at 12:40AM EST Reply to Commentbetter than anything fucking else on fucking television
xbrooklyngrrl
July 25, 2011 at 12:41AM EST Reply to CommentThe first two episodes this season sucked, but this one killed! The hot Palestinian babe riding Larry (while a constipated-looking Funkhauser listens)made me howl. I enjoyed all the cringeworthy moments.
But Alan, I disagree about the ending: it was a typical Larry conundrum, since in all reality, he's a selfish bastard. His friends, or the hot lay? That's the kind of choice he can never make, since he really has not much of a moral compass.
sepinwall But the friends will never leave him, no matter what horrible things he does. They've made that clear over all the previous seasons. So of course he'd take the hot lay. Wouldn't hesitate.
July 25, 2011 at 12:58AM ESTNora
July 25, 2011 at 12:56AM EST Reply to CommentThe chicken thing is true. Some of the best chicken you'll ever have (in NY, anyway). Don't know about L.A.
Dave I dunno - the Peruvians also make an excellent chicken. See El Pollo in Park Slope. Any recommendations for palestinian chicken in NYC?
July 25, 2011 at 3:28PM ESTthe minister Guatemalan chicken in DC 4tw.
July 26, 2011 at 9:34PM ESTNot sure if I could envision a hot mestizo girl screaming "I'm gonna fuck the death squad out of you" though.
Hercule Poirot
July 25, 2011 at 1:09AM EST Reply to CommentLoved, loved, loved it
Mojo CoCo
July 25, 2011 at 1:09AM EST Reply to CommentI loved it, but im really eager to see the show relocate to NY. I think it'll bring an interesting new dynamic.
WM
July 25, 2011 at 1:12AM EST Reply to CommentGreat episode, easily the best of the season so far.
But as for "most Jewish episode to date", I think you're foregetting "The Ski Lift" (possibly the best ep. the show has ever done).
Rev. Slappy Is The Ski Lift the one with Richard Lewis' nurse's unusually large vagina?
July 25, 2011 at 3:13AM ESTJesse @REV. SLAPPY Yes. @WM Larry speaking in fake hebrew/yiddush is some of the funniest shit TV has ever seen.
July 25, 2011 at 10:08AM ESTThomas L
July 25, 2011 at 1:23AM EST Reply to CommentLet's not bring my father into this.
Crumdawg97 LOL, Thomas. Ha. L-O-L.
July 26, 2011 at 12:36AM ESTJoshua
July 25, 2011 at 1:23AM EST Reply to CommentI was distracted trying to remember: wasn't the "ah" thing after taking a sip a plot point in a Seinfeld episode?
Hercule Poirot Elaine had a bad association with the name "Alex," which is why Joel Rifkin couldn't change it to that (because he himself shared a name with a killer; he should have changed it to something un-killer-like, like "Deion" or "O.J.")
July 25, 2011 at 1:43AM ESTPhil Yeah she sat next to a guy in college with that same habit.
July 25, 2011 at 2:11AM ESTCrumdawg97 I'm sure most devoted Seinfeld fans recognize that "recycled" bits from that show turn up quite frequently in Curb - always with a different twist, of course. Whether they're intended to be remembered or not, for me it's a big part of the fun of loving both shows.
July 26, 2011 at 12:40AM ESTsean no it was a curb plot point in a previous season
December 21, 2011 at 7:52PM ESTrsync
July 25, 2011 at 1:40AM EST Reply to CommentIn LA, Zankou Chicken is rightly famous, but its origin is Lebanon, not Palestine. But it clearly is basis for the chicken restaurant in the episode.
Znakou rules.
LJA I, too, totally thought it was a nod to Zankou Chicken (http://www.zankouchicken.com/) which is actually Armenian.
July 25, 2011 at 2:04AM ESTAs for the episode, hysterical. Loved it.
Zach The chicken place is definitely modeled after Zankou. (It does have Armenian owners but its initial location was in Beirut).
July 25, 2011 at 2:31AM ESTIt looked like it was actually filmed at the Zankou on Sepulveda and Santa Monica, and the people working there had pastel yellow t-shirts on, which are the same color as the Zankou staff's t-shirts.
Andrew L It was actually shot at Sunnin, which is technically Lebanese. Corner of Santa Monica and Westwood. Dynamite Hummus.
July 25, 2011 at 2:15PM ESTvahe The owners are originally from Beirut, Lebanon, but are of Armenian descent. Lebanon as a huge Armenian minority.
July 25, 2011 at 2:57PM ESTSomeGuy The actress who played Shara is actually of Armenian descent, coincidentally
July 27, 2011 at 6:49PM ESTnic919
July 25, 2011 at 2:26AM EST Reply to CommentThis was easily the funniest episode this season. I also didn't think that Larry would side with the deli folks, because he had already said earlier that the 'penis knows no race, creed or colour".
Funkhouser was great too, but I was wondering about the state of Bob Einstein's lips after his appearance on Conan this week. I know these episodes were taped well before, but it got me to wondering if Einstein had actually had surgery or botox for that bit.
weeeee
July 25, 2011 at 2:38AM EST Reply to Commentmaybe top 5 episode of all time
alan yes palestinian chicken is kinda a thing its based off zankou chicken in los angeles
Rev. Slappy
July 25, 2011 at 3:10AM EST Reply to CommentDid anybody catch Bob Einstein on Conan last week? He was on as Super Dave and told the gloriously obscene joke Funkhouser told Jerry Seinfeld on The Table Read.
E.
July 25, 2011 at 3:17AM EST Reply to CommentThis actually shot in my neighborhood - The second restaurant is actually Lebanese (and really awesome - Sunnin Lebanese Cafe at Westwood and Santa Monica, their Tahini sauce should come with a warning label it's so addictive). I saw the Curb crew there a few months back and was wondering when it was going to show up. They didn't have to do much redecoration for it to work here.
The chicken itself, however, looked like it came from up the street at Zankou, which if I recall is either Armenian, Lebanese, or some combination of the two.
Mulderism
July 25, 2011 at 4:01AM EST Reply to CommentMeh. Thought it was pretty weak.
Ben
July 25, 2011 at 4:52AM EST Reply to Comment""Curb" is a very Jewish show to begin with"
It is a very "American Jewish show", not Jewish. Most non-American Jews can't even understand half of it, and particularly the "jewish" parts because they are american jewish and do not relate to other Jews.
srpad
July 25, 2011 at 8:01AM EST Reply to CommentI agree the ending fizzled a bit but this may have been the episode of Curb that made me laugh the most. Oops I mean, LOL.
And yes, even as a Jew, I wanted to try the hell out of that forbidden chicken!
BlitzMark
July 25, 2011 at 9:00AM EST Reply to Comment1. Biggest problem with that show: you don't say Hamotzi before kiddush!
2. Alan: Very funny/accurate take on Sammy and the Sunrise/Sunset analogy.
HarlemWorld4eva 1.) I agree with Blitzmark regarding Alan's take on Sammy
July 25, 2011 at 9:41AM EST2.) To make this episode as funny as it was without an appearance from Leon was indeed quite the feat @BOGAS6
Jon
July 25, 2011 at 9:55AM EST Reply to Commentyes, Halal chicken is indeed a delicacy.....sold on carts throughout Manhattan and in storefronts....its amazing......
GuyITC Halal is not a type of chicken. It is chicken killed in accordance to Islamic law. Like Kosher is for Jews. Incidently, kosher is the sqare and Halal is the rectangle.
July 25, 2011 at 10:39AM ESTtim_masterson
July 25, 2011 at 10:36AM EST Reply to CommentAnother classic from Larry David.
I loved Sammi telling him to GTFO of her driveway.
Lee She is truly her mother's daughter!
July 25, 2011 at 4:34PM ESTTom Actually, Sammie is not exactly a chip off her mother's block, as her mother would never need to hire a social assassin to do her dirty work. Sammie is a combo of her dad (passive) and her mom (aggressive) and I, for one, hope to see more of her. Passive aggressive is funny, especially in LD's world.
July 25, 2011 at 9:47PM ESTDan B.
July 25, 2011 at 10:41AM EST Reply to CommentGreat episode (the hate sex scene was absolutely perfect), but also any appearance from Larry Miller is just going to make me smile.
BlitzMark
July 25, 2011 at 10:45AM EST Reply to CommentI believe that Larry Miller was almost originally cast as George Costanza
GuyITC
July 25, 2011 at 10:46AM EST Reply to CommentI know we aren't supposed to discus the believability of Curb, but a female rabbi stopping someone from playing golf on the sabbath? The levels of Jewish observence that allow female rabbis to not conform to the letter of Jewish. Law. Hence the female rabbi trying to eat the obviously non-kosher chicken and making exceptions to rules of observence.
BlitzMark There are plenty of female Rabbis who are Conservative and wouldn't approve of golf on Shabbat. And her desire to eat the chicken is a similar take to the Seinfeld episode in the Hamptons in which the woman who kept kosher wanted to eat lobster...but Kramer talked her out of it.
July 25, 2011 at 11:47AM ESTjcollins15
July 25, 2011 at 11:19AM EST Reply to CommentThe "Scarlet Pimpernel" quote "They seek him here, they seek him there..." that Larry said from the balcony after the sex as Funkhouse waited below- I missed the connection. Any ideas?
"insert semi-obscure indie band reference" I'm not sure, but it's unsettling. I had performed in the musical, but it's been a long while. Larry seems to be likening himself to Percival Blakeney, an Englishman whose secret intervention in the French Revolution as the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel is complicated by his relationship with his French wife. By extension, that would cast Israel and Palestine as Great Britain and Revolutionary France.
July 25, 2011 at 12:48PM ESTThe episode provided a lot of food for thought. Tradition, identification, technology, food, commerce, exoticism, cultural cringe, BDSM, heterotopias… My friends and I spent an hour or two half-joking about the "penis diaspora."
nic919 The Percy character plays a fop to fool the French, but he is really not that silly. In the Larry David world, I took it to mean that Larry thinks he is doing the same thing, but of course he is not.
July 25, 2011 at 1:05PM ESTO-Prime
July 25, 2011 at 1:18PM EST Reply to CommentI thought the episode was hilarious. Larry as the social assassin was great. Without breaking Alan's rules, I'll just say that my only problem was with how all the Palestinians were portrayed as antisemitic. Otherwise, it was classic Curb.
JerseyRudy Not that the brief portrayal of Palestinians in an episode of Curb deserves much discussion, but your comment is not even accurate. It was made clear that the Palestinians knew that Larry and Jeff were Jewish, but they had no problem with them eating in their restaurant, even before the altercation with Funkhouser. Their objection was with the perception that Funkhouser was rubbing their faces in his Judaism (just as the Jews are portrayed as objecting to the perception that the Palestinians were rubbing their faces in it by putting their new restaurant next to the deli).
July 25, 2011 at 5:18PM ESTSo the portrayal of both sides was pretty much equal.
O-Prime I guess you're right about that. I just thought that most wouldn't perceive Funkhouser as "rubbing their faces in his Judaism." That being said, you're correct. The portrayal was pretty equal.
July 25, 2011 at 9:59PM EST- 1
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