The 15 Best Episodes Of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ranked

Is there a more unlikely television star than Larry David? After struggling through the standup circuit before a famously failed stint on "Saturday Night Live" (preceded by a job on ABC's "SNL" knockoff, "Fridays"), he skyrocketed to success as one of the co-creators of "Seinfeld," brining his singular brand of acidic humor to prime time. Yet that was just a warm-up for the fame he would achieve with the role he was born to play – himself — on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Originally conceived as a one-off HBO special, it morphed into a 12-season series based around life's minor inconveniences, with David becoming the patron saint of the aggrieved.

The premise is deceptively simple: Larry David plays a version of himself, living off his "Seinfeld" millions in Los Angeles. He goes about his day getting into petty arguments over minutiae, causing problems for his wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), his manager Jeff (Jeff Garlin), Jeff's wife Susie (Susie Essman), his housemate Leon (J. B. Smoove), his best friend Richard Lewis, and his nemesis, Ted Danson. 

Though largely improvised and shot in a mockumentary style, each episode is a model of storytelling ingenuity, with seemingly insignificant plot points tying together in the end. Through it all, Larry defiantly refuses to change, remaining just as misanthropic as he always was — and we wouldn't have it any other way. Here are the 15 best episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," ranked, based on IMDb ratings, fan rankings, and the author's own knowledge of the series.

On an extended stay in New York City, Larry suspects that his upstairs neighbor, Michael J. Fox, is using his Parkinson's disease as an excuse to make his life miserable, shaking up soda cans and scolding him at restaurants. Meanwhile, he gets in trouble with his girlfriend, Jennifer (Ana Gasteyer), for getting her effeminate son (Eddie Schweighardt) a sewing machine for his birthday. He tries to get the kid a new gift, but not before he makes a pillow for Susie with a swastika on it — a symbol Larry introduced him to. Things go haywire at a charity event Fox is hosting, where Larry is kicked out by Mayor Michael Bloomberg for seemingly making fun of Parkinson's.

Larry sees the worst in everyone, so it's little surprise that he suspects Fox is playing up his Parkinson's — which he has battled for more than 30 years — as a way to humiliate him. And it's a sign of how much celebrities love playing against their image on "Curb" that Fox would make that seem somewhat plausible. He makes for a worthy adversary to Larry's misanthropy.

As opening night of "The Producers" approaches, Larry tries to cash in his sleep-with-another-woman-on-your-10-year-anniversary card with his co-star, Cady Huffman, but he loses interest when he sees she has a photo of George W. Bush in her dressing room. When he takes to the stage as Max Bialystock opposite David Schwimmer as Leo Bloom, he forgets his lines. That's good news for Mel Brooks, who celebrates with his wife, Anne Bancroft, now that he'll finally be freed from the show. Yet Larry vamps with a standup routine long enough to remember his lines, and his performance is a hit.

The arc of Larry going to Broadway pays off with a clever homage to the central joke of "The Producers": an unintended hit resulting from an expected bomb. His season-long quest to find a woman willing to sleep with him with his wife's permission is equally hilarious, and speaks to the curdled heart at the show's center. His failure to do so hints that perhaps he loves Cheryl too much to cheat on her, even though love isn't exactly in Larry's vocabulary.

Larry tries to procure a kidney for Richard Lewis by befriending the head of the kidney transplant consortium, an Orthodox Jew (Stuart Pankin). He invites the man and his daughter, Rachel (Iris Bahr), on a ski trip, and Larry ends up stuck on the lift with her. As the sun sets, Rachel leaps off in order to avoid being with a man after sundown. Meanwhile, Richard's nurse, Lisa (Mo Collins), tells Larry that she used to date Jeff and claims he has a small penis, while Jeff counters that she actually has a large vagina. Considering a few objects go missing whenever Lisa is around, Larry suspects Jeff might be telling the truth.

Larry David satirized his real-life friendship with Richard Lewis for "Curb Your Enthusiasm," poking fun at their combative relationship. On the show, at least, Larry's love only goes so far, and he goes to great lengths to avoid giving Richard one of his kidneys to keep him alive. His fear of going under the knife has consequences for everyone, even a complete stranger like Rachel.

When Richard Lewis and Marty Funkhouser (Bob Einstein) get into trouble with their new girlfriends, Rhonda (Andrea Savage) and Marilyn (Elizabeth Perkins), Larry comes up with an ingenious plan to smooth things over: "accidentally" send them a text message that's meant for someone else which makes you look like an upstanding guy. His advice works, but he finds himself on the outs with both Lewis and Funkhouser after upsetting Rhonda and Marilyn. Yet when Rhonda and Marilyn find out about the whole "accidental text on purpose" scheme, it's Richard and Marty who have some explaining to do.

Many of the best "Curb" episodes involve Larry trying to skirt responsibility through an elaborate ruse, yet in this instance, his friends are equally culpable (and honestly, quite stupid to take his advice, given his track record). Sending an "accidental text on purpose" might seem like a pretty innocuous white lie, yet it has severe consequences for all involved. Leave it to Larry to come up with a solution that creates an even bigger problem than the one before.

With opening night of the new restaurant he's financing with Ted Danson and Michael York quickly approaching, Larry fires his head chef and replaces him with a new one (Paul Sands) who has Tourette syndrome. He also nearly tanks the restaurant's chances of success when he accidentally breaks the thumbs of LA's leading food critic (Paul Willson). Things seem to be going well on opening night until the chef swears loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear. Larry starts swearing himself, and before long, everyone is cursing up a storm.

Larry's onscreen persona is famously spiteful, and breaking the food critic's thumbs can be seen as a direct swipe at Roger Ebert, who gave a zero star review to David's lone directorial effort, "Sour Grapes." (Ebert, thankfully, had a sense of humor about it.) Yet Larry also has a good (if somewhat small) heart, as witnessed by the solidarity he shows with his chef during an embarrassing moment. That both sides seemingly exist within the same person is what makes him such a compelling screen character.

As Larry jumps back into the dating scene after Cheryl leaves him, he meets a potential new match at the gastroenterologist's office. Yet when he gives a sarcastic reason for his stomach problems, rumors start circulating at Sammi Greene's (Ashly Holloway) bat mitzvah that he stuck a gerbil up his butt. That doesn't stop romance from blossoming between him and Loretta Black (Vivica A. Fox), whose family moves in with Larry and Cheryl after their house is destroyed during Hurricane Katrina.

Season 6 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" introduced two things that would become vitally important to Larry's character: his dating life and his relationship with Loretta's brother, Leon, who takes up residency in his house and never leaves. "The Bat Mitzvah" is significant because it almost sees Larry change into a better person, someone who might be capable of forming a new family with Loretta, Leon, and their Auntie Rae (Ellia English). At the same time, he's just as selfish as always, impersonating an intellectually disabled person to discourage anyone from renting the office across from his.

Larry gets into hot water with his assistant after cleaning his glasses with the shirt she's wearing, leading to a sexual harassment lawsuit. That takes some of the heat off Jeff, who keeps getting mistaken for Harvey Weinstein. Larry also gets into a fight with Mocha Joe (Saverio Guerra) over the quality of his coffee shop, leading him to open a spite store, Latte Larry's, right next door with lower prices. 

Later, he gets out of going to lunch with "Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal by wearing a Make America Great Again hat and gives Cheryl an allergic reaction to his talcum powder, giving away that they've slept together while she's seeing Ted Danson.

Season 10 of "Curb" kicks off with all the hallmarks of what makes the show great. There's the careless misunderstanding that leads to a bigger issue (getting accused of sexual harassment); the momentary grievance that grows into a full-blown venture (opening the spite store); and the desire to be left alone by all of humanity (wearing the MAGA hat). It's all here, and it's all hilarious. 

Larry starts dating a handicapped woman, Denise (Anita Barone), and finds there are a lot of benefits that come from accompanying someone in a wheelchair. Among other things, he gets invited to a recital by some friends who are impressed with his new relationship, but he can't call Denise when Susie throws his phone into the ocean. He decides to take another handicapped woman, Wendy (Amy Pietz), in her place, but Denise shows up anyway, leading to an awkward situation when they meet.

Although the Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" isn't exactly altruistic, he does perform a good act from time to time (usually because he wants something in return). He and Denise are far from a match made in heaven, yet he keeps dating her because of the perks that come with it, chief among them appearing like a good person to the casual observer. Of course, he can't help but go about his charitable behavior in the worst way possible, leading to a comical complication when he tries to swap out one handicapped girlfriend for another.

When Jon Hamm gets cast in a movie as a Larry David-type character, he asks to shadow the real Larry in order to study his mannerisms. He accompanies Larry as he confronts Cheryl's sister, Becky (Kaitlin Olson), over her decision to sell the house they bought her as a gift, thus turning a profit. Larry sleeps with Becky, but their relationship ends when he doesn't rush to Denver to be with her after she has a skiing accident. Meanwhile, Larry and Leon try to start a new business venture: providing bathrooms to workers who need to relieve themselves during their shifts.

Few actors have become as distinctive in recent years as Larry David, and Hamm gets his mannerisms, speech patterns, and tics down perfectly. Everyone is annoyed by the presence of two Larrys, as both get kicked out of a dinner party thrown by Richard Lewis, his girlfriend (Sasha Alexander), and Larry's cousin, Andy (Richard Kind). Even Cheryl gets exhausted while on a date with Hamm, who can't drop the character because he's in too deep.

After successfully pitching a new show with Julia Louis-Dreyfus to ABC, Larry nearly scuttles the deal when he agrees to cut the hair of a doll belonging to the daughter of one of the network executives. Upset when she learns the doll's hair won't grow back, Larry and Jeff try to smooth things over by swapping the head out with one of Sammi's dolls. Susie is, of course, enraged, but Larry makes off with the doll's head hidden in his pants. Later, he stuffs a water bottle in his pants to cool down his crotch, which leads to a misunderstanding when the executive's grateful daughter gives him a hug.

"The Doll" was the first great episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," full of the classic misunderstandings and misanthropy that would come to define the series. Larry cuts the doll's hair in an attempt to bond with a kid, which blows up in his face in ways he could never have anticipated. It's enough to make you think there's no good that will come from doing a nice thing for someone, so why even bother?

Larry pretends to be a racist to get out of jury duty, thus freeing up his schedule to get to the Dodgers game. To get past the bumper-to-bumper traffic, he hires a prostitute, Monena (Kym Whitley), so he can use the carpool lane. He runs into Marty Funkhouser, who won't give up the seat next to him because it was intended for his late father. Later, Marty gets arrested holding the jacket Larry was wearing while buying marijuana for his dad, Nat (Shelley Berman), to treat his glaucoma. Realizing Marty has the same judge that was overseeing the case Larry weaseled his way out of, he hires Monena to play his girlfriend.

Not only does "The Car Pool Lane" contain some of the show's most ingenious comedic storytelling, it also had the unforeseen effect of saving someone from incarceration. As detailed in the Netflix documentary "Long Shot," Juan Catalan was able to avoid murder charges by entering unused footage from the Dodgers Stadium scene as evidence of his alibi. Talk about art having a positive effect on society.

While at the table read for the upcoming "Seinfeld" reunion, Larry befriends a nine-year-old, Emma (Sierra McCormick), who won't stop texting him. Worse still, Emma has a rash on her privates that gets transferred to Larry, leading to a terrible misunderstanding at the doctor's office. Meanwhile, Michael Richards is struggling to get back into character as Kramer after he's diagnosed with Groat's disease, so Larry enlists Leon to impersonate a man who had died of the disease two months earlier. When Richards discovers their ruse, he confronts Leon, and many onlookers suspect he's about to engage in a racist rant similar to the one that derailed his career.

Although we never get to see the "Seinfeld" reunion play out in full, the penultimate episode of Season 7 does offer up a bit of fan service, as Estelle Harris (Estelle Costanza), Wayne Knight (Newman), and Steve Hytner (Kenny Bania) reprise their roles for the table read. There's also some great Larry vs. Jason Alexander "feud" material, as Larry immediately regrets lending his pen to his onscreen alter ego for the reading.

While on trial in Georgia for giving Auntie Rae a water bottle as she was waiting in line to vote, Larry is confronted by many disgruntled figures from his past who are called by the prosecution as character witnesses. Everyone from Mocha Joe to country club owner Mr. Takahashi (Dana Lee) shows up to air their grievances against Larry, as his many misdeeds are held against him by the jury. Hoping that Larry will finally learn a lesson, the judge (Dean Norris) sentences him to a year behind bars, but his old pal Jerry Seinfeld shows up to tell him that a mistrial has been declared.

In classic Larry David fashion, the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" finale is a thumb in the eye of everyone who thought the "Seinfeld" finale was a disappointment. At the same time, he leaves fans with a little bit of satisfaction, as Larry skirts responsibility for his actions yet again. In the end, Larry remains just as fascinated by the tent his pants make as he was in the very first episode, and we wouldn't have it any other way. 

As the "Seinfeld" reunion comes together, Larry is jealous of the budding relationship between Jason Alexander and Cheryl, who he's cast as George's ex-wife, Amanda. He torpedoes the ending where George and Amanda get back together, causing Jason to walk off set. Larry offers to play George himself, but the cast sides with Jason, and Larry leaves, dismayed that his plan to win back Cheryl has failed. 

When the episode airs, Cheryl shows up at his house, touched that he would go to such great lengths for her. Yet they start fighting when Larry discovers that she left a ring stain from a water glass on Julia Louis-Dreyfus's wooden table, which he got blamed for.

Anyone who has ever wondered what it would have been like for Larry David to play George Costanza on "Seinfeld" had their dreams come true with the Season 7 finale. The fact that Larry's doing a "bad" job at it only adds to the humor, as do the shocked reactions from his co-stars. It's the highlight of the season-long anti-reunion arc, which defied expectations as only Larry David could.

Larry and Jeff start frequenting a new Palestinian chicken restaurant which has opened next door to a Jewish deli. When Marty Funkhouser refuses to take off his kippah before entering, Larry tries to forcibly remove it, leading to cheers from the customers and a date with a beautiful Palestinian woman, Shara (Anne Bedian). Meanwhile, Larry's friend Ron (Jason Kravitz) enlists his skills as "a social assassin" to get his wife, Ilene (Maggie Wheeler), to stop saying "LOL." This causes Ilene to have an affair with their friend, Eddie (Larry Miller), who swears Larry to secrecy. When Sammi finds out about the affair, she threatens to tell Ron unless Larry uses his special skill to get Susie to stop smacking her lips after taking a sip.

Throughout 12 seasons of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry's greatest superpower is his ability to say incredibly insensitive things with impunity. By the same token, Larry David's greatest strength as a writer has been mining comedy out of potentially offensive material. In the case of "Palestinian Chicken," those two talents merge beautifully into a masterful episode of television.