6 Curb Your Enthusiasm Episodes That Don't Hold Up Today

Published Aug 22, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. As with any TV show that pokes fun at society’s taboos, from South Park to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Curb Your Enthusiasm courted plenty of controversy throughout its run. No subject was off-limits for Larry David; Curb had episodes touching on suicide and incest and mental illness. Curb is one of the few shows that has avoided being labeled problematic, despite having such problematic subject matter, because the premise covers all bases. This fictionalized Larry is an “equal opportunities offender,” and the whole point is that he’s a terrible person who does and says things that no one in polite society should. When Larry refuses to thank his friend’s wife for dinner, it doesn’t mean Curb is endorsing an antiquated view of gender roles; it just means this bumbling comic character has needlessly gotten himself into yet another horribly uncomfortable situation where he’s the one in the wrong. Curb’s episodes about cancer and the KKK still hold up today, because the joke is always on Larry. But, having said that, there are some Curb episodes that haven’t stood the test of time, either because the satire became outdated or because it never really worked in the first place or because we’ve evolved as a society. The Bat Mitzvah Season 6, Episode 10 Curb’s season 6 finale revolves around a depressed Larry’s attempt to get over the dissolution of his marriage and get back on the horse. The perfect woman, Loretta, happens to be living in his house, and he ends up taking her to Sammi’s bat mitzvah as his plus-one. It’s a surprisingly sweet, romantic outing for Curb, but it has a really uncomfortable B-story that would not fly today. Midway through the episode, when Larry is on what will become a disastrous double date at the movie theater with Jeff, Susie, and a woman he met at a doctor’s office, Larry sees a guy pretending to be disabled so he can skip the line. Rather than reprimanding this behavior or calling the guy out, Larry commends his skills and even decides to copy the trick. In order to deter a prospective renter from moving into the office next door, Larry pretends to be disabled. Matt Tessler rightly scolds Larry for his behavior, but the whole thing is really discomforting. The Bisexual Season 8, Episode 7 It’s always a joy to see Rosie O’Donnell, especially when she’s sharing the screen with Larry David. As two curmudgeonly New York comics, Larry and Rosie are on the same page about a lot of things — but when they disagree, neither of them wants to back down. Larry’s misadventures with Rosie are usually a delight (just look at the episode where they literally come to blows in the middle of a restaurant), but the season 8 episode “The Bisexual” has aged horribly. The episode begins with Larry and Rosie both chatting up the same woman at a party. They’ve both got her number, they’ve both scored a date with her, and, as usual, neither of them wants to back down. So, they decide that they’ll both go out with her and let the most charming lover win. It’s a solid comedic premise, and if it was just about whether Jane would choose Larry or Rosie, it could’ve worked. But it’s framed as if Jane is choosing between heterosexuality and homosexuality, which demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of bisexuality. The episode insinuates that bisexuality isn’t a real thing, and that anyone who identifies as bi just needs to “pick a side,” which just isn’t how it works. Affirmative Action Season 1, Episode 9 In season 1’s “Affirmative Action,” while Larry is out with Richard Lewis, they bump into Lewis’ doctor, who happens to be Black. Larry makes an off-color remark about Lewis hiring a Black doctor “even with the whole affirmative action thing,” which leaves both Lewis and the doctor baffled. The gag is that Larry was trying too hard to defuse any potential racial tension that he went too far the other way; in his own words, “I tend to say stupid things to Black people sometimes.” The satire of the episode holds up pretty well — it’s the same kind of overwrought white liberalism parodied in Get Out — but the climate around “affirmative action” itself has changed in the years since it first aired. Back then, Curb was lampooning those policies as a liberal overcorrection. But now, “DEI” has become a far-right buzzword, so it has a whole different connotation. Now, when Larry jokes about affirmative action, it sounds like he’s been watching too much Fox News. The Korean Bookie Season 5, Episode 9 A lot of Curb episodes play on stereotypes, but the show often subverts them or highlights their absurdity. Season 5’s “The Korean Bookie,” on the other hand, just indulges the stereotype that South Korean people eat dogs. Historically, a small minority of South Koreans have eaten dog meat, but it’s extremely rare these days. South Korea’s dog meat industry is heavily restricted, and soon to be made illegal (the law was passed in 2024, but it won’t take effect until 2027). But Curb Your Enthusiasm depicts its only Korean character drooling over a dog, commenting on how succulent his flesh looks. The satirical angle of the episode is that Larry has pre-existing biases and assumptions about Korean culture, but it still leans into the stereotype. Larry’s bookie Sung, played by Bobby Lee, is shown salivating over Oscar and eating a mysterious meat he refuses to identify. The N Word Season 6, Episode 8 Now that Curb Your Enthusiasm has ended, how are you most likely to keep engaging with it? Rewatching favorite episodes occasionally Rewatching favorite episodes occasionally 0.0% Starting a full series rewatch from the beginning Starting a full series rewatch from the beginning 100.0% Catching clips/highlights online instead of full episodes Catching clips/highlights online instead of full episodes 0.0% Mostly moving on to other comedies Mostly moving on to other comedies 0.0% Which aspect of Curb kept you coming back the most over the years? Larry David’s personality and point of view Larry David’s personality and point of view 25.0% The improvised, uncomfortable humor style The improvised, uncomfortable humor style 75.0% The supporting cast and celebrity appearances The supporting cast and celebrity appearances 0.0% The long-running storylines and callbacks The long-running storylines and callbacks 0.0% multi-answer If creators and networks built a new comedy inspired by Curb, what would you be most interested in seeing? Another semi-autobiographical show about an aging comedian Another semi-autobiographical show about an aging comedian 0.0% A spin-off focused on a side character (e.g., Jeff, Susie, Leon) A spin-off focused on a side character (e.g., Jeff, Susie, Leon) 0.0% A new improvised single-camera series with unknown comics A new improvised single-camera series with unknown comics 100.0% Short-form digital content (clips, webisodes, behind-the-scenes) in the Curb style Short-form digital content (clips, webisodes, behind-the-scenes) in the Curb style 0.0% In the season 6 episode “The N Word,” Larry overhears a despicable racist using an epithet on the phone. But every time he tries to tell someone what happened, and he quotes the guy’s use of the N-word, a passing Black person overhears him and berates him for it. There are some funny moments in the episode — Jeff having his head shaved by an enraged doctor was a wonderfully absurd consequence of Larry’s tone-deafness — but the entire premise hinges on Larry saying the N-word every single time he relays this anecdote. If he would just shorten it to “the N-word,” then anyone who overheard him would realize he’s discussing the slur in an objective context. As it stands, the episode posits that it’s perfectly acceptable for a white person to use the N-word in casual conversation, just as long as they’re quoting someone else who used it. Ken/Kendra Season 12, Episode 9 This episode is only two years old — it was the penultimate episode of Curb’s final season — but it didn’t hold up then, and it doesn’t hold up now. The storyline of Larry giving Bruce Springsteen COVID is great (and Springsteen proved to be a hilarious improviser), but the titular storyline doesn’t sit right. Larry’s insecurity is more the butt of the joke than Ken’s gender identity, but the episode hinges on the notion that having sex with a trans person is somehow shameful. Just the idea that someone Larry hooked up with decades ago identifies as a man is enough to set off all kinds of alarm bells in his head — the whole concept feels woefully outdated. Two and a Half Men did this storyline 20 years ago, and it wasn’t funny back then, either. At least in Curb Your Enthusiasm, they hired an actual trans comedian (Transparent’s Ian Harvie) to play the role — in Two and a Half Men, they cast Chris O’Donnell.