Calling ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ a ‘Cringe Comedy’ Makes Larry David Cringe

If Larry David had it his way, there would be no references to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” being a “cringe comedy” in conversations about the show’s legacy.

The creator and star of the long-running HBO comedy joked “when people call it ‘cringe comedy,’ I want to wring their neck,” at the PaleyFest LA 2024 panel for the 12th and final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (which also doubled as the show’s Emmys FYC event) on April 18.

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The controversial subject had come up when JB Smoove, who plays Leon Black on the show, explained how calling something “Curb-y” or “such a ‘Curb’ moment” has become part of the pop culture lexicon in the same way people say they feel like they’re in “The Twilight Zone.” “I hear it all the time, because there are moments where you are fucking cringing,” said the comedian. “Larry has found those moments, and he remembers them, and he writes them down and they become amazing, historic moments on the show.”

Wearing his disagreement on his face while seated on stage at the Dolby Theatre, David said in response, “I never dreamed in a million years that it would have that kind of effect on people. After the second or third show I hear, ‘Oh, it’s cringey. I’m cringing. I had to leave the room.’ Why did you leave the room? I have no idea.”

Filmmaker Judd Apatow, who was moderating, soon said, in reference to a scene from the Season 2 episode “The Doll” that had played during the clip package that preceded the PaleyFest panel, “Larry, when you hug a child with a water bottle in your pants, and she gets wet, it would be weird if we didn’t cringe.”

If there was one person on stage that was aligned with David in not understanding the “cringey” classification, it was co-star Jeff Garlin who said “People ask me what I think when I’m in a scene that’s [uncomfortable]… And I’m thinking, ‘I wonder what’s a craft service?’”

Ultimately, it was showrunner Jeff Schaffer who settled the “cringey” debate, saying he considers “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to be “a comedy horror movie sometimes.”

He added: “In a horror movie, it’s like, ‘There’s a monster in the house, let’s split up.’ ‘I’m gonna take a shower.’ ‘Don’t do that!’” Turning to David, Shaffer said, “In the show, there’s this thing that you do, I call it the ‘Itchy Tag Theory.’” The showrunner then mimicked how David often reaches behind his back, to the middle of his shoulder blades, before he makes the choice to not let something slide. “People go ‘Don’t go back, don’t go back. He’s going back. He’s going back. There’s that. People talk [to the screen] like a horror movie.”

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