Larry David's antisocial and anti-capitalist Curb Your Enthusiasm behavior comes off as an unintentional prophecy amid the coronavirus

NBC News

"The season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm aired on HBO this week and the episode — titled 'The Spite Store' — was a welcome snapshot of pre-pandemic America, a seemingly foreign place that existed as recently as February," says Christopher Mosley. "It also acted as something of a metaphorical harbinger of the current dire turn in world events. That's no surprise, as the show thrives on a litany of complaints centering around the hypermundane pitfalls of capitalism, which Curb star Larry David has sharpened to an extremely fine point over 30 years, going back to his first success as co-creator of the over-achieving Seinfeld. Both Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm have taken everyday consumerist dread to operatic levels. But whereas Seinfeld had a grittiness and claustrophobia attached to it inspired by David's days as a struggling comic, Curb is largely a rich man's comedy. It's a fantasy retirement diary of walking the earth in loose-fitting clothes and comfortable shoes, owing nothing to everyone and raising your voice in protest should anyone object. Both vehicles exploit and question the unspoken social contracts that connect and police the service workers, retail, health care, airlines, and various other industries that frame the contemporary Western lifestyle. But in our current social climate, the antisocial aspects of Curb's 10th season often come off as an unintentional prophecy. What was once supposed to be paranoia now reads as shrewdly protective. Ever the fan of social avoidance before it was an inescapable necessity, there is Purell hand sanitizer readily available at every table in David's coffee shop, Latte Larry's, out of a healthy germophobia. Latte Larry's also refuses to stock bath tissue in the restrooms so as to discourage any activity that may require it." ALSO: Chaz Bono, who auditioned for Curb, says: "I feel like the chemistry with Larry is there — you feel it. I loved working with him."