When Larry Charles is credited as Director, Curb Your Enthusiasm fans know to expect an episode chock-full of heightened lunacy and provocation, bigger and badder than what the show typically dabbles in on a regular basis. Previous moments of Larry Charles unease, like the episode where star, creator, writer, Larry David likens the abnormal size of an eight year-old's penis to that of a circus freak show, surprisingly does little in preparing viewers for last night's wildly deranged activities.
Entitled "The Bare Midriff", the episode's 30 minutes are filled with extravagant situational comedy that includes a blast of urination that signals a mistaken case of divine intervention, an altercation between Larry David and series sad sap Richard Lewis that triggers a jarring blood-spattered flashback, hilarious social musing delivered with the kind of sardonic, devilish precision that made Larry and guest star Jerry Seinfeld so freaking rich, including a hilarious exchange about Larry's need for bulk supplies of napkins with any meal that involves him eating a sandwich, and ends with Larry grabbing hold of the very sight-gag that set the episode in stooge-like motion.
That is to say, last night's conclusion had me laughing louder and longer than I had in some time, which thankfully makes up for the lackadaisical and misguided decision to watch the funny-as-genocide Kevin James would-be laugher Paul Blart: Mall Cop the previous evening. The only arrest that film makes is dispelling with the notion that fat is always funny.
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