Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12 Calls Back To A Classic Ted Danson Storyline After 17 Years
Summary
- Larry’s rivalry with Ted Danson intensifies as Cheryl gets involved in a hilarious brick donation debacle.
- Ted donates anonymously in a callback to a classic episode, leaving Larry in disbelief.
- Season 6’s “The Anonymous Donor” remains one of Curb’s best episodes, showcasing human hypocrisy through Larry’s eyes.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 5.
Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 5, “Fish Stuck,” calls back to one of the show’s funniest Ted Danson storylines from way back in season 6. The fictionalized version of Larry David in Curb has always had a contentious relationship with Ted’s own fictionalized self, but their rivalry has gotten even more bitter in the past couple of seasons since Ted has been dating Larry’s ex-wife Cheryl. “Fish Stuck” brings back Ted and Cheryl with a great callback to one of Ted’s best moments in the show.
In “Fish Stuck,” while attending an event at the temple, Larry finds that a former Seinfeld writer has donated a brick bearing a defamatory message about Larry’s relationship with women. In an attempt to combat this defamation, Larry visits Cheryl and asks her to donate her own brick with a much more laudatory message about Larry. During the conversation, in which Cheryl attempts to politely decline Larry’s request, Ted enters the room and informs Larry that he’s already donated a brick – and it calls back to one of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s greatest episodes.
Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12 Episode 5 Recap: Freddy’s Disney Girlfriend Twist & 9 Other Best Moments
From Larry’s breakup ruse to Freddy Funkhouser’s girlfriend working at Disney, Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12, episode 5 is full of hilarious moments.
Ted Danson Makes Another Anonymous Donation In Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12, Episode 5
When Ted tells Larry that he donated a brick to the temple, Larry doesn’t believe him, because he didn’t see Ted’s name on any of the bricks. Ted counters that he kept his name off the brick and left it anonymous. The final shot of the episode shows the wall and one of the bricks does, indeed, say, “Anonymous,” suggesting that Ted wasn’t lying. This anonymous donation is a hilarious callback to one of Curb’s best episodes: season 6, episode 2, “The Anonymous Donor.”
Season 6’s “The Anonymous Donor” Is Still One Of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Best Episodes
In “The Anonymous Donor,” both Larry and Ted donate a wing to the new NRDC building. However, while attending the unveiling, Larry is dismayed to find that while his wing says, “Donated by Larry David,” Ted’s wing says, “Donated by Anonymous.” Larry is even more infuriated when he learns that the identity of “Anonymous” is Ted – and he’s been telling everyone, so he’s not really anonymous at all. When Larry’s wing is unveiled, he gets a feeble round of applause. When Ted’s is unveiled, he gets an uproarious response, much to Larry’s chagrin.
This is one of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s most rewatchable episodes, because it highlights the hypocrisy and pretentiousness of human behavior through Larry’s eyes. Ted claims he donated the wing anonymously because he didn’t want any fanfare, but he still told everyone it was him and got a lot more fanfare than the named donors. The Curb Your Enthusiasm version of Ted is hilariously ostentatious, and Larry is the only one who can see through it.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is a Comedy television show created by Larry David, the same creative mind behind the wildly popular sitcom, Seinfeld. Starring Larry David himself, along with Cheryl Hines, and Jeff Garlin, the show acts as a semi-fictionalized look at Larry’s every day life and the people he would come in contact with.
