Curb Your Enthusiasm -- This Sunday

The next-to-last of the latest batch of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm is on this coming Sunday, and I just found out (courtesy of a great article in The New Yorker) that Steve Coogan, one of my favorite British comedians, is making a guest appearance as a psychiatrist.

Now, unfortunately, though a lot of The New Yorker is available online, whenever I want to recommend something, it's never one of the articles that is, including the one in the Nov. 5th issue about Steve Coogan. So, sorry about that! (If you're terribly interested, let me know and I'll scan it for you, or you could buy it, of course. The free flow of information is what I'm all about.)

Anyway, you may already be familiar with Steve Coogan from his movie appearances -- mainstream like his turn with Jackie Chan in Disney's Around the World in 80 Days from a few years ago, or otherwise like A Cock and Bull Story or 24 Hour Party People and others. More likely is that you've seen his comedy series playing on BBC America, including his several starring Coogan as the character of hapless media personality Alan Partridge and the current Saxondale. I think he's amazing, and you might like to check out some of his stuff on YouTube, including this hilarious clip where Partridge interviews an outraged farmer or this one where he meets up with an old enemy with a microwaved apple pie as his only weapon. As The New Yorker article by John Lahr points out, Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge is in the same broad comedy vein as Larry David's character on CYE, only even more extreme. Only the British seem to be able to dive headlong into absurdity with such relish; I love it.

Coogan, who's beyond a household name in Britain yet fairly under-celebrated here, should be incredible in this episode so I highly recommend it! Even without Steve Coogan, Curb Your Enthusiasm is a prickly delight and always to be enjoyed!