Quote:
Originally Posted by unlurking
I never understood the love for Curb Your Enthusiasm. He just grates on me. That nasally voice and whiny character just make me cringe. Same with the Garry Shandling and Ray Romano.
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It's called cringe comedy. Either you get it or you don't. Or maybe more precisely either you find humor in the pain and conflict or you don't.
The key is usually finding a nugget of relatability.
For Larry, he's an asshole, but he's an asshole who's often right about stupid social conventions. Goodbye hugs, four way stop signs, how many free samples you get until you have to pick a flavor and buy something, holding an elevator, talking on a cell phone in crowded enclosed spaces; Larry picks at them and punctures the absurdity without flinching.
Ray Ramano is similar about the pain of a hen-pecked husband who's still a momma's boy, although truly it's just his voice that's grating, not his whole persona. Either you find humor in a head of a household paralyzed by trying to simultaneously placate a wife and a mother who are often at odds, or you don't.
Garry Schandling isn't really fair, because he's grating because he's kind of uncovering an untold truth of show business, that often the happy smiling face of late night comedy is a vain neurotic mess when the camera is off. It's part straight comedy, part expose of Hollywood fictionalizing of onscreen personas. So the nugget of relatability is 'I knew those guys were fakers, nobody's always that chipper!!'
Another I'd add to cringe comedy is David Brent/Michael Scott as the branch managers of their respective versions of The Office. I won't protract this by going over their characters again. Hopefully, most can see the structural parallels.