2000 -) IS anchored by a complex comic sensibility that is rooted in the social and cultural identities of the show's principal characters, namely the series creator and star, Larry David. The series presents a candid portrait of the semiretired television writer and cocreator of Seinfeld (1989 -98) that at first glance offers an indictment of David's peculiar Hollywood lifestyle, but also resonates with an imbricated comedic nature that challenges essentialist categories of comic performance through the reversals of identity suggested by the show's innovative sense of humor. The show emphasizes the interplay of social and cultural identities, including David's own shifting persona. As a comic figure, David fuses a decidedly Jewish sensibility with one that openly criticizes the religious and cultural tenets of both Judaism and Christianity. Indeed, there is a fractal element to this humor, whereby the smallest character detail resembles the complexity of a much larger social structure. To understand the novelty of identity formation and humor within the series, what is most helpful is a theory of screen comedy that discloses the inventive and hybridized nature of its characters, situations, and themes. This article investigates the ways in which identity fluctuations challenge the social and cultural configurations of humor in Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the negotiation between intersecting identities, the commonplace is hyphenated with the alien; that is, the humor stems from the collision of contrasting features.The yoking of oppositional qualities is most evident in David's treatment of social and cultural traditions, but extends to include the
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