Every Season Of Curb Your Enthusiasm Ranked Worst To Best

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" is one of the funniest shows ever. The brainchild of comedy genius Larry David, co-creator of the equally-legendary "Seinfeld," it started with a one-hour HBO special titled "Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm," which follows a fictionalized version of David as he tries to get back into show business. This plot point is carried throughout much of the series that followed. Joining David in his post-"Seinfeld" life are his ever-suffering wife, Cheryl; his oafish manager, Jeff; Jeff's screaming wife, Susie; and a bevy of other quirky characters unlucky enough to find themselves caught up in the awkward social situations that he creates.

Larry takes much of the observational comedy he explored in "Seinfeld" and pushes its boundaries with the creative freedom afforded to him by HBO, and that has allowed him to dive into far more adult and politically incorrect subjects. However, the aspect of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" that sets it apart from (if not above) its contemporaries is its largely improvised humor. By putting the cast on the spot, they can believably react to Larry's constant interpersonal foibles, giving the show a fresh take on situational comedy. It's an approach that has not lost its novelty, which explains why the series is still going strong after 11 seasons (plus another on the way). Let's take a look at every season so far, ranked worst to best.

Season 11 is a disappointment, not because it's bad, but because the show should not have this many mediocre (yet still entertaining) episodes so late in the game, especially considering the relative highs of the preceding several seasons. Still, it's not without some truly laugh-out-loud episodes, with "The Watermelon" being the MVP. In "The Watermelon," Larry accidentally ruins a Klansman's robe and must get it cleaned. Complicating matters further, he has to find someone with a cow to pass off as his own to impress vegan Woody Harrelson. It's packed with the show's signature irreverence and does a stellar job of crashing its various subplots into each other with hilarious results.

Unfortunately, much of the rest of the season is just fine. Of course, an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" that's just fine is great for many other comedy shows, but it doesn't stop this season from feeling a bit lazy. "Angel Muffin" is a great example of some fun ideas that needed better execution. Larry gets into a tiff with a Netflix executive because of a toilet seat at their offices that won't stay up, gets into trouble with his hygienist because the music they play in their office annoys him, and causes a scene when Leon's date refuses to give him her leftover steak that he paid for. The main plot seems like a subplot, which devalues the actual subplots. This problem typifies much of the season overall.

Season 5 mostly continues the upward trend in the quality of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Still, the first half is stronger than its second half. There's a pretty solid overarching plot that revolves around Larry's buddy, Richard Lewis, needing a new kidney. This prompts Larry to go on a series of well-intentioned yet clumsy attempts to help his friend. "The Ski Lift" sees Larry going on one of these excursions to secure a kidney for Richard when he intentionally crashes into the car of Mr. Heineman — who's the head of the kidney transplant consortium — just so he can have a reason to talk to him and get Richard's name on the waiting list. Larry goes the extra mile to impress Mr. Heineman when he and Cheryl invite him and his daughter on a ski trip, which goes great until Larry and Mr. Heineman's daughter get stuck on a ski lift together. This greatly conflicts with her deeply Jewish views. This episode does a spectacular job of taking a simple premise and ratcheting up the awkwardness with complications that Larry handles with as much social ineptitude as possible.

Another standout episode from this season is "The Seder" in which Larry befriends a neighborhood sex offender because he's a fan of golf and "Seinfeld," and is Jewish, so he invites him to Passover Seder. This is a wonderfully irreverent episode that pushes its taboo subject to sometimes uncomfortable extremes without going too far.

Even some of the greatest TV shows have struggled to put out nine quality seasons, but the hilarity of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" showed no signs of stopping. The season-long plot deals with Larry having a fatwa put against him by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in retaliation for making fun of Ayatollahs when he went on a late-night show. Making things worse for Larry is that he's working on a musical comedy called "Fatwa!" based on Salman Rushdie's 1989 book, "The Satanic Verses," and the controversy that resulted from its publication. Rushdie even appears as himself in the hilarious "A Disturbance in the Kitchen," sharing some of his sage wisdom with Larry, who's so afraid of the fatwa that he's been going outside in a disguise. The episode borrows heavily from "Seinfeld" (particularly Kramer's "Kavorka"), but the show puts the references to good use while also commenting on the importance of free speech.

Of course, it's impossible to discuss the merits of Season 9 without bringing up the legendary episode "The Accidental Text on Purpose." Here, Larry develops a text trick to help his friends get out of relationship trouble. The texter sends a text — something complimentary — to someone who's upset with them and pretends it was a mistake. Like almost all of Larry's plans, it actually works pretty well — until it completely blows up in his face. Even when he tries to help his friends, Larry still manages to make them hate him.

While Season 3 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" proved that the show wasn't a fluke, Season 4 made it a contender for one of the greatest comedy programs out there. A high point of the season (as well as the series overall) is "The Car Pool Lane," which sees Larry desperately trying to score a free ticket to the upcoming Dodgers game from Marty, whose father just passed away. When that fails, Cheryl surprises Larry with two tickets to the game for him and Jeff, but when Jeff can't go, Larry picks up a sex worker so that he can use the carpool lane to get to the game. As wacky as that episode description is, it's only a fraction of the zaniness. Every time Larry thinks he's concocted a clever plan to get out of a jam, he makes things worse for himself, and we can't help but laugh hysterically at everything he does.

"The Surrogate" is another prime example of how Larry manages to always replace our sympathy for him with adoring condescension. Here, he functions as little more than a wrecking ball in every social situation. From making a big deal about old magazines in the doctor's office to letting himself get aroused by a pretty nurse to mistaking a Black driver for a valet to ruining a baby shower, there's no conceivable interaction that Larry can't destroy. The chaos is strong in this episode, but it's well-contained with a tight structure that ensures every ridiculous subplot gets its due.

The peak of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is largely contained in its middle seasons. There's nary a dud in sight in Season 6, making it one of the most consistently funny seasons of the whole series. There are quite a few major changes that happen, providing even more material for the show's creators to work with. For example, Larry and Cheryl decide to take in a Black family (whose last name happens to be "Black," leading to some terrific misunderstandings), whose New Orleans home was destroyed by a hurricane. Cheryl also decides to divorce Larry, meaning he's now single and ready to mingle.

Every episode is a hit, but the best are the last two, "The Therapists" and "The Bat Mitzvah." In "The Therapists," Larry and his therapist concoct a plan to convince Cheryl that he's improved himself and that they should get back together. However, Cheryl's therapist has (rightfully) convinced her that she shouldn't get back with him. The result is a witless battle between them all. In "The Bat Mitzvah," Larry's slight against someone leads to them spreading the rumor that there's a gerbil up his ... Well, use your imagination. This prompts Larry to use Jeff's daughter's bat mitzvah to clear up the hearsay. To be fair to Larry, sometimes the punishment he receives for his awkwardness is severe, but he always manages to handle it in the worst way possible — much to our delight.