Smoove Moves

If you’re not a Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, I totally understand – it doesn’t exactly have a wholesome, universal appeal.  However, we in the Worthington household are HUGE fans.  On that show, JB Smoove plays what might be the funniest and most outrageous recurring character in any comedy series, hands down.  Meet Leon Black, in this EXTREMELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR CHILDREN scene, passing himself off as a Jewish accountant named Danny Duberstein, who overcame (fictional) Groat’s Disease…

Here’s a compliation of some of his best Curb scenes – also ENSFWOC…

When we saw him in DC doing stand-up, he was every bit as hilarious and disgusting and lovable as Leon Black, but add brilliant to the mix and you have JB.  Here are some of the reasons we spent almost 2 straight hours laughing.

InSANE physical comedy – he’s as at home imitating women who are good at walking in high heels (think Beyonce,) and women who aren’t (think Tyrannosaurus Rex,) as he is imitating a gentleman from the 1780s settling a dispute with a pistol (think, I dunno, Aaron Burr.)

Metaphors as disgusting and ridiculous as they are accurate…like how the difference between twisting the nipple of a small breast vs. a large one.  Cracking a safe vs. spinning a roulette wheel.  Sound effects, physical comedy and all.  On the pervasiveness of crime in Detroit?  Want ads that say “Stolen Car For Sale.”  Threat pages instead of Obituaries.  “Jack Thompson – you might not want to show up to work tomorrow…”

Harvey Korman moments.  There were at LEAST 3 times when he started giggling and had to stop the show to compose himself.  It is impossible not to laugh at and with a comedian who is laughing.

The best, though was afterwards – he was signing posters and t-shirts for the fans, and we waited to get a poster for our 14-year-old son (who may or may not have been watching Curb Your Enthusiasm since he was 10 or something *cough*.)  I kid you not, this was one of the most genuinely nice people I’ve ever met.  He was as sweet with the young, embarrassingly worshipful frat kid who kept coming back for more autographs and pictures and fist bumps as he was with the loud lady who kept inserting herself into his routines from the audience.

When it was our turn, and I smiled and held my hand out, he shook mine with both of his and asked, as if he REALLY wanted to know, “Do you enjoy yourself, tonight?”  I said, “Oh, my god, are you KIDDING me?” and he beamed and said, “I am SO glad to hear that!!!”  Having been a parent for almost 17 years, a middle school teacher for 3 years before that, I consider myself someone with a pretty finely attuned bullshit detector.  None here.  Perhaps I was star struck, but I really got the feeling he was happy to hear it.

Dave said, apologetically, “We’re kinda your more low-key type of fans compared to the others in line…” which made JB laugh a great belly laugh and put his arm around Dave saying, “That’s alright, that’s alright…”  We told him about our indoctrination of Nicky (Emma, too, but Nicky’s really the hard-core fan) to the Curb club at an age so young some might consider revoking our parenting card, but he (not surprisingly) loved it and wrote a great note to Nicky on the poster we bought.

And if you want to know what the “Long Balls” reference is, here ya go.  http://www.ranker.com/list/best-leon-black-quotes-from-curb-your-enthusiasm/movie-and-tv-quotes?format=SLIDESHOW&page=3

At the end of the show, he promised to bug Larry David to do another season of Curb.  We’re hoping hard here, at the Worthington house, that he succeeds.