No matter how famous they are, big celebrities are usually pretty nice when they're going about their daily lives. Unless they're dealing with Larry David, of course.
Over the course of 20 years and 10 seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, stars have flocked to play extreme versions of themselves, from the exacting and obnoxious to the smug and fairly loathsome, on the Emmy-winning series—all in service of those cringe-worthy moments that are Curb's bread and butter.
The heavily improvised show follows "Larry David" on his adventures traversing the wilds of upscale Los Angeles (and, in season eight, New York), never failing to add another grievance to his ever-lengthening list. No matter how routine the interaction, be it with a waiter or A-list actor, a friend or complete stranger, the situation inevitably devolves into a battle of wills over something ridiculous, albeit a battle that the sporadically righteous Larry will fight tooth and nail to win.
Rarely does that happen, but since he's the extremely wealthy creator of Seinfeld, you never have to waste time wondering whether things are going to turn out all right for him, allowing for more time to luxuriate in the frequently hilarious awkwardness.
But while Larry's own insufferable behavior tends to create the conflict, he also ends up revealing how ridiculous other people can be, too. He may have an immovable sense of what's right and appropriate, but almost no one wants to meet him halfway, even when he attempts to be reasonable.
"I know I'm often described as a nice guy [in real life]," David told NPR in 2015, "but—by the way, I think the guy on Curb is a nice guy. He's just very honest."
And he's not always wrong.
So in honor of the show's 20th anniversary and Larry's many highs and lows, we're recalling some of his most memorable run-ins with other members of that vaunted industry known as showbiz.
This doesn't even include the endless stream of famous faces who've played more affronts to his very specific behavioral code—from Steven Weber's oyster shucker and Rob Corddry's sex-offender Seder guest to Vivica A. Fox's hurricane refugee turned love interest and Lauren Graham's NBC censor—but the list of stars who've lined up to appear as their own say-anything ids on Curb is pret-tay, pret-tay good.
Cue the music.
David, who for the last decade has been kinda making the show when he feels like it, will be back for an 11th season.