The recent death of comedian George Carlin came to mind as I sat down to write this review. Carlin and Curb Your Enthusiasm would not be the cultural icons they are without the largesse of Home Box Office. Carlin did something like 11 standup specials for them and Curb finished its 6th (and possibly final season) last year. Both reveled in foul mouthed, button pushing, boundary shattering comedy that has inspired and blown the minds of millions of viewers (from my generation at least, the ones that didn't grow up with Carlin's comedy LPs).

The comparisons probably end there, but we owe HBO a great deal for bringing the pure, raw talent of Carlin and the creators and actors on Curb to a wide audience. And just like watching a vintage Carlin special on YouTube, watching this early batch of episodes of Curb, really puts everything that came after it into perspective.

For one, Curb was quite obviously influenced by the strain of British sitcoms that pushed the envelope of viewer discomfort. There were far too many points during this, the second season, that I found myself cringing as Larry David dug himself into deeper and deeper holes through each episode. It is reminiscent of the more horrifying moments of the second series of The Office (the BBC version) and some of Chris Morris's more trenchant work on Jam, but imbued with David's peculiar strain of Jewish guilt and American egotism. And like David Brent and Alan Partridge before him, its amazing that through it all, we still manage to root for David no matter how much of an ass he is to the people around him.

Also, it was great to see the series settle into a story arc that it sustained throughout the 10 episodes, without losing focus and keeping it fresh with each step of the way. Although it often felt tentative (the inclusion of his old Seinfeld cohorts Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss was understandable considering the storyline but it felt a little too easy in my opinion), it was a great way to introduce the concept that they would absolutely perfect in the following seasons.

Finally, having lived with the show for a number of years now (and I might have mentioned this in my review of Season 1), I kind of got used to the concept of the show and the stumbling interactions and gross misconduct and the glorious use of profanity, that to be reminded of the early days when it seemed so pungent and bracing is nothing but a good thing.