Here’s how the famous Curb Your Enthusiasm theme “Frolic” spawned a hilarious meme. Larry David launched his career as a writer for Saturday Night Live before teaming with comedian Jerry Seinfeld to create the sitcom Seinfeld, which debuted in 1989. The series was famously labeled as “A show about nothing” and follows Seinfeld and his group of oddball, self-destructive friends, including George (Jason Alexander), Kramer (Michael Richards), and Elaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep). Seinfeld became one of the most successful TV shows in history and came to an end with season 9 in 1998. David had left the show in season 7 but returned to write the aptly titled “The Finale,” which proved to be a disappointing end to the show for many fans.
Larry David would follow Seinfeld with Curb Your Enthusiasm, a largely improvised HBO comedy series that follows a fictionalized version of himself, who’s unwavering honesty and lack of social graces often lands him in very uncomfortable situations. The show is arguably just as acclaimed as Seinfeld was, with David’s character being oddly endearing despite frequently getting himself into needlessly awkward scenarios.
One of the most recognizable elements of the show is the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme. This piece of music perfectly captures the tone of the series and it originated from the 1974 Italian melodrama La Bellissima Estate. This piece was composed by Luciano Michelini and following the movie, it would gon on to appear in a number of TV shows and commercials. David first heard the theme from a bank commercial and feeling it would be perfect for Curb, sought out the rights to use it.
Since the show began the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme’s jaunty tone has become synonymous with awkward situations, and after parodies in the likes of Family Guy and Arrested Development, it became a full-blown meme. The clip has appeared in everything from the bleak ending to The Mist, Steve Harvey mistakenly crowning the wrong Miss Universe in 2015 or the famous clip of Ben Affleck looking sad during an interview for Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice in 2016.
The Curb Your Enthusiasm theme is an endlessly versatile piece of music, and it tends to slot in perfectly over videos with awkward or cringe-worthy moments, like Warren Beatty explaining the La La Land / Moonlight mix-up from the 2017 Academy Awards. For his part, Larry David is somewhat bemused by the popularity of the meme, while composer Luciano Michelini embraces the spread of “Frolic” in pop culture.
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