‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Revives Bruce Springsteen’s Acting Career

The final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm has been fairly low-key as far as big, flashy surprises—not that Larry David seems like the kind of guy to make a to-do out of anything. But the penultimate episode, which aired Sunday on HBO, featured a cameo that stands as one of the biggest in the show’s history. Bruce Springsteen appeared as himself in a storyline about—what else?—how crappy Larry is to everyone around him, including the Boss. And while his presence may be enough cause for celebration, the real takeaway here is that Springsteen should actually think about acting as an Act II for his career.

Springsteen played a surprisingly major part in the episode, as his brief lunch with Larry turns into a national scandal of the most absurd kind. As Larry approaches his court date—he’s due to stand trial in Atlanta for breaking its obnoxious, but not unique, law against offering water to people waiting in line to vote—his lawyer insists that he make himself appear as likable as possible. This is simply impossible for someone like Larry David, as anyone who’s watched 12 seasons of Curb knows. But Larry’s generated some goodwill because of the water bottle stunt, which has made him seem like a person of the people. And now Springsteen, so moved by Larry’s compassion (Larry’s become “a hero of mine,” he says), is interested in meeting him for lunch.

Springsteen fits in well into this cartoon universe, adding to Curb’s roster of great celebrity cameos. He’s very down to entertain Larry’s maybe-not-so-ridiculous new hyperfixation, which is a local restaurant taking down its C-rating sign and putting it back up to an A. (“If he said B, that’s not so far from A,” he says. “I’d eat at a B! That’s not so bad!”) And he empathizes with Larry having to finish a horribly written manuscript from acquaintance Les McCrabb (a very funny Matt Berry), because he lied and said he loved it. Springsteen did a similar thing to a well-known musician, he says—which, after Larry coaxes him, he reveals was Don Henley. And now Springsteen’s got to avoid the guy.

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