In this week’s episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” fellow HBO comedy series creator Bill Hader appeared not as one character, not as two, but as three in one of the season’s funniest bits. Our recap of “Igor, Gregor & Timor” below.
As the episode begins, Larry is sleeping next to Irma Kostroski (Tracey Ullman), and he looks miserable. His plan to get her to change the law about the fence around pools is taking longer than expected, and he’s suffering.
The next morning, Larry mentions to Irma that it’s going to cost $5,000 to put a fence around his pool, and brings up repealing the law again. “Would it make you happy if I helped to repeal the law?” Irma asks. Larry is ecstatic. She explains that they need three votes on the city council in order to pass the law, but agrees she’s going to try. Larry says he’d like to return the favor and offers to buy Irma something. “You know what I really want? Vaginal rejuvenation surgery,” Irma says. Larry’s face drops. Irma goes on and on about how badly she needs the surgery. “I wanna wear white pants with you,” she says, noting how the surgery is for both of them. Larry agrees he’ll get it for her in exchange for trying to repeal the law.
Larry is walking down the street and sees a biker who’s had an accident on the sidewalk, and he’s bleeding badly. Larry calls an ambulance and puts his sweater over the man, and when it arrives, Larry questions why the man was bicycling in the first place. “I think even roller skates are better,” Larry says unhelpfully. He steps away as they load the man into the ambulance, only to realize too late that his sweater is still with the man and is now on the way to the hospital.
Larry then goes to the hospital to track down his sweater, but at the nurse’s station he’s told he can’t go in the man’s room. Larry says he just needs to retrieve his sweater, but the nurse counters with the fact that she doesn’t know if he’s telling the truth. Larry asks if they could tell the man that Larry is there to get his sweater back. A further argument ensues when the nurse says he’s resting. “I’m not gonna disturb the patient just to ask him about your sweater,” she says. Eventually she agrees to hand the man a note, but then Larry asks where plastic surgery is – while he’s at the hospital he may as well look into Irma’s surgery.
After making his way down to the plastic surgery center, Larry tracks down a doctor and asks how long a vaginal rejuvenation puts a person “out of commission” for. The doctor explains he recommends no sexual activity for six to eight weeks, depending on what kind of work needs to be done. Larry is elated.
Back on the set of Larry’s show, Jeff (Jeff Garlin) says he’s found a way to end the discord over his extramarital affair. There’s a vase that Susie (Susie Essman) wants in Beverly Hills, but Jeff found a guy named Igor in downtown L.A. that has the same exact vase at half the price. “This is amazing what you’ve got going, the whole risk-reward life,” Larry says.
Looking down on the actors and crew, Larry notices that Maria Sofia is sitting in his chair. When she gets up, her father then sits in Larry’s chair. Larry and Jeff can’t wait to get rid of Maria Sofia, but they only have two weeks until filming is due to begin.
Larry and Jeff make their way to Igor’s store, which brings us to Bill Hader’s (first) guest starring role in this week’s episode as the proprietor of the business. “Is there anything you won’t take?” Larry asks. “Anything with blood on it,” Igor replies. Igor brings out the vase, and Jeff explains it’s for his wife. Igor deduces Jeff is “in a little bit of trouble,” and agrees to clean the vase up and Jeff can come back in a couple of days to pick it up.
Larry and Jeff are looking for some place to eat and decide to step into a hotel to ask the concierge where they should go. The concierge, named Gregor, is also played by Bill Hader and has a similar accent to Igor (but different facial hair). Gregor recommends a place named Café Cukor, and says they should eat the goulash.
At Café Cukor, Larry and Jeff are dissatisfied with the goulash. “This is one of the worst things I’ve ever had in my life,” Larry says. They wonder why Gregor would have recommended the place, only for the manager of the restaurant – Timor – to come to their table. Timor is, again, played by Bill Hader with another accent, and he offers to try the goulash after Larry and Jeff complain. He claims it’s good goulash, and says it pains him that they didn’t like the goulash and makes a recommendation of his own – a pet store down the street, owned by someone who sounds like yet another relative.
When Larry asks Timor if he’s related to Igor or Gregor, Timor says no but is not convincing. They push, but Timor resists. He’s never heard of these men, he claims, and Hader has a lot of fun with this little back-and-forth.
Larry and Jeff return to Gregor to tell him they didn’t enjoy the food, and ask if he knows Igor or Timor. “Why is it you all look alike and have ‘or’ on the end of your names?” Jeff asks pointedly. Larry says he thinks they’re all in cahoots, paying each other for recommendations. Gregor refutes this, but again is unconvincing. Larry is, unsurprisingly, incensed that American people can no longer trust their concierge. Gregor concludes by trying to recommend a few other places they go, and Larry and Jeff leave.
Back at home, Irma is having second thoughts about the vaginal rejuvenation. Larry tries to talk her back into it, and she says she wants to talk to someone who’s had it done.
Susie shows up and apologizes for yelling at Irma at the party in Episode 7. Larry says if Susie really wants to make it up to him, she can tell Irma she had vaginal rejuvenation surgery and it worked great. Susie agrees, but only if Larry will get Jeff to buy Susie a vase that she wants. “Get Jeff to buy me that vase, I’ll tell her I had a million different things done to my vagina,” Susie says.
Susie apologies and tells Irma she had a “tuck and a lift,” but Irma asks to see it. Susie makes an excuse to leave quickly.
Larry goes back to the hospital to retrieve his sweater and walks in on the biker, when he quickly realizes his sweater is gone. He asks the man if he saw the sweater, but he admits he’s been in and out of consciousness. When he says his wife has been in the room, Larry asks if he’ll call his wife and ask if she’s seen his sweater. He declines, so Larry goes to the nurse’s station and asks the same nurse he talked to before if she saw the man’s wife with his sweater. She is noncommittal and annoyed, and tells him to try lost and found. “Nobody’s ever found anything in the lost and found, especially the person who lost it,” Larry replies. He asks the nurse to call him if anyone mentions seeing the sweater. “I’ll try,” she says, which sets Larry off.
Back at Igor’s shop, Larry and Jeff go to retrieve their vase, but Igor’s demeanor is now more subdued, and he says the vase is no longer for sale. Larry says he knows what’s going on, that Igor is refusing to sell the vase because they didn’t like the goulash. Like Gregor and Timor before him, Igor says he has no idea what they’re talking about. Larry makes a mocking impression of Igor’s accent, which offends Igor. Larry and Jeff end up going to the Beverly Hills shop and spending $10,000 on the vase.
While driving, Larry and Jeff spot the man from the hospital wearing Larry’s sweater. But when Larry slams on his brakes, they end up breaking the vase. Larry apologies and offers to pay for the vase. Jeff agrees, and Larry is taken aback. He admits he was making an insincere gesture, and was expecting Jeff to counter with them splitting the vase.
Larry goes to see Susie and tells her that the vase broke. “Well I guess you’re just gonna have to go get another one,” Susie says, noting that if he doesn’t she’s gonna tell Irma horror stories about her “vaginal rejuvenation” experience. “I wish you wouldn’t do that. You have no idea what it’s like to have sex with this woman,” Larry says.
In an effort to get Igor’s vase, Larry goes on an apology tour to Gregor and Timor and Igor. Igor accepts his apology, but says the vase is now $10,000. Larry agrees, but when driving home with the vase is stopped by a man walking his dog who claims Larry almost killed him and his dog. Turns out, when Irma borrowed Larry’s car, she nearly hit this man. But when Larry tries to drive away, he ends up breaking the second vase.
In bed at Larry’s house, Irma says she doesn’t want the rejuvenation surgery. She says she got a look at Susie’s vagina and was not a fan. “It was like a melted cave,” she describes. Plus, she notes they wouldn’t be able to have sex for six to eight weeks. In bed at Jeff’s house, Susie says she wants vaginal rejuvenation surgery instead of the vase. The episode ends back at Larry’s house, with Irma climbing on top of Larry.
Final Thoughts
It was great to see Bill Hader back on TV, as the long wait after the brilliant second season of “Barry” continues. His guest spot on “Curb” didn’t disappoint, and he was deployed perfectly given his talent for accents and character work. How long until “Barry” Season 3, again?
As for the rest of the episode, the Larry/Irma dynamic continues to deliver, and the end of the episode sets the stage for an eventful finale. The clock is ticking, but here’s hoping we get more Maria Sofia before the season concludes.
