Every ‘SNL’ Performer Who Appeared on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ Ranked
Curb Your Enthusiasm has featured numerous guest stars over the years, many of whom were just Ted Danson over and over again. But we’ve also gotten several Curb performances from former cast members of Saturday Night Live, a show that Larry David briefly wrote for before quitting. He later strip-mined his SNL experiences for Seinfeld ideas (up to and including his quitting).
Here is the definitive (and we’re guessing only) ranking of Curb appearances made by SNL alum. (Note: This list only features on-air talent; writers such as J.B. Smoove and Bob Odenkirk don’t count.)
David Spade
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The star of Joe Dirt 2 is at the bottom of the list only because we don’t even get to hear his voice; his presence only serves to enrage Larry, who spies Spade sitting courtside at a Lakers game with the head of NBC while he’s stuck in the nosebleed seats like a commoner.
Brad Hall
The one-time Weekend Update anchor, and husband to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, appeared in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, playing himself — although he only showed up as a function of his wife’s storyline and didn’t have much to do.
Jon Rudnitsky
While he only appeared in one season of SNL (Season 11), Rudnitsky was set to play the lead role in Larry’s Young Sheldon-esqe vanity project — that is until Larry (in an especially uncomfortable plotline) decides to poke fun at his claims of being a victim of sexual abuse as a teenager.
Tim Kazurinsky
His time at SNL ended the same year David’s began, but Kazurinsky showed up in Season Three of Curb as Hugh, one of Larry’s fellow restaurant investors who understandably doesn’t appreciate his new friend awkwardly complimenting his son’s endowment.
Fred Armisen
Armisen was cast as a disabled man for some reason. The joke is mainly that he’s super slow at doing things, which… isn't funny? Still, Armisen has some great moments, such as when he’s sent to spy on Susie, who may or may not be planning to murder Jeff.
Ana Gasteyer
Gasteyer was mostly wasted as Elizabeth, one of Larry’s girlfriends, who becomes enraged when he buys her son a sewing machine for his birthday. One of the rare instances where Larry is 100 percent in the right and still gets screamed at.
Gary Kroeger
Larry begins to suspect that the local weatherman – sorry meteorologist (played by Kroeger) is giving bogus reports, forecasting rain on sunny days purely in order to have the golf course all to himself.
Kevin Nealon
Nealon plays it totally straight as a fictional version of himself, who takes issue with Larry’s nonchalance after potentially driving an acquaintance to attempt suicide.
Michael McKean
The great McKean played a struggling TV director who was “stuck in the dramedy ghetto” after helming the “cancer scare episode of Home Improvement.” He later gleefully spreads a Richard Gere-esque rumor that Larry stuck a gerbil up his ass.
Martin Short
While not very consequential, who can forget the time Larry ran into Short on the street and attempted to learn how to do the Jiminy Glick voice at the expense of his own social standing.
Michaela Watkins
One of several members of a neighboring women’s shelter to face Larry’s wrath, Watkins is chewed out for not cleaning up her dog’s poop. Larry later apologizes to her but refuses to say sorry to her dog.
Tim Meadows
One of the all-time great SNL cast members, no one nailed “simmering Larry David-inspired rage” quite like Meadows as Hal. Even before his wife’s dog is trampled by Larry’s exterminator, Hal seems completely exasperated by Larry. Things reach a tipping point when Larry and Leon accidentally switch phones:
Chris Parnell
After Susie decides to separate couples at her dinner party, Larry is seated next to some rando named Hank, played by Parnell, who proceeds to make awkward small talk about how he’s “not a fan of the Spanish.”
Cheri Oteri
Oteri played the titular “Nanny From Hell,” who becomes especially unhinged after Larry insists on using the main house bathroom during a pool party, which ultimately leads to her firing.
Albert Brooks
Technically, the legendary Brooks wasn’t an SNL cast member per se, but his films were a recurring segment in the first season, so we think he counts. On Curb, he helped try to fill the void left by the death of his brother Bob Einstein (who played Marty Funkhouser) by appearing in the 11th season premiere as himself. However, after staging a mock funeral, the attendees (including Jon Hamm) turn on Brooks after discovering that he’s a “COVID hoarder.”
David Koechner
A far cry from Todd Packer, Koechner played the understated but opportunistic actor portraying Joseph during a live nativity scene that eventually erupts into yuletide chaos.
Nasim Pedrad
Larry quibbles with the price of a haircut and ends up completely ruining a stranger’s relationship. Underrated SNL star Pedrad gets to deliver the line: “What kind of psychopath interferes with the nuances of a lesbian wedding?!”
Bill Hader
In a storyline that bordered on the surreal, Hader showed up as three different characters, apparent triplets from some undefined country: Igor, Gregor and Timor — who all refuse to admit to their familial connection. It was definitely odd, but undeniably funny.
Ben Stiller
Remember how Stiller was on SNL for just one month? He likely got more airtime on Curb, where he played Larry’s co-star in The Producers (before bowing out and being replaced by David Schwimmer). Stiller’s reverse-chemistry with Larry was perfect, from his annoyance at Larry’s aversion to the “Happy Birthday” song to his near blinding due to a mishandled food skewer.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Appearing in multiple seasons as herself, Louis-Dreyfus was one of the best early additions to the series, as she was constantly thrown into awkward situations by Larry, putting up with nocturnal visits and one memorably interminable trip to Larry’s neighbor’s house.
Of course, she later participated in the Seinfeld reunion show — and had to defend her respect for wood.
All in all, it was pretty, prettaaay, prettaaay good.
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