Listen, I’m a little hesitant to do a Curb re-up today. It’s nothing about you, really, I just don’t know if today’s the day for one. It seems like maybe today is, in fact, not the day. Whatever. Never mind. Let’s do this.

“Car Periscope” is great. It doesn’t reinvent anything or bring the show to new heights, and is in fact a little short on dialogue bits, relying more on visual jokes, but it’s a good, funny episode. The plot is pretty lengthy so let’s try and summarize this quickly. Things start off with Larry getting upstreamed while hailing a cab. He calls her out, which is a pretty good bit, and then things move on, but don’t forget about the upstreaming, because in typical Curb fashion, it will return eventually.

From there we see Larry working out with a personal trainer, in what eventually turns into the C plot of Larry recommending his trainer to guest Wanda Sykes who then steals Larry’s slot. It’s an alright bit but doesn’t concern the other two plots that much so I’m not really going to mention it any more. Don’t be mistaken, however, there are some good scenes involved in the C plot.

After working out, the A plot gets underway as Larry and Jeff visit the home of an inventor hoping to raise money for what turns out to be a Kramer-esque car periscope. Neither one are totally sold on the inventor and willing to invest, until, on their way out, they meet the man’s wife who is more homely than her husband. With a strange sense of logic, a gag that continues throughout the episode, Larry decides that the inventor is a man of integrity and agrees to test drive the periscoped car. The various test driving scenes are pretty funny and eventually Larry and Jeff, and even Susie too, decide the invention is helpful and worth investing in.

The B plot gets begins when the three friends attend a party hosted by their friend Henry. He reveals to them that his senile father, the former Judge Horn, is now living with him, and on a whim that has so often proven unsuccessful, Larry announces “I am going to do something nice right now!” and goes to say hello. Larry finds the elder Horn playing scrabble with a one-armed man, who, after some David-initiated riffing about the pros and cons of having one arm, leaves Larry to entertain the judge. Larry tells the judge how much his father loved his show, to which he replies, “Lotta kikes liked the show. Jiggaboos, too.” Then, while Larry is shocked and silent, Henry comes in and sees that the scrabble score is skewed in LD’s favor and kicks him out of his party for taking advantage of his demented father. Larry has but one option: track down the one-armed man.

The plots converge when Larry is injured by Ira the inventor’s wife after accidentally revealing that he thinks Ira is a good man because he married someone less attractive. Now in a sling, Larry runs into the one-armed man who upstreams him (told you it would come back) for a cab, simultaneously knocking down the elder Horn. Henry runs out form the coffee shop he and his father were in and asks his father who knocked him down. “A one-armed man!” growls the old judge. But there is no one armed man to be found, only Larry, who currently has only one good arm. Full circle!

Like I opened with, “Car Periscope” does not shuttle Curb to a new plateau of comedy (of which it is already positioned at the peak), but rather, is just a fun, goofy episode. Similar to the episode earlier this season, “The Smiley Face”, “Car Periscope” takes the unconventional route of using visual gags. Between the whole car periscope bit, and the one-armed man, the episode relies on less spoken jokes than usual, but it’s still great and funny, so whatever. And hey, the entire episode come full circle, which is expected, but they even talk about perfect circles at the beginning! Are you kidding me? It’s wonderful!

Check out my favorite bit from “Car Periscope” after the jump.

The Sting
Larry: It’s a great idea, but really, who is this guy? Why should we trust him? This could be a big elaborate con game for all we know.”

Jeff: You think it could be a con game?

Larry Look at The Sting! That’s elaborate.

Jeff: I never saw it. I saw The Sting 2.

Larry: You didn’t see The Sting?

Jeff: No. But The Sting 2? Jackie Gleason? Pretty good.

Larry: I mean, what kind of idiot sees Sting 2 and not Sting 1?

Jeff: I don’t remember back then, but I’m just telling you, I didn’t see Sting 1 but I saw Sting 2!

Larry: You must be the only person in the world who saw Sting 2 and not Sting 1.

- Elbows