With the death of Bob Einstein, we lost one of the great comedic writers of all time and we lose one of the greatest characters of television: Marty Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Aside from Larry and Leon Black, Marty is my favorite character on the show. The funniest part of Marty is that no matter what Larry does to him and vice versa, he still friends with Larry and I have lost friendships over far less innocuous circumstances. Larry ruined Marty’s father’s funeral by trying to switch the golf club in the coffin, he also ruined Marty’s mother’s roadside memorial by stealing flowers. From the last season, Larry also put into motion an injury to Marty’s nephew’s throwing arm (he was a college baseball scholarship winner) that eventually led to his death during the running of the bulls in Spain and then Larry ruined the memorial by creating a stampede by suggesting there was a fatwa/terrorist attack about to happen.
Marty was no angel either. He served Larry a black penis chocolate cake without telling him and he cut off Larry twice, once when Larry divorced Cheryl and when Marty’s girlfriend told him to.
By looking at how Bob Einstein acted on the show (which is much ad-libbed), it was clear that he was having fun and I had fun watching him. Bob Einstein was a comedic talent, just like his brother, Albert Brooks. He will be missed.
