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Larry David's inventive, improvisational sitcom remains one of the ongoing delights of cable television, and anyone as yet unconvinced need only watch the ten episodes of 2004. The fourth season kicks off with a plot gimmick that undergirds the entire year of shows: After hearing Larry sing at a karaoke bar, Mel Brooks invites him to costar on Broadway in The Producers, and a nervous but excited Larry accepts. The season opener also stars Ben Stiller and his real-life wife, Christine Taylor, who return in the following episode. In "Ben's Birthday Party," Stiller gets annoyed when Larry refuses to sing "Happy Birthday" at his party, and the complications that ensue are positively sidesplitting. Perhaps the season's best episode is "The Five Wood," which is something of an homage to one of David's classic Seinfeld episodes. David Schwimmer guest-stars as himself, and a bag of cashews and raisins comes between him and Larry just as our hero risks losing his country-club membership. "Survivor" features Paul Dooley and Julie Payne as the parents of Larry's wife, Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), who has talked her husband into repeating their marriage vows at a ceremony. The season finale, in which Larry heads to New York for his Broadway debut, is another hilarious episode that now seems rather poignant as well: It costars the late Anne Bancroft as herself (Mrs. Mel Brooks). As always with Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 4 demonstrates David's uncanny ability to turn the most banal situations into hysterically funny set pieces; he has truly mastered the comedy of embarrassment, an achievement never more apparent than in the ten shows collected here. Ed Hulse, Barnes & Noble