Here's my little idea for an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's based in part on a true story that happened to my brother, and also in part on Terry Gilliam's "Brazil".

The Applause-O-Gram

Cheryl gets a call from a man with a thick Indian accent asking for “Mr. Larry”. Larry's not home, but the man has an important message for him that he wants to fax, So Cheryl scrounges for some crummy paper and puts it in the fax machine to receive the fax.

The fax is a form letter that says LARRY DAVID has been awarded an Applause-O-Gram at the Cedars Sinai hospital. Larry assumes it is because of what an exemplary patient he was when he donated his kidney to Richard Lewis.

Over the next several days, Larry has a few phone conversations with this Indian man who continues to call him “Mr. Larry”, prepping him about the award ceremony etc. Larry gets such a big kick out of the fact that he's being called “Mr. Larry” in that thick subservient accent that he starts to use the name around town with his friends: "No, that's Mr. Larry to you, haha!!"

When they arrive at the ceremony at Cedars Sinai to receive the Applause-O-Gram, the Indian gentleman is thrilled to meet them, and discusses with Larry what will happen at the ceremony. He still calls Larry “Mr. Larry”, which by now feels a little bit strange since Larry and Cheryl have incorporated the name into their sex play, Cheryl reluctantly pretending to be an Indian servant to the British Larry during the Raj.

At the awards ceremony, it transpires that the Applause-O-Gram was for “David Larry”, a black nurse at the hospital (the dirty fax paper obscured the fact that what was written on the form was “LARRY, DAVID”. Somehow, a clerical error resulted in Larry being contacted instead of Mr. Larry.

Larry’s friends, who have purchased $100 tickets to attend the ceremony, are incensed. When Larry tries to explain how the misunderstanding came about, the Indian is outraged that Larry should think such racist things about such an educated man, head of fundraising and public relations at the hospital. The old, cancer-riddled woman who expended some of her very last energies composing the epistle that earned David Larry the Applause-O-Gram now wakes from her pain-killer-induced doze, and gets out of her wheelchair to fume at Larry. David Larry, who is just getting off a double shift, happens to be walking by the ceremony, and comes in to see what all the scuffle is about. When he identifies himself, Wanda becomes enraged at Larry...