One of HBO’s most col­or­ful cou­ples bare their souls — and the love, fear, and dra­ma under­ly­ing a life in com­e­dy — in a pair of first-per­son accounts. Jeff Gar­lin and Susie Ess­man of HBO’s ​“Curb Your Enthu­si­asm,” star­ring the semi-real exploits of Sein­feld co-cre­ator Lar­ry David, may seem one-sided and self-obsessed, but their real-life mus­ings are deep. 

Jeff Gar­lin, the iras­ci­ble roly-poly who plays Lar­ry David’s man­ag­er and cohort Jeff Greene, embarks upon his own jour­ney to lose weight while going green. Nei­ther seri­ous nor light­heart­ed (no pun intend­ed), this dai­ly jour­nal out­lines his strug­gles in earnest as he search­es for the strength to over­come overeat­ing. Whether help­ing him­self to food reserved for a strangers’ wed­ding, vis­it­ing Krispy Kreme, or decry­ing the Jam­ba Juice-tot­ing woman who attend­ed an Overeaters Anony­mous meet­ing, Gar­lin main­tains a sense of humor about his food addic­tion. Mean­while, he takes the bus, greens his house, and argues with his wife over replac­ing their win­dows. 

The real treat is the behind-the-scenes gan­der Gar­lin, who also serves as co-pro­duc­er, shares of the Curb set, includ­ing a bit involv­ing Jer­ry Sein­feld and a choco­late milk­shake. 

Susie Ess­man has penned an auto­bi­o­graph­i­cal glimpse into the life of a stand up come­di­enne — replete with hope­less­ness and despair before catch­ing her big break as the acer­bic wife of Jeff Greene on ​“Curb Your Enthu­si­asm.” Life lessons accrued along the way touch upon rela­tion­ships, gay men as the new soc­cer moms, and the tra­vails of menopause. 

Espe­cial­ly use­ful is the stir­ring eight-page let­ter Ess­man writes to her four stepchil­dren: ​“Fre­quent­ly when our hearts are bro­ken, obses­sion takes over, but obses­sion is nev­er about what we think it’s about.” Essman’s words and hard-won suc­cess inspire as only some­one once plagued by severe self-doubt can. 

Though it is easy — and a delight — to imag­ine the sto­ry deliv­ered in the shrill stac­ca­to Ess­man uses to call Jeff a fat **** or order Lar­ry to get the **** out of her house, her mes­sage is heart­felt. There are few punch lines, but wis­dom abounds.

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