As Leon Black in Curb Your Enthusiasm, J. B. Smoove is fast, profane and entirely certain, and that certainty makes room for exchanges that would otherwise sound alike. Away from that show, the parts have mostly been broad and small.
Fi1m perspective
Leon Black walks into a room already certain. He talks fast, he swears freely, and he hands out advice that nobody asked for and that no sensible person would take. In a series built on Larry David's quarrels over etiquette, where everyone else is waiting to be offended, Leon is the one who is never uncomfortable, and that changes the sound of a scene. His confidence makes room for exchanges that would otherwise risk sounding much alike, and in a show that runs on one man's disagreements that is a real service.
He came to it late and by a roundabout road. Smoove began in stand-up in the mid-1990s, wrote for Def Comedy Jam, performed on The Chris Rock Show, and spent three years from 2003 as a writer and occasional performer at SNL after the casting auditions had gone against him. The film parts before Leon were small: Pootie Tang (2001), and Reuben in Mr. Deeds (2002) opposite Adam Sandler. Then Larry David cast him in the sixth series of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2007 and he stayed until the finale in 2024, a recurring part that became the one he is known for.
What he does there is improvise, and it shows in the best way. Curb is largely unscripted, and Smoove's lines arrive in the moment, so they land as speech rather than as writing; a good deal of the pleasure is watching David wait to find out what Leon will say next. We laughed at him, and then noticed we had been laughing at the speed and swagger of the talk rather than at any joke we could repeat afterwards, which is the mark of a comic who works on rhythm rather than lines. He has said as much himself: "I don’t consider myself a stand-up comedian. I consider myself a performer; a comic as opposed to stand-up comedian." On the evidence of Leon, the distinction holds.
Away from Leon the record is thinner. There have been supporting turns in studio comedies, a good deal of voice work in animation, and two appearances as Mr. Dell in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and its 2021 sequel. The few reservations anyone has published about him say much the same thing: that he keeps being cast as the loud friend in the corner. We have not reviewed those films and will not judge them here, but a comic this quick deserves a room where he is allowed to do more than be loud in it.
If you want to see what he can do, start where everyone did, with Curb Your Enthusiasm, and take it an episode at a time; Leon does not wear thin, but the quarrels around him can. Whether anything after Leon gives him a part as good is not in his hands. He has already shown he can make one up on the spot.
Biography
J. B. Smoove, born Jerry Angelo Brooks, is an American comedian, actor and writer. He began performing stand-up in the mid-1990s, appearing on Def Comedy Jam, and later worked as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live from 2003 to 2006.
He is best known for playing Leon Black on the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2007 to 2024. His film credits include Mr. Dell in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), as well as roles in Date Night (2010), We Bought a Zoo (2011) and Mr. Deeds (2002). He has also provided voice work for The Simpsons and American Dad!.
