Susie Essman has played the venomous Susie Greene for all six seasons of the critically-acclaimed HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Susie (Greene, not Essman) is the no-nonsense wife of Larry David's rotund, cheerful agent Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin). Mrs. Greene will not suffer a fool or overlook the slightest slight; she invariably sees through every one of Larry and Jeff's lies and mischievous ploys and rips into them. These hilarious bouts of withering sarcasm and uninhibited insults have become her character's trademark and helped her to become one of the most popular players on the show. Robert B. Weide, co-executive producer (and director of half of the show's thirty episodes) says "What I love about the character Susie Greene is that no matter how much Larry thinks he's in control of a given situation, Susie just walks in and cuts him off at the knees. It's like "King Kong Versus Godzilla." Kong is a pretty formidable character, but once Godzilla shoots her laser fire breath at him, all he can do is recoil in agony. He's helpless against her wrath. She alone has the power to devastate him. It's a thing of beauty."

The New York Observer (which calls her "fantastic") says "she's taken female cursing to longshoreman levels, pummeling her bumbling, barrel-bodied husband with potty-mouthed invectives like 'You fat fuck!'" Essman's streetwise vernacular also suggests the contrast between the show's L.A. setting and her real life preferred location--New York. The Manhattan-based Essman is a veteran of the world of standup comedy, logging thousands of performances on the Gotham comedy circuit. She has appeared in her own half-hour HBO comedy special, hosted the American Comedy Awards, and performed on Comedy Central's "The Friar's Roast of Jerry Stiller", "Politically Incorrect" and "The Tonight Show". Her other television credits include appearances on "Law and Order', "The King Of Queens", and "Baby Boom." Essman has appeared in the films "Keeping The Faith", "The Siege", "Volcano" and "Punchline." Her talent and audacity made her a natural choice to perform off-Broadway in the play "The Vagina Monologues." Currently, you can hear Susie as the voice of Helen Higgins in the puppet animation/crank call series "Crank Yankers" on Comedy Central; you can also see her in the forthcoming film "Secret Lives of Dentists." If you live in the New York area you can catch her regularly at Carolines or Stand Up NY.

Despite sharing a first name (a convention the show applies to regular cast members), Essman says she is nothing like the character she plays on Curb Your Enthusiasm. And everyone else we've asked backs her up on this. "Susie Essman is much sweeter than Susie Greene," director Weide observes. "But that doesn't really say much, does it?"

HBO: I'm told you keep a running tally of your standup performances?

Susie Essman: I do. I gotta look in my book--it's like three thousand fifty-something.


HBO: How did you get your start in comedy?

Susie Essman: It was just a fluke. I never thought of being a comic. I was waitressing, taking acting classes and friends kind of forced me to do it. They kept telling me how funny I was, that I need to get on stage, so I just tried it and once I was doing it, it was like "this is the exact thing I'm supposed to be doing!" It was very clear to me.

There were these guys at the time who were opening a new comedy club called Comedy U. on University and 13th Street. (It's no longer there.) They saw my first show (at another place) and invited me to work at their club. That's not usually the way it works. You usually have to go through hell to get on stage, but these guys gave me so much time downtown with these great West Village audiences and that's how I developed.


HBO: How did you get cast on Curb Your Enthusiasm?

Susie Essman: The first season there was a scene where the kid who Jeff Garlin sponsors robs our house...


HBO: From the episode called "The Wire." I think that was the first time your character really screamed at Jeff and Larry?

Susie Essman: Exactly. Larry had that scene in mind and he was auditioning actresses in L.A. for it. Then he saw me on Comedy Central, performing at the Jerry Stiller Friar's Roast. And it was like "Bingo!" He had seen me doing standup from years before but when he saw me on that special he thought "this is a woman who could handle that language." And he just called me and offered me the part. I didn't have to audition or anything. It was great!


HBO: Why do you think Larry and Jeff's characters are such bad liars?

Essman: Because they think they're smarter than everyone else and they're not. Part of why both Larry and Jeff are so endearing is that they never learn from their mistakes and they end up suffering for it. They live that rarified L.A. existence where they think the rules don't apply to them. That's one of the reasons my character is so essential to the mix. It's my job to give them a harsh dose of reality.


HBO: Veteran comedians Louis Nye and Mina Kolb play your in-laws on the show. It must be an extra treat to work with such legends of the improv comedy world?

Susie Essman: I love them! Everyone on this show is special--take the last scene of the final episode. There I was in the trailer with Louis and Mina and Shelley Berman, Paul Dooley, Paul Sand, Richard Lewis and Larry; it was like comedy history!


HBO: Fans got to see a different side of your character this season in "The Nanny From Hell." You scold Larry for bringing twelve sponge cakes to your house (view scene); later the cakes wind up saving your life and we see a calm, grateful Susie Greene thanking Larry.

Susie Essman: Larry called it the kindler, gentler Susie Greene. It was nice to get to show that other side. The sponge cakes broke my fall and saved my life and saved the baby. But it's also funny because it's incongruous--after all, he brought me the Nanny, who tried to kill me!


HBO: Speaking of the baby, I know some fans on the Curb BBS are confused about the status of your character's pregnancy in later episodes.

Susie Essman: In the first season, Jeff and I had a toddler and, yes, in the next season she (Ashly) is seven. I don't know. Larry's not that concerned with continuity. He'd rather let the comedy play itself out than worry about some continuity problem. I mean, I'm still pregnant, but there was no discussion. I just show up and do my job. Larry's a genius. I leave it in his hands.


HBO: Your character wears some interesting clothes. What do you think of Susie Greene's fashion sense and how it compares with your own?

Essman: I love Susie Greene's wardrobe. Wendy Range-Rao is the costume designer for the show and when I get to the set, I can't wait to see what she has cooked up for me. Of course, I, Susie Essman, would never wear that stuff but it's so perfect for the character of an overpriviledged Beverly Hills housewife who thinks she's on the cutting edge of fashion. As an actress, it's incredibly helpful. I put on those wacky outfits and immediately channel Susie Greene.


HBO: You do a lot of voice-over work, most recently on the Comedy Central Crank Yankers series in which you make real prank phone calls.

Susie Essman: I play the old lady, Helen Higgins. Those are fun because, like Curb, they're improvised. I just did a whole bunch of new ones. I love not having a script. I'm calling real people and I don't know what they're going to say back to me! But Curb is my favorite job. And I'm completely spoiled by it. How am I going to do some stupid sitcom script after doing Curb Your Enthusiasm? Also, we have such a great crew and there's such a great vibe on the set. We really have an incredible time; everybody feels like it's the most fun they've ever had.


HBO: You also hosted a USO Comedy Tour recently. Did you go to Afghanistan?

Susie Essman: What am I, an idiot? I went to New Jersey! It was fun to perform for the troops. I felt like a younger, prettier Bob Hope.


HBO: Are more people recognizing you on the streets of Manhattan now?

Susie Essman: Yes! People are stopping me and asking me to call them a "fat, four-eyed fuck!" It's so cathartic playing Susie Greene. When else do I get to yell and scream for like a million takes and afterwards I just feel so good and all my muscles are relaxed.


HBO: Good therapy and you're getting paid for it! Finally, could you--you know--for me?

Susie Essman: You fat, four-eyed fuck!