Cheryl David, played by Cheryl Hines, is Larry David's aspiring actress wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm who manages to put up with his antics even when he crosses every line imaginable. Throughout their relationship, she manages to always stick by Larry while never willing to take his side when he's being unreasonable.
Acting as the straight man to Larry's frustrating comedic personality, Cheryl never gets corrupted by her husband's cynical view of the world, maintaining a wide group of friends and a generally positive social life. The stark differences in their personalities eventually lead the couple to divorce, but only after 8 seasons of truly uncomfortable situations brought on by Larry.
"Loving You Is My Job, Larry."
For most people in long-term relationships, this quote might sound vaguely sweet, but fans of the show know the backhanded nature of Cheryl's phrasing.
While they were together, Cheryl was forced to put up with far more than most people would be willing to tolerate. Time after time Larry managed to embarrass the couple, causing them to lose friends or get kicked out of important situations. So, when Cheryl says loving Larry is her job, she's literally saying that being in a relationship with him is 9 to 5, back-breaking work, making for a sad relationship.
"I Thought You Didn't Like Talking To People."
Cheryl understands Larry more than most characters on the show. Even when everybody counts Larry out and gives up on him, probably from his own doing, Cheryl manages to maintain a cool enough head to continue a relationship with him.
This understanding of her husband's personality is exemplified by this quote where Cheryl is truly shocked Larry had a nice conversation with someone. Of course, Larry has to undermine it by clarifying that he only hates talking to people "he knows," but strangers he has no problem with.
"I Know How To Play Telephone. But It's Usually the G Version."
After Larry gets in trouble for supposedly ruining a children's game of telephone with profanities, Jeff's wife Susie is mad at him as usual. While he says one of the children is responsible for the inappropriate phrase thrown into the game, it's heavily implied Larry is to blame.
Cheryl, usually on Susie's side when it comes to Larry, explains to him how the game is actually supposed to be played when children are involved.
"Oh, Cause You Want People To Think You Constantly Have An Erection?"
In the first episode of the show, Larry finds himself in trouble when his ill-fitting pants are mistaken as an erection by one of Cheryl's friends. Pleading that it's actually his pants, as he establishes early in the episode, the woman doesn't believe him and tells Cheryl.
After explaining the situation, which Cheryl understands, Larry goes further to wonder whether it's actually a good thing. Being a voice of reason, Cheryl points out that maybe it's not best for everyone to think this at all hours of the day.
"You Know, This Is Very Unprofessional If You Ask Me."
In a rare moment of genuine anger for Cheryl, she's furious after the caterer she hired for a dinner party chooses to take the leftover food home with her instead of leaving it with the David's.
Larry responds to this in agreement with "It's completely unprofessional, and I know because my whole career's been based on being unprofessional." It's not very common that they're both in agreement on something, so this is a special moment.
"Did You Check The Order Before You Left?"
After ordering takeout from a Chinese restaurant, Larry comes home with the order only to realize they gave him someone else's food. A classic moment for the show, proving its ability to turn the most mundane of situations into comedy.
Cheryl, never one to fully trust Larry's decisions, double-checks to see if he checked the order before he left with the wrong food. Sarcastic as ever, he says he did but "decided to take the wrong food home."
"Lobster And Religion, I Really Don't See The Similarities."
In one of many instances where Larry and Cheryl are on completely opposite pages, Cheryl is defending her sister's insistence on her fiance, who is Jewish, converting to Christianity before their wedding.
Larry, being Jewish and also highly opinionated, wonders why anyone would convert from Judaism to Christianity when usually it's the other way around. He goes on to compare it to forcing lobster down other people's throats since it's his favorite food, which Cheryl doesn't find amusing.
"Anything Could Happen."
This moment finds Larry contemplating needing a lawyer in the future, a prospect that seems to excite him as in his own words, "a lot of people sue me."
To long-time fans, Cheryl's response seems like a veiled threat to the divorce that takes place later on in the show. It wouldn't be shocking, as the thought of divorce must have come through Cheryl's mind at one point or another given the number of times Larry has embarrassed or insulted her.
"I'm Glad You Made A New Friend. I Don't Hear That Often From You."
Throughout the show's 10 season run, Larry has pretty much maintained the same small circle of friends, which is growing smaller with Richard Lewis leaving, that do their best to tolerate him. So it's no surprise that when Larry says he made a new friend it takes Cheryl by surprise.
Even more surprising is when Larry reveals his new friend is a sex offender, quickly sparking an argument between the two.
"Actually, This Weekend Is The Big NRDC Benefit We've Been Working On For Months."
Other than an aspiring actress, Cheryl's main job is doing benefits for various environmental charities. In this episode, Cheryl has a large benefit planned with episode guest star Alanis Morisette scheduled to perform.
But when Wanda gets a tip from a family member that there's going to be a terrorist attack in Los Angeles that weekend, Cheryl doesn't seem to mind as long as it doesn't interfere with her benefit. This is one of the more Larry-like moments for her character, and of course, it all gets ruined when Larry tells everyone about the attack, promoting no one to show up to the benefit.