Curb your Jesus humor

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Bill Donohue of the Catholic League is upset over the most recent episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" ("The Bare Midriff").

Comedian Larry David is under attack from critics who say he pushed the mocking of religion and Christian belief in miracles over the edge in the latest episode of his HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

On the show’s most recent installment, which aired Sunday, David urinates on a painting of Jesus Christ, causing a woman to believe the painting depicts Jesus crying.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, responded to the episode, saying David should "quit while he’s ahead," and that the show is proof that the comedian’s best years are behind him.

"Was Larry David always this crude? Would he think it’s comedic if someone urinated on a picture of his mother?" Donohue said in a statement. "This might be fun to watch, but since HBO only likes to dump on Catholics (it was just a couple of weeks ago that Sarah Silverman insulted Catholics on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’) and David is Jewish, we’ll never know."

Yes and yes. And, as anyone who has ever watch a few minutes of the show knows, Larry David loves to pick on his own. (Just ask conservative radio talkinghead Michael Savage, who also obejcted to the recent episode, but thinks the HBO start is a self-hating Jew.)

That said, does David have Jesus issues? Probably — there’s this episode, and the earlier one where he ate the Baby Jesus cookie. But that’s nothing compared to the way Mel Gibson roughed up Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ" — and, if I recall, Donohue was a big fan of the film. (I know, it’s not the same, but still…)

P.S. The L.A. Jewish Journal gave the episode a thumbs up.

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