Now Garry Shandling's Died

[Oops! Wrong Planet]

Nice, but I was expecting "Thoughts with Fleegle, Snorky & Drooper".

[Gulftastic]

By the time we get to Christmas we'll probably have a trail of legends behind us at this rate.

The 'In Memory' bit at the Emmy Awards will be the main show, and the night's winners will be shown in a short montage.

[Steven]

As Gervais goes from strength to strength Garry'll be flipping in his grave.

[Squink]

The Larry Sanders Show when it went out as a double bill with Seinfeld in the mid 90s really meant a lot to me in my teens. I had a very troubled couple of years with a combination of galloping, disfiguring extreme acne and the medication I was trialled for it turning out to have unexpected nasty mental side effects. I suddenly developed a raging, nonsensical persecution complex and my brain seemed often trying to persuade me that it would probably be better if I wasn't around. A person needs to find comfort in art to weather that kind of bullshit and my bedrocks at the time were the first few albums by REM and that brilliant Larry Sanders and Seinfeld double bill. I can pinpoint occasions where an episode of Larry Sanders, or even the thought that there would be one on later in the week, calmed me the fuck down. So for that, Mr. Shandling, I am completely in your debt. RIP.

^ Great post.

I've seen this clip from Freaks and Geeks posted in a few places, where Bill Haverchuck, the archetypal outsider, finds solace in Shandling's standup in a lonely moment. I think that's how it was for a lot of people with Shandling, especially pre-Internet - some kind of affirmation that there was someone out there who was just as weird as you were, who found humour in the strangest places. And, somehow, impossibly, had made a success of themselves off the back of it.

Also, Shandling worked with so many people whose work has blown me away, and in many cases gave them one of their first real breaks in the business. It's tough looking them up now and seeing what they're saying.

Jeffrey Tambor sums it all up so well in just one tweet: "He redesigned the wheel of comedy and was the kindest and funniest of geniuses. Will miss him so much."

[Dr Rock]

Total genius and he meant a surprising amount to me. So I went to Pirate Bay to steal all the It's Larry Sanders Show because I never bought the DVDs and I'm totally poor now so torrents. But Pirate Bay is down, so I went to Youtube to see what they have and found this, a 1991 stand-up special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgw-pG1GFcA

[Hollow]

Never found him funny, wish i had though, everyone else really liked Larry Sanders, makes you think you're either thick or weird when that happens, maybe I was too young, i dunno.

Seems like a early end for him, cancer is horrible, i'm assuming that's what it was.

[Dr Rock]

Seems like a early end for him, cancer is horrible, i'm assuming that's what it was.

Massive heart attack.

[Hollow]

Massive heart attack.

Shit, that's not good either, better than cancer though.

I thought his Ricky Gervais interview was painfully brilliant.

Yep a shame.

[up_the_hampipe]

Never found him funny, wish i had though, everyone else really liked Larry Sanders, makes you think you're either thick or weird when that happens

I'm having that now with Mr Show. It's not clicking with me. Nothing is for everyone.

[Entropy Balsmalch]

Amy Schumer really phoned it in on this one.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/reaction-death-comedian-garry-shandling-37911586

[The Region Legion]

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/reaction-death-comedian-garry-shandling-37911586

Very easy to spot the twat when they write "Rest In POWER" like they're being oh-so-clever and meaningful.

[non capisco]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMsVfEqLFiI

The Conan O'Brien tribute is lovely and at the end features a very funny bit I'd never seen before that Shandling came up with from when O'Brien hosted the Emmys.

Definitely going to rewatch Larry Sanders from beginning to end now. I was actually discussing it with a friend the other day, how well Seinfeld still stands up and how we bet The Larry Sanders Show must do too. The two are obviously inextricably linked in British comedy fans' minds due to that double bill.

[Gulftastic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMsVfEqLFiI

The Conan O'Brien tribute is lovely and at the end features a very funny bit I'd never seen before that Shandling came up with from when O'Brien hosted the Emmys.

I love how much fun Shandling is having on that horse.

[Undercoverman]

During a brief period of unemployment nearly 10 years ago, I binge watched the entirety of Larry Sanders on Youtube. Some kind soul had uploaded the whole thing from the ITV2 showings, coming up with his own names for the episodes. I knew it was something special right from the first one I saw, the chemistry of the three leads is undeniable. It is perhaps my favourite comedy series (yep, even with the overabundance of Clint Black) and so clearly monumentally influential. Perhaps impossible for Garry to top but maybe that's the price you pay for such a complete work. Still, at least you get the sense that Garry was revered in his lifetime by other comedians and that nobody ever doubted his genius.

[clingfilm portent]

A sad loss. TLSS is my favourite sitcom and probably the most consistant I've ever seen after two complete viewings. Seriously, despite a few dips along the way those five seasons series are as close to perfection in a run of any comedy programme I've ever seen.

[up_the_hampipe]

Was he with anyone significantly after Linda Doucett?

[prwc]

Thoroughly gutted by this, I only saw The Larry Sanders Show for the first time last year but it blew me away, it's well up there with the very best comedy has to offer. I was recommending it to somebody on the very day he died, it truly sticks with you.

My friend told me the first stand up show she ever saw, aged 10, was Shandling and Rodney Dangerfield, what a fantastic night that must have been.

[Nowhere Man]

I don't think this has been posted yet:

From Norm Macdonald's Twitter:

Like you would tell me over and over, Garry, "Impermanence".
My favorite Garry joke: "I'm dating Miss Georgia. All right, it's the former Miss Georgia. OK, it's George Foreman."
Best story I've heard about Garry is that after he turned down permanent guest host for The Tonight Show w. Johnny Carson, he took a meeting. It was a meeting with the then unknown Showtime, at the beginning of cable. Garry was just a working comic so turning down the guest host job was one ballsy move.
He was pitching his show, It's Garry Shandling Show, which would be a hybrid, half sitcom half meta-sitcom. Garry explained he would begin the show with a monologue which would set up the episode. This device seems old now. But, at the time, only Burns and Allen had tried such a thing. George would address the camera when Gracie wasn't in the room, playing to his strength as a stand-up.
But Shandling wanted to go much further, having the rest of the cast play it dead straight while Garry wanted. It would begin from the beginning of the show, Gary explained to the bewildered execs. The theme song would be called "This is the Theme to Garry's Show" and the theme song was all about the theme song. Then there would be the monologue which would explain the plot the audience was about to witness. Then the cast would appear. The cast never broke character. Never. This was the key.
This was the key that so many to come who were "influenced" by Shandling failed to understand. Shandling understood you couldn't create parody in a vacuum. You needed the target created beneath the arrow. And so Shandling began by writing a straight-ahead sitcom script. And not a lame one, either. That would be too easy. So, after Garry completed his three dimensional multi-camera sitcom he tore it asunder, he wandered from set to set. He spoke to the studio audience, the home audience. At the end he explained what we had all learned. But he did it without condescension or disdain. He was just playing. And others watched the art that they would steal. But they were sloppy and they were timid. Not Shandling.
The show looked like punk comedy at the highest level and it was, but it was more too. Garry seemed obsessed with letting us know there was a character named Gary who had a studio audience but... there was also an actual person named Garry who had a different audience, the audience watching television. In essence Gary Shandling created a new type of comedy. Garry Shandling created something no one else has dared to try. Garry Shandling created the outside joke.
So imagine trying to convince TV execs that this wild experiment would be good for their network. But Showtime was not a name and Garry was so the bewildered suits sat and laughed when they thought they should. After the presentation the execs had only one suggestion. They thought Garry should be married. It would "ground" him. Garry agreed, said it was a great idea and that maybe he should have a kid too, to further ground him. Garry's manager was happy. Sometimes Garry could be stubborn and was notorious for ignoring notes. Garry excused himself to the restroom leaving his management and the network to talk money. Gary disliked this part. Five minutes into the meeting and the two sides were close to a deal and Gary's manager was thrilled. Names were being thrown around the room as to who should be the wife, the neighbor, the best friend. And that day, the view they all witnessed was Garry Shandling driving into the distance at a measured pace.
That fall, "It's Garry Handling's Show" premiered on Showtime. It featured a cast, well-grounded, and Garry floated among them, an untethered balloon.
"Impermanence": Garry Shandling

[AzureSky]

There is a quote from Garry at the end of the latest Horace and Pete:

"The world is too noisy and distracted to probably ultimately survive. Everyone needs to shut the fuck up. The answers are in the silence. Monks set themselves on fire to protest and make this point. Just consider it."

[Black_Bart]

Two things I'd like to remind people of: Dude, What Planet ... Not a great film, but very entertaining, and a chance to see a different side of GS.

And...

Two thumbs up in Zoolander.

[Cerzi]

Made it to 30 without being severely affected by any particular celebrity death, but this one genuinely hurts.  RIP.

[DrGreggles]

Didn't want to start a new thread, but Garry died 3 years ago and Ed Solomon posted this rather nice story about him on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ed_solomon/status/1110009745904152582

Just wanted to share it and hopefully brighten up your Monday morn.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Aw, that was lovely, thanks for that.

[rasta-spouse]

Just wanted to share it and hopefully brighten up your Monday morn.

Interesting story.

I'd still really like a more in-depth account of what Shandling was doing inbetween 2000 and 2016.

The documentary shed some light on this: Mike Nichols being add odds with his acting on What Planet You From?, generally suffering paranoia from that lawsuit with his manager, and then that clip where he brings a massive wad of notes to a stand-up gig and Seinfeld makes a remark about it.  But still, I'd like more. Just to see more raw footage would be good. That taped gig he did towards the end was never released was it?

[St_Eddie]

Aw, that was lovely, thanks for that.

+1

[Brundle-Fly]

Didn't want to start a new thread, but Garry died 3 years ago and Ed Solomon posted this rather nice story about him on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ed_solomon/status/1110009745904152582

Just wanted to share it and hopefully brighten up your Monday morn.

Thanks DrGreggles

[MortSahlFan]

Great showS, documentary, and overall, Shandling seemed to be a straight-arrow guy... I think his shows were the best ever.