You may now flip - Garry Shandling RIP

Yamanoto

Writer, actor, comedian (and frequent guest host of the Johnny Carson show), Garry Shandling died yesterday from a suspected heart attack in Los Angeles, aged 66.

He'll be best remembered for creating the magnificent Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998), his brilliantly acerbic insider view of the late night talk show business. For those unfamiliar with it, the show was inventively set up, splitting the action between 'on-air' front-of-house interviews with Hollywood A-listers, before shifting backstage to deliver a darker & more jaundiced take on how talent in Hollywood often behaved. The guest appearances are testament to just how highly regarded the show was - Seinfeld, Sharon Stone, John Stewart, Jim Carrey, Letterman, Warren Beatty and too many others to mention. Musical guests too included acts as diverse as Michael Bolton & Elvis Costello to NWA & The Butthole Surfers.

It established HBO's creative credentials within the industry, profoundly influenced the likes of Seinfeld, Curb & Extras and acted as a springboard for a fairly hefty array of talent - Judd Apatow, Bob Odenkirk & Jeremy Piven amongst them.

I think Shandling was a guy ahead of his time.

RIP.

Frank O. Pinion

One of last things he filmed, was an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee's 7th season, from January this year, entitled "It's Great That Garry Shandling Is Still Alive".

Yamanoto

Nice tribute from Conan....

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

Skid X

Very sad, I have fond memories of when BBC2 used to show Seinfeld and Sanders back to back late night.

Years ago, I was lucky enough to get talking to some of David Letterman's crew. They said everything that happened in The Larry Sanders Show was so true to life it was unreal. Many of the stories were lifted straight from real Talk Show events. Garry had been an occasional guest host for Johnny Carson, he knew his stuff,

And Garry Shandling's Show was also great. Thanks for the memories

fryup

Ricky Gervais will be devastated

Skid X

Conan O'Brien did a nice tribute on his show

arcticmonkeys

fryup wrote: »

Ricky Gervais will be devastated

To be fair it seemed Gary was purposely trying to sabotage that whole interview maybe for giggles.......... who knows and Ricky Gervais just didn't know how to handle it.

From the moment Ricky stepped into the house Gary seemed to sense Gervais awkwardness and just pounced on him .

Yamanoto

I'd read previously that the plan was for Gervais to be interviewed for a segment to be included on the Sanders box set first (without being 'on' in the comedic sense), after which they'd up the tone & tempo to shoot the BBC show. When Shandling got to his house however, Ricky's cameras were already rolling.

End result undoubtedly made Garry look a bit of a dick though.

He explains it here from about 1:20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJthU3_CuiM

fryup

either way it was no harm seeing Gervais brought down a peg or two

TedR

Larry Sanders was the best. For anyone who hasnt seen it, do yourself a favour and dig it out. Very sad that Garry Shandling is gone.
No Flipping.

trixiebust

Just watched a couple of episodes, and it's still just as funny.

That and Seinfeld at the time , were brilliant.

Everyone else was watching Friends, but I couldn't wait for that late night on BBC 2, when the real laughs started:D:D

RIP Garry..

Yamanoto

Someone uploaded the 86th & final episode of The Larry Sanders Show.

Not sure how long it'll remain up, but it's a great watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBM7LvueZvo

TedR

well that fecked up my work schedule this afternoon ;-) ... once I started watching I had to stay with it.
Goodnight Larry.