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This a Post of Gary's Life

Remember It’s Garry Shandling’s Show? How about the seminal The Larry Sanders Show?

If you are a Garry Shandling fan–and I most certainly am–dig this long profile on the comedian’s comedian’s comedian by Amy Wallace over at GQ.com:

Conan’s not the only one to use Shandling as a sounding board. For the past five years especially, the 60-year-old comic, who counts both George Carlin and Johnny Carson as mentors, has devoted himself to mentoring others. A generation of people at the top creative rungs of Hollywood credit Shandling with shaping both their material and their careers.

“There are so many people who lean on him to be their sage in these matters of what’s dramatic—not just what’s funny, but what’s effective, and what’s real, and why what’s funny is what’s real,” says Robert Downey Jr., who compares Shandling to “a Jewish E.T. He’s kind of vulnerable while at the same time very probing. And he’s got serious opinions.”

Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau dubs him “the Godfather.” Baron Cohen sought Shandling’s advice on both Borat and Brüno. Silverman says Shandling has taught her how to embrace the silences during her stand-up act. And Apatow still counts the night Shandling hired him to write jokes for the 1991 Grammy Awards show as “the biggest break of my career.” Apatow later wrote for The Larry Sanders Show, and their collaboration continues: Shandling often attends table reads of Apatow’s films and gives notes on the scripts. (Apatow says Shandling had a “monumental” effect on The 40-Year-Old Virgin.) “There’s nobody better in the world than Garry at telling me what’s working and what’s not,” Apatow says. “I’m just very lucky that I’ve had his input.”

8 comments

1 RagingTartabull   ~  Aug 26, 2010 1:56 pm

could we please...for the love of God...get a proper dvd box set for Larry Sanders?? Is this really too much to ask for??

Hey Now!

2 RagingTartabull   ~  Aug 26, 2010 1:57 pm

nevermind!! it comes out November 2nd!! that news just made my week

3 Matt Blankman   ~  Aug 26, 2010 1:58 pm

Not to nitpick, but wasn't it "It's Garry Shandling's Show?"

4 williamnyy23   ~  Aug 26, 2010 2:47 pm

[3] You are correct. Great show. Great theme song.

5 Alex Belth   ~  Aug 26, 2010 3:12 pm

my bad!

6 Sliced Bread   ~  Aug 26, 2010 3:12 pm

loved Larry Sanders. One of my lifetime favorites.

"Met" Shandling at a big charity dinner back in '97 or '98. By "met" I mean he was walking past me in this Beverly Hills ballroom, and I noticed one of his shoes was untied, and told him so. Shandling winced at me (half smile/half gas pains like he does) and was going to continue on as though he thought I might have been kidding with him. I gestured toward his untied shoe, smiling, and said "Seriously." He winced again, (his way of saying thanks apparently) and quickly knelt down to tie it. It crossed my mind to say something like "I think you're great, love your work, "Hey now!, or somesuch lameness, but considering I was now looking down at the top of his head as he tied his shoe, I decided not to bother him. My awkward brush with comedic greatness.

7 The Hawk   ~  Aug 26, 2010 6:21 pm

this is the theme to gary's show
the opening theme to gary's show
this is the music that you hear
while you watch the cre-dits
I'm almost halfway finished
how do you like it so far
this is the theme to gary shandling's show

Something like that, right?

8 Raf   ~  Aug 27, 2010 2:36 am
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