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Posts tagged as garry shandling

From the Archives

Garry Shandling Gives You a Tour of Las Vegas in His First Standup Special

by | May 3rd, 2013

The Paley Center for Media, which has locations in both New York and LA, dedicates itself to the preservation of television and radio history. Inside their vast archives of more than 150,000 television shows, commercials, and radio programs, there are thousands of important and funny programs waiting to be rediscovered by comedy nerds like you and me. Each week, this column will highlight a new gem waiting for you at the Paley Library to quietly laugh at. (Seriously, it’s a library, so keep it down).

Today, Garry Shandling is probably best known for being the creator of two of the most important television shows in [...]

Reunions

‘The Larry Sanders Show’ Cast Reunites and Garry Shandling (Wisely) Doesn’t Want a Movie

by | October 12th, 2012

Entertainment Weekly reunited some classic TV and movie casts for this month’s reunion issue, including Arrested Development, Cheers, and National Lampoon’s Vacation, but today, EW published an interview with Garry Shandling and a reunion video of the cast of HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show, featuring Jeffrey Tambor, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Rip Torn, and more.  The Garry Shandling interview, although short, has some interesting moments. On the massive impact the show has had on the next generation of sitcom folk, Shandling said, “Sometimes I’ll be watching TV and what happens is I’ll flip to [a show] and within two seconds, I feel like I’m in the writers room again. [...]

Looking Back

Was The Larry Sanders Show's "Larry Sanders Show" Any Good?

by | July 15th, 2011

The Larry Sanders Show is a really enjoyable viewing experience, but is “The Larry Sanders Show” any good? Confused? Well, I’m talking about two things here. The first is HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show starring Garry Shandling. In said show, Shandling plays the titular Larry Sanders, a neurotic talk show host joined by the likes of Jeffrey Tambor’s “Hey Now!” Hank Kingsley and Rip Torn as the show’s best character, the producer Artie. The show chronicles the making of Sanders’ program, which also happens to be called “The Larry Sanders Show.” That’s the show that I’m pondering here. I know that The Larry Sanders Show is good, but is [...]

Classics

Your Favorite Comedy Exists Because of The Larry Sanders Show

by | March 1st, 2011

This year the IFC channel started showing reruns of The Larry Sanders Show, which will hopefully introduce one of the best, most influential sitcoms of all time to a new generation of bored stoners, Greg the Bunny fans, agoraphobic movie snobs, and whoever else is watching IFC at 11 pm on a Monday. It’s a strange show to watch in syndication, however, and I can picture someone — even a comedy geek who peppers conversations with Mr. Show and Spaced quotes — finishing an episode of Larry Sanders and wondering what the big deal is. So: this is why Larry Sanders is a big deal.

We should start [...]

Stories

Jeffrey Tambor Shares a Bunch of Great 'Larry Sanders Show' Stories

by | March 5th, 2013

"[It was] one of the great auditions of my life … That evening, around 5 p.m., I called and I said, 'May I speak to Garry?' … He came on the line. I said, 'I've never done this in my entire career, but I really want to play Hank. I would normally never call … ' And Garry said, 'No, but Hank would.' And that was great. That sealed it. I was in the mindset of my character. Hank would have done that."

- Jeffrey Tambor telling the story of how he landed the role of Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show in an interview with Vulture in which [...]

Hot Stuff

'Community's' McHale and Brie Charm Their Respective Late Night Hosts

by | May 10th, 2012

With the upfronts coming up next week, Joel McHale and Alison Brie reminded us of the benefit of casting such good-looking, charming actors. While McHale was talking about Conan getting super drunk at their kids' playdate (take a second to imagine how fun that playdate was…k, seconds over) and discussing the finer points of leather pants wearing with Andy, Brie was animaling balloons, kind of flirting with Garry Shandling (who can blame her), and talking about getting an unfortunate massage (unfortunate for her, not the guy who saw her butt). If only Nielsen ratings were decided by charm, Community would trounce those Big Bang Theory nerds. After the jump, [...]

Movies

Taxi Killer Starring Jane Lynch, and Nine Other Less Than Impressive Film Debuts

by | July 7th, 2011

Not every actor can be as lucky as Jason Schwartzman and have their first film be Wes Anderson’s Rushmore (and first TV appearance, Freaks and Geeks). Below are 10 extremely famous, extremely wealthy, extremely talented comedians whose film (whether full-length or made-for-TV) debuts were anything but memorable.

HBO

The Larry Sanders Show Was Pretty Much the Best Comedy Ever, and Garry Shandling Knows It

by | October 26th, 2010

The Larry Sanders Show is one of the most influential TV comedies ever made. Shows like 30 Rock and Curb Your Enthusiasm probably wouldn't exist had it not paved the way, and the writers' list is like a who's-who of modern comedy: Judd Apatow, Jon Vitti, Paul Simms, John Riggi and so on. And Garry Shandling knows all this: "When I’m most objective I remembered explaining to HBO what my vision of the show was and I couldn’t use anything that was on TV as an example of what I wanted to do, so I knew it must have been innovative. Every so often I’ll see something on [...]

TV

'It's Garry Shandling's Show': Just as Influential as You Probably Don't Remember

by | February 8th, 2013

Garry Shandling is one of the most innovative and influential comedians of all time. However, when Shout Factory released the entire Larry Sanders Show on DVD in the winter of 2011—concurrent with IFC’s decision to rerun the entire series—it seemed to set off a “Garry Shandling renaissance” that has carried over for the past 2-3 years; buoyed by Garry’s ever-bizarre and hilarious Twitter feed.

No matter how staunch of a Shandling supporter you’ve been over the years, you have to concede that there has been a certain heightened re-appreciation of his talents over the past few years. As a child of the 90’s I was slightly too young [...]

Just for Laughs

Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, Paul Feig, Ken Jeong, Garry Shandling and Louis CK Get Awarded at Just for Laughs

by | July 29th, 2011

You know you’re in Canada when a shmuck like me is allowed into a star-studded comedy awards ceremony and the security guard actually apologizes for making me wait in line.

One of the premiere events at this year’s Just For Laughs Festival is the Awards Luncheon, which honored Modern Family Creators Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd for Comedy Writers of the Year, Ken Jeong for Breakout Comedy Star of the Year, Paul Feig for Comedy Director of the Year, Garry Shandling for the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Louis C.K. for Comedy Person of the Year.

Maybe “premiere event” is a little too strong. As MC and Comedy Central Roast [...]

Podcasts

Comedy Buddha Garry Shandling Soothes WTF With Marc Maron

by | May 23rd, 2011

While Garry Shandling's WTF with Marc Maron episode obviously covers his career from Sanford And Son to The Larry Sanders Show, as well as the Ponzi scheme of the American socio-political system, the most interesting theme of his conversation is the therapeutic working over he gives host Marc Maron. "We're doing this show to help you from confronting your mother. That's the whole subtext of this show, isn't it?" Shandling probes, later musing, "It just struck me deeply that you're in pain, and that should go on a t-shirt." It only gets deeper from there. "Life itself is impermanent, not solid, purely energy," Shandling scoffs. "Putting up walls [...]

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