Jeffrey Tambor, Rip Torn, and Garry Shandling. HBO/Photofest ©HBO
Overview
It was 30 Rock before 30 Rock, Murphy Brown on steroids. It was The Larry Sanders Show, otherwise known as The Garry Shandling Show, otherwise known as the funniest show within a show ever produced. This sitcom revolved around a neurotic, insecure, slightly twisted talk show host (Garry Shandling) and his two minions, who worked feverishly to keep him out of trouble on and off the set. Shandling is ideally cast, he had often substituted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. The action could be manic and the plot lines absurd, but the humor was far more character-driven than physical.
Larry couldn’t have lasted a month as host of his talk show, whose real-life guests included dozens of the biggest stars in Hollywood, if not for the behind-the-scenes scrambling of executive producer Artie (Rip Torn), who went to great lengths to pull Larry out of the proverbial quicksand. Far less effective, but equally passionate about saving the talk show host from himself, was bumbling announcer and on-air sidekick Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor), who wore both his emotions and his intentions on his sleeve.
In one memorable episode, it is claimed in a newspaper article that Larry has impregnated a waitress from Montana. She arrives at his office to confront him and later pays a surprise visit to his house while he is trying to make time with actress Mimi Rogers, thereby ruining that relationship. Larry first contends that he has never previously met the woman, and he then admits that he may have spoken with her, but when witnesses emerge offering that they had seen him in the car with her, he concedes that there was sexual activity, but no intercourse. Meanwhile, Hank is toiling feverishly to put out the fire. He calls the reporter and tells him it was a nonstory and that a far better one is the bullying he was forced to endure as a child. Much to the relief of one and all, Artie finally reports that the woman admitted she was impregnated by another man, but that she did indeed fool around with Larry in a Denny’s parking lot.
The theme of Larry trying to deceive his way out of trouble was established early in the series. One episode in the first season, which received an Emmy nomination for writing, revolves around an incident in which he denies accidentally knocking a woman into a magazine rack in a supermarket after the incident is splashed on tabloid headlines and she threatens to sue. The store cameras confirm his guilt, leading network public relations man Norman Litkey (David Paymer) to try to take advantage of his belief that any publicity is good publicity and announce happily that CNN plans on airing the video. The embarrassed and upset talk show host locks himself in his office and refuses to emerge until wife Jeannie (Megan Gallagher) arrives and threatens to reveal his nickname for his penis to his colleagues.
Such plot lines confirmed that the strength of the show extended beyond the performances of the major cast members to the creative writing of Shandling and cocreator Dennis Klein, who had displayed his talents for penning offbeat stories for the highly acclaimed sitcom Buffalo Bill, which also featured the personal and professional life of a talk show host. Also contributing to the attractive qualities of The Larry Sanders Show were the contrasts in taping—crisp and shiny in shooting the talk show and mildly grainy filming of offstage scenes.
The series finale aired just fourteen days before the last episode of Seinfeld and attracted 2.5 million viewers—quite a ratings coup for a cable network like HBO. It received far more positive reviews than did the Seinfeld series finale, which was criticized for its rehashing of previous events on the show. Jerry Seinfeld was also the last of the dozens of the stars of the entertainment world to appear on the talk show within the sitcom.
Its millions of fans were thirsting for the show to continue beyond the eighty-nine episodes that were produced, but it went off the air in 1998. One was left to wonder how The Larry Sanders Show, whose ratings were shackled by its cable home, preventing it from ever reaching the Top 30 in the Nielsens, would have fared had it aired on network television, but the elimination of profanity would have weakened the sense of comic reality that made the show so appealing.
In the lens of television history, it will remain one of the most creative and humorous sitcoms ever produced. It comes as little surprise that it earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series for five consecutive years.
Ugly Spat between Former Friends
The Larry Sanders Show was marred by a long, bitter, and public battle between star Garry Shandling and coproducer Brad Grey. Shandling filed a conflict of interest lawsuit against Grey for $100 million that alleged he had improperly taken advantage of their relationship to benefit other business interests. Grey countersued for $10 million, claiming “aberrant and irresponsible behavior” from Shandling. The disputes were finally settled in 1999—a year after the show was cancelled—with terms undisclosed.
They Said It
Arthur: Your fly is undone.
Larry: Oh, thanks.
Arthur: Just doing my job.
Larry: It’s your job to look at my crotch?
Arthur: I consider it one of my perks.
Arthur: You’ll have to forgive Hank. His heart’s in the right place, but he keeps his brain in a box at home.
Arthur: You finally got to do a sketch with the great Carol Burnett.
Larry: It wasn’t a sketch. It was a massive spastic fuck-up.
Arthur: Tomato, tomahto!
Hank: [giving a tour] And if you stop by here, you can say hello to my good friend, Larry Sanders. [knocks on his door] Hey now, Larry.
Larry: Fuck off, Hank.
Hank: [returning to tour] And over here . . .
Major Awards
Emmy Award Wins (3)
1996 (1): Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Rip Torn)
1998 (2): Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Peter Tolan and Garry Shandling for “Flip”); Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Todd Holland for “Flip”)
Emmy Award Nominations, in addition to wins (53)
1993 (8): Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeffrey Tambor); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Rip Torn); Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Dana Carvey for “Guest Host”); Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Carol Burnett for “The Spider Episode”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein for “The Hey Now Episode”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling, Peter Tolan, Paul Simms, and Rosie Shuster for “The Spider Episode”)
1994 (4): Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Rip Torn); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series (Drake Sather, Maya Forbes, Garry Shandling, Victor Levin, and Paul Simms for “Larry’s Agent”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing in a Comedy Series (Todd Holland for “Life behind Larry”)
1995 (6): Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Rip Torn); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling and Peter Tolan for “The Mr. Sharon Stone Show”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series (Peter Tolan for “Hank’s Night in the Sun”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Comedy Series (Todd Holland for “Hank’s Night in the Sun”)
1996 (11): Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeffrey Tambor); Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Janeane Garofalo); Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Mandy Patinkin for “Eight”); Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Rosie O’Donnell for “Eight”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series (Peter Tolan for “Arthur After Hours”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series (Maya Forbes, Steve Levitan, and Garry Shandling for “Roseanne’s Return”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series (Jon Vitti for “Hank’s Sex Tape”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Comedy Series (Todd Holland for “Arthur After Hours”); Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Comedy Series (Michael Lehmann for “I Was a Teenage Lesbian”)
1997 (16): Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeffrey Tambor); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Rip Torn); Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Janeane Garofalo); Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (David Duchovny for “Everybody Loves Larry”); Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Ellen DeGeneres for “Ellen, Or Isn’t She?”); Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Judd Apatow, John Markus, and Garry Shandling for “Ellen, Or Isn’t She?”); Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Peter Tolan for “My Name Is Asher Kingsley”); Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Jon Vitti for “Everybody Loves Larry”); Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Todd Holland for “Everybody Loves Larry”); Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Alan Myerson for “Ellen, Or Isn’t She?”); Outstanding Editing for a Series, Multi-Camera Production (Sean Lambert and Leslie Tolan for “Everybody Loves Larry”); Outstanding Editing for a Series, Multi-Camera Production (Paul Anderson and Leslie Tolan for “My Name Is Asher Kingsley”); Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Comedy Series (Peter Smokler for “Ellen, Or Isn’t She?”); Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special (John Bickelhaupt, Ed Golya, and Edward L. Moskowitz for “Ellen, Or Isn’t She?”)
1998 (8): Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Garry Shandling); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeffrey Tambor); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Rip Torn); Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Richard Day, Alex Gregory, and Peter Huyck for “Putting the ‘Gay’ Back in Litigation”); Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Comedy Series (Peter Smokler for “Flip”); Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Series (Paul Anderson, Sean Lambert, and Leslie Tolan for “Flip”); Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special (John Bickelhaupt, Ed Golya, and Edward L. Moskowitz for “Flip”)
Golden Globe Nominations (3)
1995 (1): Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series, Musical/Comedy (Garry Shandling)
1996 (1): Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series, Musical/Comedy (Garry Shandling)
1997 (1): Best TV Series, Musical/Comedy
Peabody Award
1994: HBO
1999: HBO
Further Reading
Shandling, Garry, and David Rensin. Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Tucker, Ken. “The Larry Sanders Show.” Entertainment Weekly Online, June 4, 1983. Available online at www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,306821,00.html.