Garry Shandling

Shandling became a stand-up comedian because, one day at a story meeting for Three's Company, one of the producers complained, "Well, Chrissie wouldn't say that."[13][14]

I just locked, I said, 'I don't think I can do this.' And I stopped right there and went on to perform.

— -Shandling[15]

In 1978, Shandling performed his first stand-up routine at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. A year later, Shandling was one of the few performers to cross the picket line when a group of comedians organized a boycott against the Comedy Store, protesting owner Mitzi Shore's policy of not paying comedians to perform. According to William Knoedelseder, Shandling "was the scion of a family with ... decidedly antiunion views. He had not shared the struggling comic experience. He was a successful sitcom writer trying to break into stand-up, and prior to the strike, Shore had refused to put him in the regular lineup because she didn't think he was good enough. Of course, that changed the minute he crossed the picket line."[16]

His persona was an anxiety-ridden, grimacing, guarded, confused man on the verge of losing control.[17] After a couple of years on the road, a talent scout from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson booked him to appear as a guest in 1981. Shandling substituted for Carson on a regular basis until 1987,[10] when he left to focus on his cable show leaving Jay Leno as permanent guest host and Carson's eventual successor.

In 1984, Shandling performed his first stand-up special Garry Shandling: Alone in Vegas for Showtime,[18] followed by a second televised special in 1986 titled The Garry Shandling Show: 25th Anniversary Special, also for Showtime.[19] In 1991, a third special titled Garry Shandling: Stand-Up was part of the HBO Comedy Hour.[20]

In 1985, Shandling and Alan Zweibel went on to create It's Garry Shandling's Show. Through 1990, it ran for 72 episodes on Showtime. The edited reruns played on the Fox network beginning in 1988.[21] Shandling wrote 15 episodes of the series.

The series subverted the standard sitcom format by having its characters openly acknowledge that they were all part of a television series. Building on a concept that harked back to The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, in which George Burns would frequently break the "fourth wall" and speak directly to the audience, Shandling's series went so far as to incorporate the audience and elements of the studio itself into the storylines, calling attention to the artifice of the show.[7][21]

The series was nominated for four Emmy Awards,[7] including one for Shandling. He won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performance in a Series, and won four CableACE awards, two for Best Comedy Series. The show also won an award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy from the Television Critics Association.[22]

Shandling during the 1994 Emmy Awards rehearsals

In 1992, Shandling launched another critical and commercial success by creating the mock behind-the-scenes talk show sitcom The Larry Sanders Show, which ran for 89 episodes through to 1998 on HBO. It garnered 56 Emmy Award nominations and three wins. Shandling based the series on his experiences guest hosting The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.[23]

In 1993, NBC offered Shandling $5 million to take over Late Night when David Letterman announced his highly publicized move to CBS, but Shandling declined.[7][24] He was subsequently offered The Late Late Show, but also declined in favor of continuing The Larry Sanders Show.[7]

Shandling wrote 38 episodes of the series and directed three in the series' final season. He was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards for the series;[7] five for acting, seven for writing, and six for being co-executive producer with Brad Grey.[12] He won one Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the series finale "Flip." He has also been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) in 1994 and 1995. He won two American Comedy Awards for Funniest Male Performance in a Comedy Series, eight CableACE Awards, and a BAFTA Award.[10] The series also influenced other shows, such as Entourage, 30 Rock, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which guest stars portray themselves in episodes of the series.[25]

In 2002, TV Guide named The Larry Sanders Show as 38th Greatest Show of All Time. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked the series the 28th Best Show of the past 25 years. It was also included on Time magazine's 100 Greatest Shows of All Time.

The first season was re-released in 2007, along with a Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show, which were Shandling's pick of the best 23 episodes.[26]

In October 2012, Shandling returned with fellow cast members from The Larry Sanders Show for Entertainment Weekly's Reunions issue. He was reunited with co-stars Rip Torn, Jeffrey Tambor, Sarah Silverman, Penny Johnson Jerald, Wallace Langham, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.[27]

Shandling at the 1992 Emmy Awards

Shandling hosted the Grammy Awards in 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994.[28] He hosted the Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2004, and co-hosted (giving the opening monologue) in 2003.[7] He appeared occasionally in films, beginning with a cameo as Mr. Vertisey in The Night We Never Met. He portrayed supporting roles in Love Affair and Mixed Nuts, Dr. Dolittle (1998) as the voice of a live-action pigeon, the David Rabe play adaptation Hurlyburly (1998), and Trust the Man (2001). Shandling wrote and starred in Mike Nichols's What Planet Are You From? (2000), and co-starred with Warren Beatty and others in Town & Country (2001).

In October 1999, Shandling, along with David Rensin, published Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host: The Autobiography of Larry Sanders, written in the voice of his alter-ego Larry Sanders.[29]

He also appeared in a brief cameo in Zoolander (2001). Again voicing an animal, Shandling co-starred as Verne in Over the Hedge (2006), which went on to become one of his best known roles.[30] He appeared in Iron Man 2 (2010) as Senator Stern and reprised the role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). He appeared in an uncredited cameo as a health inspector in The Dictator (2012).

He starred as himself representing Fox Mulder, alongside Téa Leoni as Dana Scully in The X-Files season 7 spoof episode "Hollywood A.D."[31]

In February 2010, Shandling was staying at the same Waipio Valley hotel that Conan O'Brien checked in to after his departure from The Tonight Show and spent the entire vacation together, Shandling helping to rehabilitate O'Brien.[32][33][34][35][36]

In January 2016, Shandling appeared on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Jerry Seinfeld.[37]

In 1994, when Shandling and his fiancée Linda Doucett ended their relationship, Shandling had her dismissed from The Larry Sanders Show. Doucett filed a lawsuit against Shandling and Brad Grey's production company, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. The case was settled out of court in 1997 for $1 million.[46][47]

In October 2017, television writer Janis Hirsch, who wrote for It's Garry Shandling's Show, alleged that another actor put his genitals on her shoulder in front of Shandling while in his office and did so with impunity. Of Shandling, Hirsch wrote "Garry presided over a misogynistic writers' room, where women (well, woman: it was just me) were called slits".[48][49]