Garry
Shandling put aside a successful career as a stand-up comedian to
venture into irreverent forms of fictional television with film
producers and talent managers Bernie Brillstein (Ghostbusters) and
Brad Grey. The trio created comedies in 1986 and 1992: the whimsical
and warm It's Garry Shandling's Show and the darker Larry
Sanders Show.
The
first program began on the cable network, Showtime, in 1986. After
a year, it reached critical success and Shandling relinquished his
role as one of Johnny Carson's regular guest hosts on NBC's Tonight
Show, leaving Jay Leno as the primary alternate behind the desk.
Shandling and Leno had replaced Joan Rivers as Carson's principle
replacements in 1986 when Rivers began her own talk show--the initial
program on the fledgling FOX Broadcasting Company network.
While
still in first run on Showtime, It's Garry Shandling's Show was
licensed by the new FOX Broadcasting Company as part of its second
season Sunday evening line-up. Although plagued by low ratings and
hence unable to satisfy FOX's expectations, critics praised Shandling's
tongue in cheek style. FOX reran the Showtime episodes and then
contracted with "Our Production Company" for new installments until
1990.
The
program, set in Shandling's condominium in Sherman Oaks, California,
featured comic schtick. Shandling played a single man looking for
the right woman. He spent his free time with his platonic friend
Nancy (Molly Cheek), his best friend's family (Stanley Tucci and
Bernadette Birkett) and his single mother. Much of the show mimicked
Shandling's own life, including his actual home in Sherman Oaks
and his romances (a girlfriend moved in with Shandling's "character"
when his personal domestic life changed).
The
program began with a monologue, introducing the show. Next came
a silly theme song, performed by Randy Newman, including the lyrics
"Garry called me up and asked if I could write it" and a whistling
segment. The "dramatic action" in each episode was simple, built
on such premises as Garry's bad dates, or his discovery of a nude
photo of his mother from the 1960s. Each situation was resolved
with warmth and whimsy, sometimes with the help of audience members.
His
antics included "breaking the fourth wall"--acknowledgement and
direct address of the audience, both in the studio and at home,
as part of the show. In one episode, Garry told the audience to
feel free to use his "apartment" (the set) while he was at a baseball
game. Several people from the audience (perhaps extras) left their
seats to read prop books and play billiards in front of the cameras
as the program segued into its next scene.
It's
Garry Shandling's Show often included guest stars. In the pilot,
just after Garry's character moved into the condo, he was robbed.
That night he dreamed of Vanna White (appearing on the show) giving
away his good underwear and other personal belongings as prizes
on Wheel of Fortune--for less value than he hoped. His most
frequent visitor was his "next door neighbor," rock musician Tom
Petty. In one episode Petty, who usually had appeared with disheveled
long hair, loose shirts and tight pants, became part of a neighborhood
quartet. He made his entrance walking in line with three middle-aged
singers and all four wore (bad) matching plaid wool vests.
Shandling
sometimes used other sight jokes, but most often he exploited running
verbal gags. These included the unseen ceiling mirror inscribed
with the typed motto, "things may be larger than they appear." Another
continuing joke involved Larry's ongoing consideration of what to
do during the 41 seconds when theme music interrupted the action.
Some
episodes, however, were more serious. One of these featured Gilda
Radner near the end of her unsuccessful battle with cancer. This
show also presented an anti-war Vietnam theme, detailing how one
friend's conduct caused a man to become a prisoner of war. Though
the program ended jovially, the action included a darkly lit battle
sequence in which uniformed soldiers shot at each other and put
holes into Radner's living room set.
Though each episode of the show was scripted, Shandling was known
to improvise his lines. If a scene needed three takes, he often
performed differently in each iteration as though challenging himself
to make each retake funnier than the prior one.
The Larry Sanders Show, appearing on HBO since 1992, has
been the Mr. Hyde of Garry Shandling's pair of comedies. The program,
which mocks behind the scenes activities of post-primetime talk
shows, paints a more disturbing view of television as a status-bestowing
medium. The technique includes intertwining fictional characters
with actual guest stars. By 1995, the show received both Emmy nominations
and CableAce awards, but the mass audience has had difficulty accessing
both the content and the premium cable channel distributing this
half hour.
Shandling
stars as Larry Sanders, a talk show host competing with the larger
network late night programs. Though Larry is not the biggest fish
in the chat pond, it is difficult to realize this from his interactions.
He uses his power and position as a celebrity to control his office
staff, show crew and at times the general public as portrayed in
this ficitonal world. Larry exposes his deep insecurities only to
his executive producer, Artie (veteran character actor Rip Torn)
and to his assistant, Beverly (Penny Johnson).
On-screen,
Larry is smooth and controlled, but behind the scenes, he is manipulative
and disturbed, descending frequently into paranoia and tempter tantrums.
His interactions with his office employees feature a peculiar style
of communication. Each staff member or guest has a clear position
in an invisible hierarchy. This situation is accepted because the
strong office culture is dominated by constant job insecurity. People
with greater clout are allowed to act abusively to those with less
status. In one show, it seems clear that a staff member will be
fired, but Larry cannot decide which person. Facing the tension
mounting within the office, one writer breaks down with anxiety,
creates several ugly scenes and--predictably--is chosen to lose
his job.
Office
relations are not the only story line. Plots derived from typical
talk show circumstances include contract renegotiations, strange
sponsors needing odd on-air celebrity endorsements, marriages and
relationships, problems with guests and difficulty managing public
images. During the several years of the program, Larry has been
married (to Megan Gallagher), divorced, and involved in a live-in
arrangement with another ex-wife (Kathryn Harrold). These relationships
have exhibited little tenderness; instead, the unions are portrayed
as they fit Larry's profession and lifestyle. If love blocks his
career in any way, love ends.
Many
of the show's elements are focused on Larry's relationship with
his "side-kick" character, Hank Kingsly, played to perfection by
Jeffrey Tambor. Hank is presented as an essentially talentless individual
who has made an incredibly successful career by translating his
position as hanger-on into hugely recognizable celebrity status.
He makes additional money by endorsing cheap products, he gets dates
because of his proximity to Larry, and he uses his status to bully
other members of the show's staff. Larry tolerates Hank because
he is, at once, confidant and pitch-man, as responsible for Larry's
success as are his own skills.
Shandling
used It's Garry Shandling's Show to push television to its
whimsical extreme. With The Larry Sanders Show he presents
the funny side of television at its worst. In each case, he explores
the medium intelligently and inventively, creating an arena to consider
what television can be, rather than continuing the hackneyed stereotypes
and norms.
-Joan
Stuller-Giglione
Cohen,
Noam. "Meta-musings: The Self-reference Craze." The New Republic
(Washington, D.C.), 5 September 1988.
Gelman,
Morrie. "Crystal, Shandling, HBO Take Home Handful Of Aces."
Variety (Los Angeles) 21 January 1991.
Martel,
Jay. "True Lies." Rolling Stone (New York), 8 September 1994.
O'Connor,
John J. "The Larry Sanders Show." The New York Times, 19
July 1995.
Schleier,
Curt. "The Open-and-Shut Life of Garry Shandling." Emmy (Los
Angeles), June 1995.
Woolcott,
James. "The Larry Sanders Show." The New Yorker, 21 December
1992.
