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Vale: Garry Shandling

Gifted US comedian, best known for The Larry Sanders Show, has died aged 66.

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Gifted US comedian Garry Shandling, best known for The Larry Sanders Show, has died aged 66.

He died of a heart attackafter being rushed by ambulance to a hospital.

Born in Chicago, moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s landing staff writing jobs on sitcoms such as Sanford and Son and Welcome Back Kotter.

After a serious car accident in 1977 he focussed on a career as a stand-up comedian and cultivated a stage persona that played up his real-life neuroses.

He became a regular on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, later becoming Carson’s permanent guest host until 1987.

By 1986, he co-created It’s Garry Shandling’s Show which ran until 1990 followed by The Larry Sanders Show for HBO. The fictional tonight show ran from 1992 until 1998, featuring real celebrities mocking themselves, Jeffrey Tambor as his on-air sidekick Hank “Hey Now” Kingsley, Rip Torn as his producer Artie, and dispensing with a laugh track.

The Larry Sanders Show won 3 Emmys and is still regarded as ground-breaking amongst the comedy fraternity.

“There’s a level of satire in which, if one gets it, then they’re willing to play with that. This show allows an opportunity for some people to play themselves in a way that they haven’t been able to do before,” he once said of the show.

He also hosted Emmys, Grammys and appeared on The X-Files, Caroline in the City, Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show.

Film credits included Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, Iron Man 2, Over the Hedge, The Dictator and Zoolander.

“Garry Shandling was as kind and generous as he was funny and that is saying a lot,” Jimmy Kimmel tweeted.

“Garry would see the ridiculousness of me being asked to sum up his life five minutes after being told of his passing. It is a perfect, ridiculous Larry Sanders moment,” director Judd Apatow said in a statement. “I can imagine how [the character] Hank would handle it but I just don’t know how to sum up someone I loved so much who taught me everything I know and was always so kind to me. I am just too sad. Maybe tomorrow I will do better. ”

In 2007, Shandling told Esquire, “I remember when I was a struggling comic appearing for the first time in Las Vegas. Don Rickles came in to watch the new guy. Afterward, he came backstage, and I asked him if he thought I was funny. He said, ‘You know when you’re funny. You don’t have to ask.’ And he was right.”

Source: LA Times

5 Responses

  1. And another 60 something performer passes away way too soon. His seminal tv series have given him the status he will be remembered for. I’m not sure if it was syndication rights or clearances but Larry Sanders doesn’t seem to have been broadcast on cable here and only seen on free to air late. I don’t recall it repeated. A classic show. This is very said; i too discovered it on my Facebook news and was truly shocked.

  2. Both the Gary Shandling show and LSS were shown on commercial TV here-the GSS was a real trip, with is constant breaking of the ‘4th wall’ with the audience. His only lead role in a film was 2000s ‘What Planet Are You From?’ which comes on TV here every now and again.
    A sad loss.

  3. Not many celebrity deaths these days affect me, but when I saw a story about this one on my Facebook feed it was truly sad to read, I’m a huge fan of The Larry Sanders show, brilliance on so many levels… Truly a huge loss… RIP ?

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