I posted a while back about receiving ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ from Shout! Factory (awesome titles, including those Roger Corman classics). I’ve been working my way through the series, and it’s really hysterical.
If you’re not familiar with the show, Garry Shandling plays late night talk show host Larry Sanders. His producer Arthur is played by Rip Torn, and his sidekick ‘Hey Now’ Hank Kingsley is played by Jeffrey Tambor. The show follows these guys both on-air and behind the scenes, where their lives are a complete train wreck.
It’s done in a documentary style, and you’d swear it was the real deal and not a satire. I have no idea what went on behind the scenes when Johnny Carson helmed ‘The Tonight Show,’ but you have to think it wasn’t too far off-base from this show. Rip Torn is grumpy and curmudgeonly and the perfect producer. He even stands off-stage while the show is going on.
I’ve already forgotten about Jeffrey Tambor’s amazing list of credits, because he’ll forever be Hank Kingsley to me now. And it’s so funny to see other cast and crew who’ve gone on to other things. Like Penny Johnson (Beverly Barnes), whom I’ve mainly known from her days playing First Lady Sherry Palmer on ‘24.’ Then there are series regulars Jeremy Piven and Janeane Garofalo, not to mention just about every star who was anyone during the 1990s when ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ aired.
Ken Kwapis, who directed many of the episodes, is an amazing director who went on to helm everything from ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ to ‘The Office’ to ‘He’s Just Not That Into You.’ And Judd Apatow was a producer!
Garry Shandling really hasn’t done that much since the show ended, and I guess he deserved a nice long break after this series. I hope we see more of him in the future, though. Most notably in recent years, he played Senator Stern in ‘Iron Man 2.’
It’s also sad to see some of the folks we’ve lost since the show aired. I just watched a scene with John Ritter, Gene Siskel and Warren Zevon — all of them are gone now … sniff…
I’m just starting season three and can’t wait to see how Larry and his cronies continue to drive their lives straight into the ground.
Anyone a Larry Sanders fan?
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