The Larry Sanders Show
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2007) |
| The Larry Sanders Show | |
|---|---|
 Larry Sanders Show Logo | |
| Created by | Dennis Klein & Garry Shandling |
| Starring | Garry Shandling Rip Torn Jeffrey Tambor Penny Johnson Wallace Langham Janeane Garofalo |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 89 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | HBO |
| Release | August 15, 1992 – May 31, 1998 |
The Larry Sanders Show is an Emmy Award- and Peabody Award-winning satirical television sitcom that originally aired from 1992 to 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the USA. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders.
The series, which was partly inspired by Shandling's stint as a guest host on The Tonight Show, is ranked by various critics and fans alongside Seinfeld as one of the best TV comedies of the 1990s. [1]
Premise
Different kind of sitcom
The Larry Sanders Show was particularly notable because the off-stage segments of the show were shot in what appears to be single-camera style, though the commentary on the recent "Not Just The Best of the Larry Sanders Show" DVD reveals that the "real life" portion of the show was shot using several film cameras shooting simultaneously. The "talk show" segments were shot on tape, and had no "laugh track." Most situation comedies are either taped before a live audience or dubbed with canned laughter). The show cleverly kept a foot in both camps, because the 'on-stage' segments depicting the Larry Sanders Show in production were videotaped with a multiple-camera setup with a live audience—much like a real Tonight Show. However, according to an interview with Tom Shales, Shandling found this to be too time consuming, and after the first season only a select number of "live" segments were taped in front of a studio audience.
Guests
Most episodes featured celebrity guests who usually played themselves appearing on the fictional Larry Sanders Show, and who were often the primary source of conflict between Sanders and his co-workers. Guests included Elvis Costello, Chris Farley, Sharon Stone, Jon Stewart, Danny DeVito, Rob Reiner, Alec Baldwin, Jon Lovitz, David Spade, Dana Carvey, Jim Carrey, John Ritter, Bob Saget, Bruno Kirby, Ellen DeGeneres and Howard Stern among many others. One of the most memorable guest spots was the cameo appearance in the final episode by X-Files star David Duchovny, who performed a parody of the Sharon Stone 'flashing' scene from Basic Instinct. Also, there was a longtime running joke on the show involving comedian (and one of the series writers) Jeff Cesario about how he would be frequently "bumped" whenever he was booked to appear.
Regular cast and characters
In addition to Shandling, the show featured the following regular primary actors and characters [2][3]:
- Rip Torn as Arthur ("Artie"), the show's producer
- Jeffrey Tambor as Larry's sidekick Hank Kingsley
- Penny Johnson as Larry's personal assistant, Beverly
- Janeane Garofalo as the show's booker Paula (until episode 76)
- Mary Lynn Rajskub as the show's booking assistant/booker (from episode 69) Mary Lou
- Jeremy Piven as head writer Jerry (until episode 25)
- Wallace Langham as writer/head writer Phil
- Linda Doucett as Hank's personal assistant, Darlene (until episode 47)
- Scott Thompson as Hank's personal assistant (from episode 49)
- Megan Gallagher as Larry's second ex-wife Jeannie (episodes 1-13, 53)
- Kathryn Harrold as Larry's first ex-wife Francine (episodes 14-30)
- Deborah May as network executive Melanie Parrish
Crew
Directors and writers of note include Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin),Ken Kwapis (The Office (US), Malcolm in the Middle), David Mirkin (The Simpsons, Get A Life), Joe Flaherty (SCTV), Carol Leifer (Seinfeld), comedian Jeff Cesario (Dennis Miller Live), Adam Resnick (Late Night with David Letterman, Get A Life) and Paul Simms (NewsRadio). Kwapis, who directed the bulk of the first season episodes, was particularly instrumental in determining the style of the program.
List of episodes
Awards won by The Larry Sanders Show
| Award | Category | Recipient |
|---|---|---|
| Emmy Awards 1998 | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series | Peter Tolan & Garry Shandling (for "Flip") |
| Emmy Awards 1998 | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing in a Comedy Series | Todd Holland (for "Flip") |
| Emmy Awards 1996 | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series | Rip Torn |
| Peabody Awards 1999 | "Flip" | |
| Peabody Awards 1994 | ||
| Rose d'Or Festival 1997 | Sitcom | |
| Satellite Awards 1997 | Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical | |
| Television Critics Association Awards 1997 & 1998 | Outstanding Achievement in Comedy |
Trivia
- In the British Channel 4 clip show The Ultimate Sitcom, it was implied that the group of mainly British comedians and comedy writers contributing to the clip show considered The Larry Sanders Show the 5th best sitcom ever[citation needed], putting it ahead of other sitcoms such as The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Cheers.
International broadcast
The series also screened in Australia on free-to-air television on Network Ten (in a late-night timeslot, and with some censoring of language) and unedited on the Foxtel cable network's Comedy Channel. It also aired in the UK on BBC Two, originally in late-night slots despite calls by fans and critics for a primetime screening. Regular repeats later appeared on UK Satellite television on the channel Paramount Comedy 1. It returned to (digital) terrestrial TV in the UK on ITV4 in October 2005, and again in April 2007. It is currently being repeated on the Irish television network RTÉ Two. In Canada, the series was broadcast in late night time slots on CBC Television.
DVD releases
- The Larry Sanders Show - The Entire First Season was released on February 26, 2002 by Sony Pictures.
- The Larry Sanders Show: The Best Episodes was released by Sony Pictures UK in 2000. It is a compilation containing the following episodes: #302, "Montana" (Robin Williams); #403, "Hank's Sex Tape" (Henry Winkler, Norm MacDonald); #408, "Larry's Big Idea" (Courteney Cox, David Letterman); #412, "I Was a Teenage Lesbian" (Brett Butler). Also included are two first season episodes ("The Guest Host," "The Talk Show"), as well as the second season episode, "The List" (#203) which was left out of the US cable syndication package offered to Bravo. However, it is available to local affiliates.
- A DVD set drawn from all six seasons titled Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show was released by Sony Pictures on April 17, 2007.[1] The 4-disc DVD set features 23 episodes and features 8 hours of bonus material. Shandling re-visits the show's cast and guest stars including Jerry Seinfeld, Alec Baldwin, Sharon Stone, David Duchovny, Carol Burnett, Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Jeremy Piven, Sarah Silverman, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Greg Kinnear, and Tom Petty.
- The release of additional seasons have been mentioned by Shandling. The first season was re-released to coincide with Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show, and season two is said to be next.[2]
Books
- Confessions of a Late-night Talk-show Host: The Autobiography of Larry Sanders (ISBN 067102910X) was written by Garry Shandling in-character as Larry Sanders. It was released October 4, 1999. The book was the topic of season five's episode ten, which was also under the same title.
External links
- Epguides - episodes and air dates guide
- The Larry Sanders Show at IMDb
- Sony Pictures Larry Sanders DVD web page
- Maxim interview with Garry Shandling on Not Just the Best Of The Larry Sanders Show DVD release