“Forgotten Hollywood”- Goodbye to a Class Clown…

Posted on March 24, 2016 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here… 69569-004-0A863037

  Garry Shandling was an actor and comedian who pioneered a reality show version of late night programming with The Larry Sanders Show. The show also influenced Entourage, 30 Rock, and Curb Your Enthusiasm in which guest stars play themselves in episodes. During his three-decade career, Shandling was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes.

   The Chicago native moved from a stint in the advertising to comedy writing for such sitcoms as Sanford and Son and Welcome Back Kotter, and stand-up. An innovative and eccentric humorist with a voice that always seemed on the verge of a whine, Shandling claimed to disdain logic cluttering his life. He began to experiment with television comedy with It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, a Showtime project that routinely like to break the fourth wall to comment on what they were up to.                       GARRY SHANDLING ——–>

   In 1992, Shandling created for HBO his comic masterpiece, in which he starred as an ego-maniacal late-night host with an angst-ridden show-biz life behind the scenes. It was a true homage to Johnny Carson, who had just retired a few months earlier. Shandling had appeared as a stand-up and occasional Carson stand-in on The Tonight Show. He was mentioned as a candidate to follow David Letterman as a bona fide late-night host for CBS, but no deal was made. Shandling hosted the Grammy Awards four times, and hosted the Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2004. Occasionally, Shandling appeared in films, with roles in Dr. Doolittle, Zoolander, Iron Man 2, and Captain America: Winter Soldier.

   While Shandling never married, his most public romance was with Larry Sanders co-star and fiancee Linda Doucett, who played an assistant in the series’ early seasons. Doucett sued Shandling after he fired her following their breakup in the mid-1990s, receiving a reported $1 million settlement, the New York Times reported in 2006.

   An avid boxing fan, Shandling co-owned the Wildcard West Boxing Gym in Santa Monica. He was also an amateur radio operator. In his usual self-effacing personality, I’m sure the comedian might have reacted to his own demise by saying, Oh swell, that’s just great!

   Garry Shandling was 66.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 24th, 2016 at 5:56 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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