By any measure Larry Hankin is a successful entertainer. He has 144 titles to his credit, mostly on television. He has also earned one Oscar nomination for his 1980 short film, “Solly’s Diner.” But he is absolutely not the type to rest on his laurels. In fact Larry Hankin is aggressively engaged in his personal renaissance after 30 years in television and movies trapped in a world of making money but lacking in true fulfillment. So the first thing you learn in a conversation with Larry Hankin is that he has depth and refuses to be stereotyped.
As seems so common with successful entertainers, Larry Hankins interest in the stage began around age four. But yet another common phenomenon, parents who want their child to get a good education followed by a “real” job held him back until he graduated from college. Having fulfilled the basic wishes of his beloved parents he then went directly to Greenwich Village in New York City where he quickly established himself as standup comedian. Soon Larry was opening for some of the hottest acts of the day; guys like jazz mega star Miles Davis.
Always seeking to grow and explore Larry Hankin moved on to the fabled Second City improv comedy group in Chicago. He recalls fondly his time with Second City but opines that it is no longer what it used to be. What is? From Chicago his next stop was San Francisco where he spent some quality time with one of the hottest comedy groups of the day, The Committee. Then he meandered south to Hollywood.
Larry Hankin continued to expand his great talent and was soon drawn in to an acting career lured by spectacular amounts of money. Ironically while Larry Hankin is most commonly known for his appearances on the once most popular TV show in America if not the world, “Seinfeld,” the reality is that he appeared in only two Seinfeld episodes. But you might also remember Larry from other TV shows such as L.A. Law, Married with Children or Star Trek: Voyager of films such as Pretty Woman, Vegas Vacation or The Alphabet Killer or literally scores of other top TV shows and feature as well as short films.
But over the 30 years he was heavily engaged in a popular and well paid acting career he became increasingly dissatisfied with his circumstances. He felt trapped. He reflected upon his three most influential comedians, George Carlin, Lenny Brice and Richard Pryor. He came to view human behavior as mostly ridiculous even stupid. He shared in a belief that while we humans have evolved from the “first cortex” occupied by lizards and other reptiles to the “second cortex” where we find monkey’s mankind needs to reach the “third cortex” and that degree of evolution seems stalled. As Larry explains this it really does make sense. So does his observation that anger is the source of humor. It provides the energy to drive the comedian. And yes indeed perception and reality are rarely the same.
So recently Larry Hankin has set about to redefine himself. He is now totally committed to following his own bliss. He is doing this in part through the process of making his own movies, shorts mainly; no big studio projects just Larry Hankin with a small but quality cast and crew. It is his project done his way and his terms. You can view “The Outlaw Emmett Deemus” at http://indieflix.com/. He also does live performances telling tales to inform and enlighten and he makes people laugh. That is the one thing that always pleases Larry, making people laugh. You would be welled advised to treat yourself to one such Larry Hankin performance.
Larry Hankin will be presenting Fables, Pomes and Rants at Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Boulevard, Venice, California 90291 Friday, August 12th, 2011 from 7:30 p.m. Two days later on Sunday, August 14th, 2011 Larry will again join the celebrity panel to judge comedy submissions to the Burbank International Film Festival at Flappers Comedy Club, 102 East Magnolia Boulevard, Burbank, California 91502 starting at 9:00 pm.
I was blessed to spend about 90 minutes with Larry Hankin in preparation for this article. What I discovered was a fascinating man with a quick wit and a captivating and warm style. He was aware of his accomplishments but eager to move on to a new plane of self fulfillment. Larry Hankin is the antithesis of the Hollywood stereotype but in my view validated to be almost completely sane.
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