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Review: It's Gary Shandling's Show
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Garry Shandling's career in comedy can be rather easily delineated based on what show he was working on. It's Garry Shandling's Show, which now finds it's complete four seasons on DVD, can be described as his middle period, and what a comedy it was. Shandling left his permanently temporary stint on The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson) to develop this comedy for HBO in the 80s.
The series was ground breaking in that it frequently played with reality, with a show about a man (Shandling) who knew that he was the starring character of its own sitcom. The theme song of the series even contained the lyrics, "This is the theme to Garry's show." Routinely this character and his comrades would leave their scenes to go have dialogues with audience members. Each episode contained an opening and closing monologue about the plot, and what it meant in the lives of the characters. It's hard to fully describe story arcs because they mostly take the mundane to a new level of self-indulgence and everyday neuroses. It's particularly interesting to see how this technique evolved throughout the show, and then watch Shandling's next series, The Larry Sanders Show because Shandling evolved with the ways he could blur reality and play with perception.
The DVD features a reasonable plethora of bonus materials with six lengthy featurettes, outtakes that never made the air, and commentaries by the show's writers. It's less about the show and what makes comedy work. For those interested in television production, this is a must have. For those with only a passing interest in the science of laughs, then it's fascinating to hear how they speak of the setups behind the comedy.
Yes, people may be more interested in the slightly better refined Larry Sanders Show, but the roots for what makes Shandling such a comic dynamo are here. So come along and spend a night laughing at such delightful neuroses.
Grade: B+
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