Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
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“THAT WASN’T A SKETCH… IT WAS A MASSIVE SPASTIC FUCK-UP!”
Running for 89 episodes between 1992 and 1998, The Larry Sanders was one of the funniest and most innovative television shows ever made. Based on the travails of neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders (Garry Shandling), his buffoonish sidekick Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor) and their shitkicking producer Artie (Rip Torn), the show was scripted by a team of crack writers that included Jon Vitti (The Simpsons) and Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Superbad), as well as Shandling himself and his writing partner Peter Tolan.
It also boasted a strong supporting cast of actors who, in many cases, would go on to greater acclaim in their own right (among them Jeremy Piven, Sarah Silverman, Janeane Garafalo). The Larry Sanders Show was a send up of the most unappealing aspects of show business and Hollywood culture. There wasn’t anything new in that of itself, but the producers most ingenious innovation was in persuading real celebrities to play cartoonish versions of themselves to that end. Thus we had Ellen DeGeneres having a fling with Larry at a time when, both in real life and on the show, speculation was rife about her sexuality; Alec Baldwin having an affair with Larry’s wife while the couple were separated, only to be booked later as one of Larry’s guests; and Jim Carrey delivering a gushing and (it later transpires) utterly insincere tribute to Larry on the occasion of the show’s finale.
The list of stars who made guests appearances over the course of the series reads like a virtual virtual A-Z of 1990s celebrity, among them Robin Williams, Warren Beatty, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Roseanne Barr, Jon Stewart, Jennifer Aniston, Sharon Stone and (most unforgettably) David Duchovny. In this, The Larry Sanders Show pioneered a new genre of comedy, one that straddled the line between reality and fiction, paving the way for everything from Curb Your Enthusiasm to Entourage to Extras, all the way down the food chain to The Hills.
The bad news, I’ve just discovered, is that the entire series is no longer on YouTube (as it was for quite some time). But there is a best of DVD for sale and I would heartily recommend tracking down.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Favourite episode: Artie in the studio all night by himself, getting drunk and ranting at the janitor. God I wish this show was on tv all the fucking time, instead of Two and a Half Men or whatever.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
That’s right, Artie thinks Larry is going to take the show to New York where he can’t go for some reason (outstanding arrest warrant, is it?) He gets the Russian janitor drunk and they argue over… I can’t remember what, but I think Artie then tries have him fired the next day.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Actually Artie sings this song at some point in that episode, doesn’t he? That’s where I know it from
http://www.eoinbutler.com/home/i-wanna-be-around-1963/
(also Brian Wilson recites the chorus at some point on the SMile album…)
November 17th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
It was great late night watching. You’d think this would be on one of the comedy channels atm.
Stevie Grant: I had sex with a lesbian once. Best piece of ass I ever had.
Artie: You’re supposed to have sex with two lesbians, that’s the point.
———————————-
Hank Kingsley: [giving a tour] And if you stop by here, you can say hello to my good friend, Larry Sanders.
[knocks]
Hank Kingsley: Hey now, Larry.
Larry: Fuck off, Hank.
Hank Kingsley: [getting back to tour] And over here…
November 18th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
“Artie then tries have him fired the next day.”
Best punchline ever, as Artie walks out of Larry’s office having kissed and made up, and closes the door to reveal, painted on its obverse, an enormous FUCK YOU sign he’d forgotten to remove.