Cyrus Asks YOU Why You Haven't Seen "It's Garry Shandling's Show"...There's a Boxset, ya Know.

“It’s Garry Shandling’s Show: The Complete Season”

Garry Shandling is one of the oddest men working in comedy. What I like about him is that his character, pretty much the same in his stand-up, this show and the later much-lauded HBO “The Larry Sanders Show”, is so completely well-defined. He’s a neurotic, self-obsessed, always worried about his hair, untrusting, lothario and that’s also what I don’t like about him. He plays the part so convincingly that sometimes you just want to smack him, but then you see how brilliant what he’s doing really is. Shandling is THE meta comedian, who is laughing at comedians, comedy, and us for what we laugh at and put up with from our celebrities.

His big breakthrough came with this 1985-1990 Showtime sitcom that not only used the breaking of the fourth wall for its humor, it was defined by it. Shandling plays himself (or the himself character he always plays, anyway), who has just moved into a new home and is constantly aware that he’s on a TV show and there’s an audience in front of him. Unlike other shows that had tried this sort of thing, every character knew that it was a show as well and they often would comment on things Larry had done earlier in the episode when they weren’t around.

I didn’t remember this being as funny as it is, but damn. There were points I was howling. Shandling’s humor certainly isn’t for everyone but for those who dig this sort of humor, and especially you folks who loved “Larry Sanders”, you really have to pick this up. The episodes are rife with guest appearances from all sorts of legendary folks (most memorably, Gilda Radner’s last onscreen appearance where she responds to a question from Garry about why she hasn't been on TV lately with "Oh, I had cancer. What did YOU have.") and were written by some of the guys who were clearly paying close attention to what was going on; they went and became writers for “Seinfeld” later.

If the 72 episodes aren’t enough for you, add in 6 featurettes, outtakes, promos, and 18 episodes with commentaries. This is ground-breaking both in terms of television structure AND as comedy. Anyone interested in how television eventually got to it’s more palatable and inventive form today should BUY this. Or, you know, anyone who just wants to laugh. It has the growth pains of a frighteningly low budget show and of course since it was shot on video, it doesn’t look all that terrific but even those things Shandling makes part of the joke. Brilliant. I can hardly wait to see him in "Iron Man 2".

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