Garry Shandling (born November 29, 1949) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
,
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
. He is best known for his work in
It's Garry Shandling's ShowIt's Garry Shandling's Show is an American television show broadcast on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. It was created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. The show is notable for its frequent use of breaking the fourth wall to allow characters to speak directly to the audience...
and
The Larry Sanders ShowThe Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that originally aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV...
.
Shandling began his career writing for sitcoms such as
Sanford and SonSanford and Son was an American sitcom that premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972, and was broadcast for six seasons. The final original episode aired on March 25, 1977. The show was based on the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son....
, and
Welcome Back, KotterWelcome Back, Kotter is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the ABC network from September 9, 1975 to June 8, 1979.-Premise:...
. He made a successful stand-up performance on
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and became a frequent guest-host on the show. Shandling was for a time considered to be the leading contender to be Carson's eventual replacement (other hopefuls were
Joan RiversJoan Rivers is an American comedian, actress, talk show host and businesswoman. She is known for her brash manner and loud, raspy voice with a heavy metropolitan New York accent, and numerous cosmetic surgeries...
and
David BrennerDavid Brenner is an American standup comedian, actor, author, and filmmaker. On February 3, 2009, on The Howard Stern show, Brenner admitted that he would turn 73 on February 4, 2009, after a career during which he had lied about his age since the 1960s.Born and raised in poor areas of...
). In 1986, he created the show
It's Garry Shandling's Show for the pay cable channel Showtime and was nominated for four Emmy Awards, one for Shandling, and lasted until 1990. His second show, The Larry Sanders Show, began aring on HBO on 1992, and was a bigger success than the first show he created. Shandling was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards on the show and won one in 1998 for writing the series finale, along with Peter Tolan.
Through his three decade career, he has been nominated for 19 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, 11 CableACE Awards, a BAFTA Award, three American Comedy Awards, two Writers' Guild of America Award nominations and two Satellite Award nominations.
Early life and career
Shandling was born to a Jewish family in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
,
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
, the son of Muriel, a pet store proprietor, and Irving Shandling, a print shop owner. He grew up in
Tucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. As of July 1, 2006, a Census Bureau estimate puts the city's population at 541,811, with a metropolitan area population at...
and had an older brother, Barry, who died from
cystic fibrosisCystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder known to be an inherited disease of the secretory glands, including the glands that make mucus and sweat....
when Garry was 10. Shandling attended Palo Verde High Magnet School. After graduation, he attended the
University of ArizonaThe University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
, at first majoring in
electrical engineeringElectrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of engineering that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after...
, but eventually completing a degree in
marketingMarketing is an integrated communications-based process through which individuals and communities are informed or persuaded that existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied by the products and services of others....
and pursuing a year of post-graduate studies in
creative writingCreative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
.
In 1973, Shandling moved to
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, made contact with comedian
George CarlinGeorge Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian. He was also an actor and author, and he won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
after catching one of his shows, worked at an
advertising agencyAn advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
for a time, then sold a script for the popular
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
sitcom
Sanford and SonSanford and Son was an American sitcom that premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972, and was broadcast for six seasons. The final original episode aired on March 25, 1977. The show was based on the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son....
. Shandling's script became the November 21 1975 "Sanford and the Rising Son," the episode in which Ah Chew (played by
Pat MoritaNoriyuki "Pat" Morita was an American actor who was well-known for playing the roles of Arnold on the TV show Happy Days and Mr...
) turned junk-yard owner Fred Sanford's house into a Japanese restaurant. Shandling continued to do comedy scriptwriting for sitcoms including
Welcome Back, KotterWelcome Back, Kotter is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the ABC network from September 9, 1975 to June 8, 1979.-Premise:...
and
Three's CompanyThree's Company is an American sitcom that aired from 1977 to 1984 on ABC. It is a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House....
.
In 1977, Shandling was involved in an auto accident in Beverly Hills that put him in critical condition for weeks. He later turned the accident into part of his
stand-up comedyStand-up comedy is a style of comedy where a comedian performs for a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. It is usually performed by a single comedian with the aid of a microphone, either hand-held or mounted on a stand...
act.
Shandling has been a practicing Buddhist since the 80's in association with Thich
Nhat HanhThích Nhất Hạnh ; born October 11, 1926 in central Vietnam) is an expatriate Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist. He joined a Zen monastery at the age of 16, studied Buddhism as a novice, and was fully ordained as a monk in 1949...
.
Stand-up comedy
In an interview, he said that he became a stand-up comedian because he was frustrated by the situatuon comedies formulaic writing. In 1978, Shandling performed his first stand-up routine at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. His persona was that of an anxiety-ridden, grimacing, guarded, confused man who seemed always on the verge of losing control. After a couple of years on the road, a talent scout from
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992....
caught his act and booked him to appear as a guest host on March 18, 1981. Shandling began substituting for Carson on a regular basis along with Joan Rivers until 1985.
In 1984, he made his first stand-up special,
Garry Shandling: Alone in Vegas, for
ShowtimeShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
, followed up by a second televised in 1986,
The Garry Shandling Show: 25th Anniversary Special for the same network. A third in 1991, ''Garry Shandling: Stand-Up
, was part of the HBO Comedy HourHBL is a three letter acronym that could mean:* Habib Bank Limited, Pakistan* Harbor Belt Line* Harry Binswanger's List* Himalayan Bank Limited* Home-based learning* Hufvudstadsbladet* Hypothekarbank Lenzburg* House Bill of Lading...
.
Early career
Shandling began as a television writer in shows such as Sanford and SonSanford and Son was an American sitcom that premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972, and was broadcast for six seasons. The final original episode aired on March 25, 1977. The show was based on the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son....
, in which he wrote three episodes, one episode of the sitcom Welcome Back, KotterWelcome Back, Kotter is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the ABC network from September 9, 1975 to June 8, 1979.-Premise:...
, and one episode of The Harvey Korman ShowHarvey Herschel Korman was an American comedic actor who performed in television and movie productions beginning in 1960...
.
It's Garry Shandling's Show
Shandling and co-writer Alan ZweibelAlan Zweibel is a producer and writer on such productions as Saturday Night Live, PBS' Great Performances, and It's Garry Shandling's Show.-Biography:...
went on to create the surreal comedy series It's Garry Shandling's ShowIt's Garry Shandling's Show is an American television show broadcast on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. It was created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. The show is notable for its frequent use of breaking the fourth wall to allow characters to speak directly to the audience...
in 1985, which ran 72 episodes on the
ShowtimeShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
cable televisionCable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting in which a television antenna is required...
network through 1990, with edited reruns playing on the
Fox networkThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
beginning in 1988.
The series, a popular critical hit, became known for its Brechtian use of what is known in theater as "breaking the fourth wall", a concept in which characters turn away from the action and comment directly on the proceedings or make asides to the audience. While
Groucho MarxJulius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit.He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of which he was the third-born...
was a pioneer of the technique in the 1930s movie
Animal CrackersAnimal Crackers is a 1930 comedy film, in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding...
, and television had occasionally broken the fourth wall since at least the 1950s TV series starring Ernie KovacsErnie Kovacs was an American comedian whose uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
and the team of George BurnsGeorge Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century...
and Gracie AllenGrace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , better known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedienne who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
, and sporadically afterward, Shandling's series employed the idea as a central concept, and influenced such future wall-breaking series as Malcolm In The MiddleMalcolm in the Middle is an American comedy television series created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...
, The Bernie Mac ShowThe Bernie Mac Show is an American sitcom featuring comic actor Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his sister's three kids: Jordan, Bryana and Vanessa. Towards the end of the series, Bryana's long-lost father returns and drops by from time to time to help Bernie and Wanda with the kids...
and the UK's Sean's ShowSean's Show was a UK television situation comedy broadcast on Channel 4. Stand-up comedian Sean Hughes wrote and starred as a fictionalised version of himself, aware of the fact he was living in a sitcom .It received a nomination for the 1992 British Comedy Award for Best Channel 4 Sitcom.In common...
.
Shandling wrote 15 episodes on the show. The show was nominated for four Emmy awards, one time for Shandling. He won the American Comedy Awards for Funniest Male Performance in a Series, and won four Cable ACE awards, two for Best Comedy Series, and another two for Shandling. It also won a Outstanding Achievement in Comedy in the Television Critics Association Awards.
Amazon is listing it to release the complete series on DVD on October 20, 2009.
The Larry Sanders Show
In 1992, Shandling had another critical and commercial success creating the mock behind-the-scenes
talk showA talk show or chat show is a television or radio program where one person or group of people come together to discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host...
sitcom
The Larry Sanders ShowThe Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that originally aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV...
, which ran 89 episodes through 1998 on the cable network HBO, garnering 56 Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
nominations and three wins. In an interview, he stated that he based the show on his experiences guest hosting the The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
.
In 1993, NBC offered Shandling $5 million to take over the late-night comedic talk show Late NightLate Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to The Late Show on CBS. Late Night with Conan O'Brien then filled the time slot...
when host David LettermanDavid Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman...
announced his highly publicized move to CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
, but Shandling declined. The Larry Sanders ShowThe Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that originally aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV...
later spoofed the network's efforts to find a Letterman successor, which it appear to be Tom Snider.
Shandling wrote 38 episodes of the show and directed three in the show's final season and has been nominated for 18 Emmy Awards for the show; five for acting, seven for writing and six for being co-executive producer with
Brad GreyBrad Alan Grey is an American film, television producer, and former talent manager currently working as the CEO of Paramount Pictures....
. He only won one Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the series finale Flip. He has also been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) in 1994 and 1995. He won two American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performance in a Comedy Series, Eight CableACE awards and a BAFTA Award.
It is the most successful show Shandling has created. The show also influenced other shows to use the same concept of The Larry Sanders Show: have guest stars playing (often spoofing) themselves in episodes of the series and character-humor. Others show include
EntourageEntourage is an American comedy-drama that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004. The series was created by Doug Ellin and chronicles the rise of Vincent Chase, a young A-list movie star, and his childhood friends from Queens, New York City, as they navigate the unfamiliar terrain of Hollywood,...
, Extras and
Curb Your EnthusiasmCurb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy series starring Seinfeld writer, co-creator, and executive producer Larry David as himself. It is produced and broadcast by HBO....
.
After the end of the show, critics and people now consider it one of the greatest shows of all time. In 2002, TV Guides names The Larry Sanders Show as 38th Greatest Show of All Time. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked the show the 28th Best Show of the past 25 years. It was also included on Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Shows of All Time.
The first season was released in 2007 along with a "Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show" which are Shandling's pick of the best 23 episodes.
Awards and Nominations
Shandling has been nominated for nineteen Primetime Emmy Awards through 1988 and 1998 by his two sitcoms, It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show and has won one time: Outstanding Writing in Comedy Series for the series finale of The Larry Sanders Show. He has received five for acting in The Larry Sanders Show, six for producing The Larry Sanders Show and seven for writing on The Larry Sanders Show and one for writing for It's Garry Shandlin's Show. Additionally, he has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for acting on The Larry Sanders Show. He has also won two British Comedy Awards.
He has also been nominated for seven American Comedy Awards, two for It's Garry Shandling's Show and four for The Larry Sanders Show and one for hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for It's Garry Shandling's Show and three for The Lary Sanders Show, overall of four wins. He has also won eleven CableACE Awards, seven for The Larry Sanders Show and four for It's Garry Shandling's Show. He has also won a BAFTA Award for The Larry Sanders Show. Also, he was nominated for two Writers' Guild of America Award for The Larry Sanders Show.
Lawsuit
In 1998, Shandling became caught up in the sort of real-life Hollywood battle of egos and lawsuits that his show often skewered when he sued his former longtime friend and manager
Brad GreyBrad Alan Grey is an American film, television producer, and former talent manager currently working as the CEO of Paramount Pictures....
for conflict of interest. Shandling did a similar thing by firing his agent on his show.
Other work
Shandling has appeared occasionally in movies, beginning with a cameo as dental patient Mr. Vertisey in The Night We Never Met
. He played supporting roles in the 1994 films Love Affair
and Mixed NutsMixed Nuts is a motion picture comedy directed by Nora Ephron, released to theaters in the United States on December 21, 1994. Its cast includes Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Rita Wilson, Garry Shandling and Adam Sandler....
(a.k.a. Lifesavers
), Dr. DolittleDr. Dolittle is an American family comedy, released in 1998 and starring Eddie Murphy as a doctor who discovers that he has the ability to talk to animals...
(1998) as the voice of a live-action pigeon, the David Rabe- Personal life :Rabe was born in Dubuque, Iowa, the son of Ruth , a department store worker, and William Rabe, a teacher and meat packer. He attended Roman Catholic schools in Dubuque, and graduated from Loras College, a small Catholic liberal-arts college located there. He began graduate studies...
play adaptation HurlyburlyHurlyburly is a dark comedy play by David Rabe.-Plot:More than three hours long, Hurlyburly focuses on the intersecting lives of several low- to mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by massive amounts of drugs, they attempt to find some meaning in their isolated, empty lives by engaging...
(1998), and Trust the ManTrust the Man is a 2006 romantic comedy film, starring David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was directed and written by Bart Freundlich. The film primarily deals with three relationships, and a realization of just how important those relationships are...
. In his television show The Larry Sanders Show, Sean Penn commented his work on the film, saying that he's trying too much to become a Hollywood star, making Sean Penn's commentary weird, because Garry Shandling is playing Larry Sanders. He wrote and starred in director Mike NicholsMike Nichols is an American television, stage and film director, writer, and producer. Nichols is one of only ten people to have won all the major American entertainment awards: an Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award.-Early years:...
' What Planet Are You From?What Planet Are You From? is a 2000 comedy film starring Garry Shandling and Annette Bening. It was directed by Mike Nichols.-Plot:A denizen of a faraway planet occupied only by highly evolved males is ordered to find a female human, impregnate her and bring the baby back to the planet...
(2000), and co-starred with Warren BeattyHenry Warren Beatty is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director.-Early life and education:Beatty was born Henry Warren Beaty in Richmond, Virginia's, Bellevue neighborhood...
and others in Town & CountryTown & Country is a 2001 film starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton and directed by Peter Chelsom. It is a romantic comedy in which Beatty plays New York City architect Porter Stoddard, with Keaton as his wife, Ellie. It holds the record for the largest absolute loss on a movie...
. Again voicing an animal, Shandling co-starred as Verne the turtle in the computer animated comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of cartoons that tells a story, often humorous, though adventures and soap opera-like dramas are also prevalent. They are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet.In the UK and the...
adaptation Over the HedgeOver the Hedge is a 2006 computer animated film based on the characters from United Media comic strip of the same name. Directed by Tim Johnson , Karey Kirkpatrick and produced by Bonnie Arnold, it was released in the U.S. on May 19, 2006...
(2006)
Shandling hosted the Grammy Awards from 1990 to 1995, and the Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2004. At the first Emmy hosting job, Shandling cracked up the audience by saying "I auditioned to play the Vice President on The West Wing, but they said 'No--too Jewish'", a reference to real-life Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joe Lieberman during the 2000 Presidential campaign.
In 2006, comedian
Ricky GervaisRicky Dene Gervais is an English comedian and actor. Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant...
interviewed Shandling for a British documentary citing him as a comic influence. The reviews of British TV critics were mixed – one
GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
reviewer described it as "the uneasiest interview ever", another as Gervais' most interesting but the general consensus was that it felt "awkward", a hallmark of both the artists' comedic styles.
Shandling starred as himself representing
Fox MulderFBI Special agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
alongside
Téa LeoniElizabeth Téa Pantaleoni , better known by her stage name Téa Leoni, is an American actress. Her films include Jurassic Park III, The Family Man, Deep Impact, Fun with Dick and Jane, Ghost Town, Spanglish, and Bad Boys.-Early life:Leoni was born in New York City, the daughter of Emily , a dietician...
as
Dana ScullySpecial agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character on the Fox television series The X-Files . She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series, played by Gillian Anderson...
in
The X-FilesThe X-Files is an American cult science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. It first aired in September 1993 and ended in May 2002...
season 7 spoof episode "Hollywood A.D.".
Shandling, along with co-author David Rensin, wrote the book Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host: The Autobiography of Larry Sanders written in the voice of his alter ego, Larry Sanders.
In 2008, there were rumors that Shandling will be appearing in the next Iron Man movie, as Senator Stern. The rumors appear to be true and he will be appearing in the film. The trailer officially aired at the 2009 Comic-Con, and the movie will be released in May 2010.
In 2009, Shandling will return to the stand-up circuit.
Shandling (although not participating in the movie itself) went to the premiere of old Larry Sanders Show writer and friend Judd Apatow's new movie,
Funny PeopleFunny People is an American comedy-drama film, written, co-produced, and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen as stand-up comedians. The film was released on July 31, 2009 in North America, and on August 28, 2009 in the United Kingdom. Funny People implements more...
.
Personal life
Shandling is unmarried and shares very little about his personal life. He shared an apartment with girlfriend Linda Doucett from 1987 through 1994. When they broke up, she filed a lawsuit for sexual harrasment. To promote Not Just the Best of The Larry Sanders Show, he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, where he explained that he plays a lot of basketball and has just started boxing. He is also one of a few people to attend
Farrah FawcettFarrah Fawcett was an American actress. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the TV series Charlie's Angels in 1976...
's funeral. He has also mentioned on the Late Late Show with
Craig FergusonCraig Ferguson is a Scottish-American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, director and actor. He is the present host of CBS's The Late Late Show, a role that earned him an Emmy nomination in 2006....
that he has a pet snake.
Shandling in popular culture
In the
Butthole SurfersThe Butthole Surfers are an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but the core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been together since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
song "Revolution Part 2,"
Gibby HaynesGibson Jerome "Gibby" Haynes is an American musician, radio personality, painter and the lead singer of the group Butthole Surfers.-Early life and career:...
sings a long chorus of Shandling's name interspersed with those of other famous actors. Haynes said that Shandling was "just one of those people who haunt me."
Shandling was an amateur radio (ham) operator, but his license has since lapsed.
External links