Garry was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1949 before moving to Tuscon, Arizona so his older brother could be treated for cystic fibrosis.When Garry graduated from Palo Verde High School, he attended the University of Arizona where he pursued a year of postgraduate studies in creative writing.In 1973, he moved to Los Angeles where he sold a script to the popular situation comedy SANFORD & SON. He also wrote for WELCOME BACK KOTTER and attended a story meeting for THREE'S COMPANY, but, frustated by the formulaic writing of sitcoms, he performed his first stand-up at Mitzi Shore's Comedy Store in 1976, where he was the only comic who didn't go "on strike" to protest the Comedy Store's policy of not paying comics, which convinced Mitzi to give him a regular gig. In 1981, he became a regular fill-in for Johnny Carson on NBC's TONIGHT SHOW until 1987 when he premiered IT'S GARRY SHANDLING'S SHOW on Showtime.
GARRY'S SHOW(co-created by SNL writer Alan Zweibel) took off on everything Garry hated about sitcoms but won four CableACE awards and a Television Critics Award for outstanding comedy show. In short, the show was conceived as a sitcom that knew it was a sitcom, but it went on to be one of the masterworks of the genre.
In 1992, Garry moved to HBO where he created THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW, a program that took everything he knew about latenight talk shows, turned it on its head and poked fun at it. He had to turn down offers from NBC and CBS to keep doing LARRY, and he also did stand-up specials for HBO and SHO.
He also wrote and starred in the movie WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? and was an active member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (having appeared in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER and the upcoming CAP: CIVIL WARS) as well as his voiceover work in movies such as DreamWorks' OVER THE HEDGE.
He will be remembered for his put-upon, distracted persona and his "average Joe" style.
On March 24,2016, he noticed he had all the signs of a heart attack. He called 911 to report a health emergency, but when he lost the ability to speak, the Los Angeles Police Department traced the call to his residence in the Hollywood Hills, and rushed him to the hospital, where he left the stage for the last time.
Sure, George Burns, Bugs Bunny, and others talked to the audience before Garry came along, but he turned it into even more of an art form than it had ever been. I give the last word to Garry's Larry Sanders persona on his last show, after he ran out of reasons for his listeners to not "touch that dial:"
"NOW you can flip."
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment