Gary Shandling's art tends to imitate his life. And vice-versa. In 1985, after spending years writing sitcoms and doing stand-up acts, he moved into his own TV program, It's Garry Shandling's Show, a Fox network series about a comedian named Garry Shandling who stars in his own sitcom. Not an enormous dramatic stretch — even the show's set was a replica of his real-life apartment. Then, in 1993, Shandling mined his experiences as a popular guest host on the Tonight show to create The Larry Sanders Show, a sophisticated HBO lampoon of the late-night world's on-air posturing and behind-the-scenes chaos. In keeping with this autobiographical focus, Shandling didn't shy away from being the butt of his own jokes: his humor often focused on his unappealing looks and inability to score with women. In early 1998, Shandling announced that the forthcoming season of his critically acclaimed series would be his last. While preparing the final episodes of the show, Shandling set about work on the Columbia feature Which Planet Are You From? and an adaptation of the David Rabe play Hurlyburly that co-starred Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, and Chazz Palminteri.
Gary Shandling