I have fond memories of It's Garry Shandling's Show (1986-1990), but it's mostly nostalgia for those heady halcyon days, when I first moved to West Hollywood and everything was fresh and new: brunch at the French Quarter, buying books at the Different Light, cruising at Mugi, Sunday beer-and-soda busts at the Faultline, seeing celebrities at the gym, and very occasionally visiting someone who had the cable network Showtime for:
This is the theme to Garry's show
His George was the nebbish next door neighbor Pete (Michael Tucci), who had a wife and a nebbish teenage son, Grant (Scott Nemes).
His Elaine was "platonic" neighbor Nancy (Molly Cheek), who dated and eventually married Ian McFyfer (Ian Buchanan).
His Kramer was Leonard Smith (Paul Willson), the owner of his condo.
There was a steady stream of other friends and associates, including a lot of Garry's girlfriends, and a lot of celebrities playing themselves: Rob Reiner, Tom Petty, Martin Mull, Red Buttons, Chevy Chase, Norman Fell, Jeff Goldblum, Gilda Radner.
Plots were mostly about "nothing." Garry babysits. Garry gets a pet. Jeff Goldblum visits.
Sometimes they were elaborately self-referential:
Grant wins a trip to Hollywood, where he goes to a taping of his own show.
Grant is accused of beating up a kid at school, but the a member of the studio audience saw what really happened, and tells the principal.
Garry and Pete had a nice gay subtext romance going on, and we all assumed that Pete's son Grant was gay. Notice his obvious interest in Garry's basket in this shot.
Like Seinfeld, he had a "will they or won't they?" love interest and a dumb sidekick, cute next door neighbor Pete (Michael Tucci). We all assumed that Pete's teenage son Grant (Scott Nemes) was gay.
The theme to Garry's show
Garry called me up and asked if I would write his theme song
I recall it as pleasant but not remarkable, one of many standup-comic-gets-a-sitcom vehicles from the era. Garry played himself as a less-successful Seinfeld, with various job and romantic problems. Sometimes he broke the fourth wall to comment on the situation.
His Elaine was "platonic" neighbor Nancy (Molly Cheek), who dated and eventually married Ian McFyfer (Ian Buchanan).
His Kramer was Leonard Smith (Paul Willson), the owner of his condo.
There was a steady stream of other friends and associates, including a lot of Garry's girlfriends, and a lot of celebrities playing themselves: Rob Reiner, Tom Petty, Martin Mull, Red Buttons, Chevy Chase, Norman Fell, Jeff Goldblum, Gilda Radner.
Sometimes they were elaborately self-referential:
Grant wins a trip to Hollywood, where he goes to a taping of his own show.
Grant is accused of beating up a kid at school, but the a member of the studio audience saw what really happened, and tells the principal.
Like Seinfeld, he had a "will they or won't they?" love interest and a dumb sidekick, cute next door neighbor Pete (Michael Tucci). We all assumed that Pete's teenage son Grant (Scott Nemes) was gay.
The only episode I actually recall involved Grant squashing our gay reading by getting a crush on a girl named Shelby Woo, and serenading her with a song parodying the lyrics of "Hooray for Hollywood." That character does not appear in the IMDB cast list, so I don't know which episode it was.
After the show ended, I didn't hear anything about Garry Shandling for many years, until word of his death came in 2016. I assumed that he moved back into stand-up obscurity.
In 2020, the It's Garry Shandling Book appeared on Amazon. Oh boy, a small paperback with interesting trivia about the show! I clicked on "one-click ordering" withou investigating any further.
More after the break
