FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: crumbum on February 19, 2011, 09:40:44 AM
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Hearing Tom's recent comments regarding the relative merits of The Office vs. The Larry Sanders Show, I was reminded of this (I think it's been brought up on the forum once or twice, but as far as I know that was quite a while back)
Ricky Gervais Meets... Garry Shandling - The Highlights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LljWm8umGIE#)
It's worth watching the entire episode, where the badness of the interview is clearer. Some have stated they thought the awkwardness was 'staged' since that type of humour is something both men often explore, and some just think Shandling had it out for Gervais from the beginning. To me it just looks like two people on completely different wavelengths who both react to that fact by turning passive-aggressive.
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Bad?! No way, dude, this was an awesome interview. So much better than if they got together and kissed each other's asses. Also check out Gary's weird boxing workout with Alec Baldwin.
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It was definitely fun to watch, but I maintain that these two guys don't relate very well at all, given that they'd just met. In the Baldwin interview it seemed clear to me they really understood and empathized with one another.
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I also loved this. I even enjoyed how they cut out the couple of parts where Shandling really answered standard interview questions (about fame and about seeing Woody Allen as a kid).
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Shandling making the comment about Gervais hiring Jews was a little too ridiculous to not be staged.
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Staged or not, it's effective comedy as far as I'm concerned.
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I love the comedy of both Shandling and Gervais, but my read on the two is that they're generally pretty vile men. Needless to say, I had a hard time getting through this.
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That was really compelling stuff at the time. I think Shandling seemed to be enjoying toying with Gervais for the benefit of the cameras, but didn't particularly like him either. His little "I did my best" interaction with one of the producers/cameramen right the end is indicative I think. Gervais' inability to defend his style of comedy with any level of articulacy was a bit pathetic too.
Awkward, but ten times better than the other ones in that series where Gervais obsequiously cosied up to various comedy legends and tried to put his own work in the same bracket as theirs. He's terrible for that. I think he went around comparing Ghost Town to The Apartment when it came out. Unless he was just being ironic of course. *yawn*
Interestingly, while the other episodes in the series were on at prime times, this got completely buried in the schedules late one night over Christmas.
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I really like that Shandling calls him out for the angle of "Uncomfortable Humor" by saying "I think we've proven probably doesn't need to be proven anymore, and is indulgent (now)"
You know the thing about Gervais and Larry David, etc. is that "Uncomfortable/Awkward Humor" can only go so far. Diminishing returns...shit like that.
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Curb Your Enthusiasm does it so badly because of how strictly they keep to the formula:
1) Larry runs into a stranger and makes them angry.
2) Larry talks to Cheryl or Jeff about having to do something with a famous person.
3) Larry does the thing with the famous person and it goes bad, awkwardly.
4) Larry meets up with the stranger from the beginning and that makes everything worse.
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I really like that Shandling calls him out for the angle of "Uncomfortable Humor" by saying "I think we've proven probably doesn't need to be proven anymore, and is indulgent (now)"
You know the thing about Gervais and Larry David, etc. is that "Uncomfortable/Awkward Humor" can only go so far. Diminishing returns...shit like that.
All while pouring himself a coffee without offering one for Gervais. That was masterful.
This is a great NYT profile of Shandling also--
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/arts/television/28stei.html?_r=1 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/arts/television/28stei.html?_r=1)
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I really like that Shandling calls him out for the angle of "Uncomfortable Humor" by saying "I think we've proven probably doesn't need to be proven anymore, and is indulgent (now)"
You know the thing about Gervais and Larry David, etc. is that "Uncomfortable/Awkward Humor" can only go so far. Diminishing returns...shit like that.
See I don't think he was being serious. He was calling out "uncomfortable humor" as a way of acknowledging the style of the interview.
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As much of a definitive answer as we're ever likely to get (and an excellent read besides):
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201008/comedy-issue/comedy-issue-garry-shandling (http://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201008/comedy-issue/comedy-issue-garry-shandling)
While completing the DVD extras for Sanders, Shandling had been struck by the idea that Gervais would be a great addition. Though he'd never appeared on the show, Gervais had spoken openly about how Sanders inspired him. So Garry called Gervais and asked if he'd do it. The answer was yes, but Gervais also had a request. While he was in Garry's home, could they also shoot his Channel 4 show? Shandling agreed, and all was well until the day of the dueling interviews, when wires got crossed. Garry says he assumed they would shoot the "visit" for the DVD extra first, because "that laid-back, not-on tone is good preparation for saying, 'Let's turn it on'" later, for Gervais's special.
But when Shandling walked into his kitchen, he realized instantly that Gervais thought the Channel 4 special was being shot first. Gervais was on—extremely so—and so were several cameras. Garry could have said something but wanted to see what would happen if he played it out. What if he stayed in the same low-affect head space he was in to do his DVD extras? Could he reach Gervais without explicitly identifying the problem? Could he bring Gervais's energy level down?
"It's fascinating, really," Garry tells me. "We both became locked into the shows we were each doing, and it became a bit of a boxing match. Because he's trying to get me to do the show that he needs, and I'm trying to get him to do nothing. I was trying to pull Ricky into the moment."
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As much of a definitive answer as we're ever likely to get (and an excellent read besides):
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201008/comedy-issue/comedy-issue-garry-shandling (http://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201008/comedy-issue/comedy-issue-garry-shandling)
Awesome article - thanks for posting PD ... was it Kevin Smith who told Maron not to bother going after an interview w/Shandling because he'd gotten all woo woo? If this was what he meant, then Kevin Smith is a blockhead. Maron & Shandling would be a pretty awesome match up.
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Had there ever been a rematch?
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The only places I've ever heard Shandling interviewed are on Green Room w/ Paul Provenza and WTF, and he came across as very gracious and likable in both, which contradicts what I've heard about him (thanks mostly to the recent Twitter "incident").
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I love Larry Sanders as much as anyone else. And I also really loved the original Gary Shandling Show that was on Fox when I was a wee lad. He's a comic genius.
But seriously, f that dude.
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I love Larry Sanders as much as anyone else. And I also really loved the original Gary Shandling Show that was on Fox when I was a wee lad. He's a comic genius.
But seriously, f that dude.
;D
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Tom mentioned Garry had been shitty to him on Twitter all week, but I don't seen any mention of Tom in Garry's Twitter stream. Maybe the whole thing's a joke? I just woke up and am confused.
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Looks like G**** S******** deleted all of the relevant tweets about Tom. They used to be there, though. I seen't 'em.
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They're still there.
https://twitter.com/scharpling/statuses/237803911761760256 (https://twitter.com/scharpling/statuses/237803911761760256)
Garry Shandling
Big mistake: walked-thru 2' high sandcastle without taking off shoes. Compulsive-Obcessive little boy couldn't stop crying! No insurance!
scharpling
@GarryShandling Do you think that Artie thought Larry and/or the Larry Sanders Show was funny? I re-watched them all and I don't think so!
21 Aug Garry Shandling
@scharpling I thought your question was about what Artie thought, not about you!
21 Aug scharpling
@GarryShandling I tend to make these things about me ultimately. But what would you say Artie thought about Larry?
21 Aug GarryShandling
@scharpling This is about you, too. Why u bothering me? I'm not u. Maybe u want another account, so u can give ur opinions to urself.
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Strange. The only tweet that's showing up on his main twitter page is this:
Garry Shandling @GarryShandling
@yourpalpete @scharpling You're mistaken. He can learn from the exchange or get defensive. Take a second and try to make a dif decision.
10:41 PM - 23 Aug 12 via web · Details
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scharpling
@GarryShandling Do you think that Artie thought Larry and/or the Larry Sanders Show was funny? I re-watched them all and I don't think so!
21 Aug Garry Shandling
@scharpling I thought your question was about what Artie thought, not about you!
So this has all started because Shandling has misread Tom's tweet, and his default position to perceived criticism is to be a dick. Just like Larry!
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I spent a lot of my younger days being fueled by the anger of being somehow slighted. I put a lot of that behind me in order to gain a sense of inner peace. However, as a result, I've grown complacent in both my creative endeavors and career.
Tom -- your bitterness about this incident has inspired me to give in to my own angry demons and to once again become inspired by my need to chump chumps.
Thanks!
(I do hope this is a work that ends up with Gary appearing on The Best Show which would be amazing but either way...)
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Gary vs. Garry would be amazing.
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Here's some more evidence that Garry Shandling didn't understand the show within a show concept of his own show and was thus incapable of answering Tom's question.
https://twitter.com/onphire/status/243474251628294144
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Believe it or not, there has been worse from Garry on Twitter! This is from almost a year ago...
http://twitter.com/GarryShandling/status/121807256206581760 (http://twitter.com/GarryShandling/status/121807256206581760)
Also Garry's propensity to respond to flirty fans (or spambot accounts) more than others is creepy and sad.
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Listening to last week's show - re: "what's Garry Shandling even doing now?", one must not forget his cameo in Iron Man 2, as a ghastly portent of Robert Downey Jr's Face of Christmas Yet to Come.
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I get the feeling that Schandling's bought an image of himself that used to be schtick. The loner ostracized by the world because he's such a genius -- where the schtick was that Schandling (often as Sanders) was usually mistaken or wrong about whatever he was being a dick about. It seems Schandling's always trying to teach people "lessons" lately. Scharpling. That Gervais interview and his explanation of it. Maybe there's something genius in riding a concept out that's only in your head and seeing how people react, but I think in the non-celebrity world we call that "just being a dick."