The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling

[Vixenstud]

 

Anyone see this?  It was a four hour documentary that aired Monday and last night.  

I had a big crush on Garry when he did It’s Garry Shandling’s Show….now I can’t get that damned theme song out of my head!

Anyway, kudos to director Judd Apatow; what a brilliantly done love letter to a friend.  From his brother Barry’s death from Cystic Fibrosis to his narcissistic mother to the success of his shows, I felt like I was a part of Garry’s life.

Bob Saget and Kevin Nealon were suprises….they were emotional talking about him and they had me crying right along with them.

If you haven’t seen this yet run don’t walk the next time it comes on.

[cpcathy]

I only really saw It's Garry Shandling Show, so when they showed those clips I was howling with laughter. So funny, and yes, the theme song is awesome.

I am halfway through this, and am enjoying it. Fuss has been made that it's too long, but Apatow's stuff is always too long. I'm becoming a big fan of Apatow's, his special on Netflix was also very funny, just as a sidenote.

[Caseysgirl]

I thought this was an excellent documentary. It was touching yet did not white wash Garry's really neurotic behavior. I never realized how difficult he could be and yet so generous to other comics, particularly the generation that followed him.  My heart went out to Linda Doucett, who seemed to love him the way no other woman did.I admire her fighting to keep her job and it must have been agony to work with him after that.  I vaguely remember the lawsuit between Brad Grey and him. Was he wrong to have felt that he was owed $100 million dollars?  It does not seem that others felt that Grey did anything wrong and before he died, he seems to have been well respected. What a tortured, talented man!  Hope he was at peace when he died.

[biakbiak]

Was I the only one who when Jay Leno disagreed with Garry's assessment that the comedy scene was filled with petty jealous assholes, shouted "he was talking about you, asshole!"?

 

7 hours ago, Caseysgirl said:

It does not seem that others felt that Grey did anything wrong and before he died, he seems to have been well respected. W

Some people definitely thought Grey was in the wrong. From Gavin de Becker's eulogy at Garry's funeral that got a huge laugh:

Quote

Over the years, many people asked me, 'Why doesn't Garry have a family?' My answer was, 'Of course he had a family.' He created the Sanders family, which was as much a family as anything, and he had this family [motioning to the crowd]. And even Brad Grey had a role in his family, because every family has an uncle or a cousin who is a sociopath.

Edited March 29, 2018 by biakbiak

[msrachelj]

agreed. it was too long but i am surprised more people have not watched this. what a talented man and such an interesting story. he was robbed of the late night position. he would have been great . better than leno. sad. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I've watched about 1/3 so far. It's really good. 

[scrb]

Here's more about that dispute with Grey.

http://deadline.com/2018/01/judd-apatow-garry-shandling-hbo-documentary-brad-grey-legal-battle-1202241084/

 

I guess Garry felt Grey traded on all the acclaim from the Larry Sanders Show to develop other shows.  I think Grey was involved with Curb Your Enthusiasm and maybe Seinfeld itself?  All the prestigious shows from the late 90s and early oughts, I seem to recall seeing Grey's name as EP.

[biakbiak]

35 minutes ago, scrb said:

Here's more about that dispute with Grey.

http://deadline.com/2018/01/judd-apatow-garry-shandling-hbo-documentary-brad-grey-legal-battle-1202241084/

 

I guess Garry felt Grey traded on all the acclaim from the Larry Sanders Show to develop other shows.  I think Grey was involved with Curb Your Enthusiasm and maybe Seinfeld itself?  All the prestigious shows from the late 90s and early oughts, I seem to recall seeing Grey's name as EP.

He wasnt involved with either. His main comedys that weren't Larry David were Just Shoot Me and Newsradio. He also got a producer credit on The Sopranos.

[Pallas]

As the article mentions, Grey multiple-dipped from HBO on Larry Sanders -- receiving payments for his role as EP and for his half-ownership of the show, along with fees as Shandling's manager. Grey then went on to steal writers from the Sanders room for his other projects. He became, in brief, more a producer than a manager (aside from his role on Sanders, that is):  working from project to project and serving no one's interests but his own.

Grey's defense of his interests included hiring Bert Fields as his attorney; contracting with Anthony Pellicano; fostering negative reports in he media and on the grapevine, especially through his longtime partner Bernie Brillstein and his first mentor Harvey Weinstein, and conducting surveillance on Shandling and people in his circle. SInce the case was settled in Shandling's favor under an NCA, the public record picks up with the trial of Anthony Pellicano, where Shandling testified. Grey died at age 59 in May 2017, 14 months after Shandling.

I loved the documentary. For Shandling, it seems, brotherhood was the essential human tie. Real or metaphorical, man-to-man, prick-and-press-our-fingertips together, blood brotherhood. Shandling's dual struggles to connect with individuals, and with the one-ness, were depicted in substance and depth. And by Judd Apatow, someone who doesn't seem to struggle in making the human connection, or in questioning his cosmic place.

It looks as if the only thing of significance to Shandling that Apatow missed a bit was his other late-life trauma: the death of his acting teacher, Roy London, after Sanders's second season. Shandling's Television Academy interview makes London's loss seem as defining to his mature identity as the battle with Grey. Shandling seems to have avoided putting all his faith into one spiritual mentor. But it's clear that he trusted Roy London to show him the way to be in the world as a person, and therefore, as an actor. Like a big brother, who did everything first, and knew how things worked.

The documentary does cover London's role and touch on his death, but not to the same degree as it might, in juxtapositon to the original trauma of losing Barry. Perhaps because Apatow wasn't aware, or wasn't as open to acknowledging what London meant to Apatow's own mentor.