Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Petty moves from a petty man.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

In my day, never was longer.

Republicans in disarray!

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

You are here: Home / Absent Friends / RIP / RIP Gary Shandling

RIP Gary Shandling

by | 78 Comments

This post is in: 

This really bites:

Comedian, actor, writer and producer Garry Shandling, known for “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and “The Larry Sanders Show,” has died, TMZ reported on Thursday.

He died at an L.A. hospital on Thursday, according to the outlet. A cause of death has not been released. He was not known to be suffering from any illnesses, and just a few days ago retweeted Kathy Griffin’s photo of himself, her and Bob Odenkirk.

His was my style of comedy.

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  2. 2.

    Punchy

    I can never forget that theme song to his show. It was as generic as one could make it, by design.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    @Amir Khalid:

    Didn’t you just love It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and its self-referential theme song?

    Oddly enough, I watched him do stand up comedy on tv, but never saw more than a part of one episode of his tv show.

    Funny man.

    Rest in Peace. Sympathies to his family and friends.

  8. 8.

    bobbo

    Yeah loved him. He was recently on Comedian in Cars Getting Coffee. Definitely worth watching.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    @Betty Cracker:
    Shandling did an episode of The X-Files, Hollywood AD: writer/director David Duchovny cast him as himself, playing Mulder in a movie.

  13. 13.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    Garry Shandling was really really funny. He was on Bill Maher either in ’15 or ’14 and was just freaking hilarious. I’m really going to miss him. I seem to remember he had some cardiac issue??? Heart murmur or something. I also read somewhere he had a lot of chronic pain from an auto accident years ago in Tucson.

  15. 15.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Punchy: That show, because of its relentless fourth-wall-breaking, was also one of the rare occasions that one saw the face of Dick Tufeld (the announcer, who was the voice of the robot from Lost In Space).

  20. 20.

    Geeno

    The Larry Sanders Show was hilarious.
    For some reason, it’s a Rip Torn line that stands out for me from that show.

    Larry (Garry S): Be there or be square!
    Rip Torn: I can do both.

    Garry Shandling was always funny in everything he did.

  21. 21.

    Yellowdog

    I hate it when famous people younger than me die. I don’t need reminders of my own mortality.
    I never watched his show but he sounds like a good, funny guy. May he rest in peace.

  23. 23.

    Bill Murray

    Johan Cruyff died today, too. Sadly even being a great athlete can’t stop smoking taking its toll

  24. 24.

    Davebo

    He did some great standup.

    Why am I not surprised that John has love for pretty neurotic comedians!

  25. 25.

    Tom Q

    The Sopranos made HBO into what it is today, but it was The Larry Sanders Show that first took it beyond the realm of “the place to watch last year’s movies”. An often hilarious show, that gave Rip Torn a whole new career as a comic actor, and lit the way for many comedy shows to follow. Shandling goes in all the books for that achievement alone.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    Ugh. G loved The Larry Sanders Show, so I don’t think I want to break the news to him. That show probably had the greatest cameos ever, like when Hank (Jeffrey Tambor) bought a lemon (car) from Elvis Costello.

    ETA: That’s the same episode where David Duchovny has a crush on Larry.

  28. 28.

    geg6

    OMG, no! The Larry Sanders Show was one of the funniest shows ever on tv. I first subscribed to HBO just for his show. Man, what a sucky year for some of my favorite celebs. Damn.

  30. 30.

    Randy P

    Damn. I didn’t watch the show that often, but always enjoyed it when I did.

    “This is the theme to Gary’s show,
    this is the theme to Gary’s show…”

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    “Greatest cameos.” I was just thinking that I loved Jon Stewart’s recurring appearances (as a version of himself) as Larry Sanders’s guest host, with Sanders working behind the scenes to tank Stewart’s episodes because of his raging insecurity.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    @Davebo:

    Why am I not surprised that John has love for pretty neurotic comedians!

    Whenever someone would mention Garry Shandling, I would also think of another famously neurotic comedian, Richard Lewis.

  34. 34.

    PaulW

    Screw the Summer of Death from a few years back. This has been one sh-tty long Winter of Death.

    I started to worry after Abe Vigoda died that we were facing the Rapture. NOW I KNOW WE ARE.

    PREPARE, FOOLS.

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    @Davebo:

    Why am I not surprised that John has love for pretty neurotic comedians!

    Garry Shandling was a genius of neurotic comedy, but I think not even his mother would have said he was pretty.

    Here all week, veal, waitress, etc.

  40. 40.

    CaseyL

    This sucks. 66, 71 aren’t really that old. Too many artists I grew up watching/listening to are dying, all of them a lot sooner than they should be!

  41. 41.

    piratedan

    @CaseyL: case in point, Keith Richards is still alive, or at least some manifestation of him still walks the Earth.

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    @piratedan:
    It is said that after the Nuclear Holocaust, none shall survive to walk the earth save Keef and the cockroaches. Saith Keef: “… And the cockroaches better watch out, ’cause I’ll be hungry.”

  43. 43.

    The Other Chuck

    @Emma: Eventually to come: everyone who has ever lived or will live.

    Edit: except maybe Keith Richards.

  44. 44.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Amir Khalid: That was hilarious. Not only did Shandling play Mulder, but Duchoveny’s then wife Tia Leoni played Scully.

  45. 45.

    The Other Chuck

    @Tom Q:

    The Sopranos made HBO into what it is today, but it was The Larry Sanders Show that first took it beyond the realm of “the place to watch last year’s movies”.

    Some of us who grew up in the 80’s would say it was Fraggle Rock.

  47. 47.

    Germy

    @piratedan:

    case in point, Keith Richards is still alive, or at least some manifestation of him still walks the Earth.

    I just read that Paul McCartney will appear in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

  48. 48.

    jl

    @Germy: And I read recently that Keith Richards almost pulled a knife on Trump once over a some concert financing deal. Trump put up some money for a concert and the Stones deemed him a sketchy goon and a necessary evil to get the concert going, didn’t want him involved in the PR, but Trump showed up to a presser anyway. Heroes still walk the earth.

  53. 53.

    Applejinx

    @piratedan: Yeah, but Lemmy died. The other rock-roach.

    I think what’s happening is, it was always tough to make it in this stupid hyped out Ayn Rand world where there are no exceptions, everybody had to grind themselves into the grave to catch a wave.

    It takes a toll and we’re seeing that now. The check-signers get to live ’til they’re ninety, at least the old money ones (newcomers are liable to die EVEN QUICKER just trying to get into that position and only the kabillionaires get to afford to decompress and fix themselves up for the long haul)

    Anybody that has to do anything to live, this is the new normal. Whatever retirement was, we won’t even see it so there’s little point fussing about it.

    I’m two years older than Phife. That hit me kinda hard, because he had more health problems but we both are poor (Phife had to tour to pay for medical treatment, he wasn’t living like a Kanye)

  55. 55.

    ThresherK

    @piratedan: Wait, what? I’m not spending as much time plugged into the media as previously, but…wha?

    Part of me wants to check on Bob Uecker.

  58. 58.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mnemosyne: Or when Hank and his neighbor KD (or is it k.d.?) Lang get in a fight about, if memory serves, landscaping. Or Hank sucking up to Jon Stewart. Or Hank trying to ask out a pre-Sex and the City SJ Parker, or Hank…

    And as brilliant as Tambor was, I think he overshadowed Rip Torn in discussion of the show, he was also hilarious.

    I think I read Larry Sanders was based mostly on Letterman.

  60. 60.

    Amir Khalid

    @jl:
    The concert was in one of Trump’s Vegas buildings. As Salon reported it, the Stones didn’t want him upstaging them, so they had a clause put in the contract to say he mustn’t be at the show or even in the building. Lo and behold, with showtime coming up, there he is. Keef threatened to lead the Stones out of the venue and cancel the gig, and the result was that Donald backed down. Keef didn’t actually brandish a knife in the Donald’s face; he showed it to the promoter to emphasise his displeasure that Trump was reneging on his part of the deal.

  61. 61.

    Pogonip

    @Yellowdog: We avoid the obits now because nearly everyone listed is younger than my 89-year-old father. Used to scan them briefly because a long detailed one would usually reveal a pretty interesting life.

  63. 63.

    bk

    @Amir Khalid: Atlantic City, not Las Vegas. He only has one hotel here, and it doesn’t have a concert venue (or a casino, as he couldn’t get licensed).

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    @BGinCHI:

    I think God must be really depressed seeing how we are acting on earth and wants all the funny, creative, interesting people to cheer her up.

  66. 66.

    Sloegin

    Famous people die at a regular clip, and as we get older, we see ‘our stars’ dying off.
    That being said, 2016 does feel particularly murderous.

  67. 67.

    greennotGreen

    With all this talk about death and with the site being down, I have a question: who “owns” Balloon Juice? I’m assuming JGC owns the domain name and pays the bills. So, John, this is actually a serious question. Have you put the site in your will? If, FSM forbid, you decide to mop naked again or slip on the ice again or any of the other nearly lethal activities you undertake, what would we do if something happened to you? I would much rather have a cartoon of you above Tunch’s asking us to donate to Act Blue or animal rescue or whatever cause is closest to your heart than for this band of brothers and sisters to dissipate like so much…hot air.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    @CaseyL:

    With a note that I’m not sure if this was the case for either Shandling or Howard, we’re also seeing a generation where smoking was still quite common. Smoking-related cancer is what killed Bowie.

  70. 70.

    Cathyx

    Ok John, I only came back for our mutual love of Garry Shandling. Sad day indeed. I will watch an episode of the Larry Sanders Show in his honor.

  71. 71.

    phein55

    Gary Shandling was on an old game show, “Make Me Laugh.” Bert Convy was the contestant, and there were comedians who would come out and try and make him laugh.

    Gary started the set-up for a joke about Jewish Boy Scouts in Kentucky, and that by itself was so funny Convy lost it immediately. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard, but can’t remember for the life of me.

  73. 73.

    Ben Cisco

    @greennotGreen: This is a good point. Recent events have forced me to confront estate planning (or in this case, re-sorting), and online presence doesn’t even factor in until somebody brings it up…

  76. 76.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I fondly remember the Gary Shandling show. I liked his standup too and would probably have liked his premium cable channel shows but never watched them because I’ve never had a premium cable channel.

  77. 77.

    Caren Shapiro

    @phein55: Shandling and Richard Lewis once had an argument over who was more neurotic. Lewis said he once stalked his third grade teacher. But, Shandling said he wore pajamas to his high school prom. Then, Belz (Richard Belzer wandered in to say he once climbed up to the second story window of a girl he liked in college and jerked off in front of her just as she was about to close the blinds. This was at. The Comedy Club sometime in the winter of ’86. Had us all in stitches.

Comments are closed.