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Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show

Awkward comedy is all the rage these days, thanks to popular shows like “The Office” (both the British and American versions) and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and it increasingly seems like the modern sitcom is more mature, realistic, and less corny. It’s not just the lack of a laugh track that distinguishes these kinds of shows from safer, more sentimental sitcoms like “Friends” or “Mad About You”; these shows are overtly cynical and share an underlying pessimism for human nature. But, most likely, many of these shows wouldn’t be around today if it weren’t for the groundbreaking, brilliant “Larry Sanders Show,” which ran on HBO for six seasons between 1992 and 1998. Previously, only the first season of “The Larry Sanders Show” was available on DVD, but now a new set, “Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show,” has been released. This new collection only contains 23 handpicked episodes from the series’ total of 89, and although it looks like the others won’t show up on DVD anytime soon (the reasons behind this remain unclear), this is a wonderful DVD set. While more episodes would have been preferable, the collection’s wide selection of unique extras makes up for it. Garry Shandling stars as Larry Sanders, a neurotic host of a middling late-night talk show, and the show mainly focuses on what goes on behind the scenes. “Arrested Development” alum Jeffrey Tambor has never been funnier than he is as Hank Kingsley, Larry’s selfish, incredibly stupid sidekick, and Rip Torn is phenomenal as Larry’s alternately acerbic and ingratiating producer, Artie. The dynamic between these three accounts for most of the show’s best moments, but many future stars also memorably got their starts. “24” cast members Penny Johnson and Mary-Lynn Rajskub (Sherry Palmer and Chloe, respectively) are also very funny, as are other familiar personalities like Jeremy Piven and Janeane Garofalo. But the guest stars really contributed to the show’s energy, and “The Larry Sanders Show” was famous for its ability to lure a multitude of high-profile celebrities. The most fun comes when they send themselves up; for example, some of the funnier episodes included on this DVD collection involve Larry dealing with the crush that David Duchovny has on him. Another notable episode tackled the issue of Ellen DeGeneres’s sexual orientation before she actually came out, shrewdly tweaking the debate by having her sleep with a very confused Larry. My personal favorite of the set has Larry trying to cope with the fact that one of his ex-wives slept with Alec Baldwin and Ed Begley, Jr. Even though the show is frequently hilarious, almost all of the laughs are laced with a stinging bitterness; Hank, in particular, is a pathetic, borderline unlikable man whose own self-centeredness earns him ridicule and embarrassment. Larry himself is no shining beacon of morality, and he seems unable to smoothly relate to anybody whenever he’s not behind a desk. “The Larry Sanders Show” is a bleak, sharp satire of the emptiness behind Tinseltown’s glitz and glamour, and it adeptly exploits the difference between on-air joviality and off-screen hostility. Especially toward the end of the series, the show takes on a heavier tone and sometimes is downright depressing. The season finale itself is one of the gloomiest sendoffs to a comedy in television history. This DVD set contains hours upon hours of revealing, insightful special features – behind-the-scenes featurettes, commentaries, etc. – but the interviews Shandling conducts with old friends are the most captivating. They are loosely edited, long, self-indulgent, and often ramble on and on, but they don’t shy away from showing some of the more painful aspects of Shandling’s personal life. In one such interview, Alec Baldwin berates Shandling for how inconsistent his friendship was over the years; in another, “40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” writer/director Judd Apatow seethes over a beloved joke Shandling cut. In one unplanned interview, Shandling and former lover/co-star Linda Doucett banter tearfully about their regrets – Shandling had fired her after their relationship ended, and she sued him and the show shortly thereafter. It’s raw, occasionally unnerving stuff, and it sometimes makes us feel uncomfortably voyeuristic. But it’s fascinating nonetheless. So if you’re a longtime fan of the show or a lucky newcomer, “Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show” is a DVD collection well worth picking up. The title truly is accurate: not only do you get a handful of some of the most brilliant television content ever produced, but you get an uncommonly candid sense of what went on behind the scenes.

Written by: Joe Pudas

Reviewers Rating: 9.5
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