IT'S GARRY SHANDLING'S SHOW: MR. SMITH GOES TO NAM (TV)
Summary
One in this cable comedy series starring stand-up comic Garry Shandling as himself -- the star of a television show. The show is set in a replica of Shandling's own living room and the comedian often breaks "the fourth wall" by addressing the audience directly. In this episode, Garry acquires a tank of sea monkeys and shows them off to the audience. Comedian Gilda Radner stops by and explains that she has been off the air lately because of her cancer, although Garry has no such excuse. She admires his new pets, after briefly confusing them with a bowl of soup, and tells Garry that she watched the tapes he sent her during her illness—or some of them, anyway, and he scolds her for breaking the "fourth wall" on his show. His neighbor Leonard stops by, and they meet Gilda's male nurse, Blake. Gilda soon leaves, hoping to avoid watching more tapes of Garry's old shows. Later that night, Leonard has a nightmare about being pursued by Vietcong and explains to a concerned Garry and Nancy that Blake was in his unit and seeing him brought back painful memories of the war. He relates the story of how his unit was captured and he "froze" and missed his chance to save them, and Garry is impressed as real trees and soldiers appear to illustrate the story. He blames himself for the others' imprisonment in a camp, but Garry and Nancy encourage him to forgive himself for the 20-year-old mistake, suggesting that he talk to Blake.
Gilda is interrupted from her puzzle by the arrival of Nancy, Leonard and a reluctant Garry, and Nancy ushers a curious Gilda outside while the others have some "guy talk." Blake is surprised and pleased to see Leonard, having thought that he was dead, but when Leonard finds himself unable to tell the truth, Garry tells Blake about the freezing incident and he becomes angry. At Garry's urging, Leonard tells the highly realistic story again and orders his "younger self" to shoot, and Gilda is annoyed when her house is damaged by the "war." Garry is hit in the arm and proceeds to panic, but they all agree that Leonard did the right thing in not firing against the Vietcong, who outnumbered him, and he and Blake make up. Garry continues lamenting his injury, although it is discovered that the bullet was stopped by one of his ubiquitous videotapes, and he and the others sit down for a tranquil game of Candy Land. As the show ends, he encourages the audience to admire a rather frightening portrait of Gilda's husband, actor Gene Wilder. Commercials deleted.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: Showtime
- DATE: March 18, 1988 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:24
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:51475
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: Showtime - TV series, 1986-1990
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Bernie Brillstein … Executive Producer
- Brad Grey … Executive Producer
- Garry Shandling … Executive Producer, Created by, Theme Music by
- Alan Zweibel … Producer, Created by, Theme Music by
- Tom Gammill … Co-Producer
- Vic Kaplan … Co-Producer
- Max Pross … Co-Producer
- Eddie October … Associate Producer
- Joey Carbone … Theme Music by
- Richard Day … Writer
- Alan Rafkin … Director
- Garry Shandling … Cast, Garry Shandling
- Molly Cheek … Cast, Nancy Bancroft
- Scott Nemes … Cast, Grant Schumacher
- Michael Tucci … Cast, Pete Schumacher
- Paul Willson … Cast, Leonard Smith
- Gilda Radner … Cast, Herself
- Blake Clark … Cast, Blake Cumbers
- David Greenlee … Cast, Young Leonard Smith