MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO'S 10TH ANNUAL TELEVISION FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES, THE: THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Museum of Television & Radio's 10th Annual Television Festival in Los Angeles. Presented with, and held at, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the festival celebrates the excellence and diversity of American television, and is dedicated to television's creative community. This evening honors "The Larry Sanders Show," Garry Shandling's satiric and painfully funny exploration of "honest human behavior" in the predatory world of late-night talk shows. Museum president Robert M. Batscha introduces the panel comprised of the following members of "The Larry Sanders Show's" creative team: HBO chairman and CEO Michael Fuchs; executive producer Brad Grey; actors Jeffrey Tambor and Rip Torn; and executive producer, co-creator, writer, and star Garry Shandling. The first two episodes of "The Larry Sanders Show" ("What Have You Done For Me Lately?" and "The Promise") are shown, followed by questions from the festival audience to the panel, who discuss the following topics, among others: the practice of shooting all of the videotaped, largely unscripted talk-show footage on one night, resulting in an abundance of unused ad-libbed comedy; how guests are booked for the talk-show segments; Rip Torn's performance in Albert Brooks's film "Defending Your Life," which led to his being cast as the wily producer Arthur; the difficulty of casting the right actor as the unctuous sidekick Hank Kingsley, and Shandling's excitement at Jeffrey Tambor's audition for the role; Tambor's initial uneasiness shooting the talk-show sequences; the genesis of the series, which stemmed from an episode of Shandling's earlier series "It's Garry Shandling's Show"; HBO's interest in producing the series, as it coincided with the late-night talk-show "wars" of the early 1990s; Fuchs's facetious assertion that Shandling's original idea was to portray "Michael Jordan as a white person"; Shandling's appreciation of HBO's support and flexibility; positive feedback on the show from David Letterman, Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall, and Johnny Carson; whether the show could exist on commercial network television; Tambor's and Torn's gratitude for the freedom involved in working on the show as opposed to the restrictions imposed on commercial television, which is hampered by pressure from the network and fear of offending the advertisers; the origin of Larry Sanders's monologues; the upcoming show schedule; whether there are plans for Howard Stern to appear on the show; the realities of advertising pressures on talk-show hosts; Tambor's role as Mel Brooks's obsequious underling in the film "Life Stinks," which was somewhat similar to the role of Hank; Shandling's appearance on Howard Stern's radio show; author Terry Southern's appreciation of Torn's ambiguously manipulative shadings in his performance as Arthur; and the high expense of each episode.
(This tape contains the "The Larry Sanders Show" episodes "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" and "The Promise," which are also part of the Museum's collection and may be viewed separately.)
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: March 6, 1993 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:55:43
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:30168
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Robert M. Batscha … Moderator
- Michael Fuchs … Panelist
- Brad Grey … Panelist
- Garry Shandling … Panelist
- Jeffrey Tambor … Panelist
- Rip Torn … Panelist
- Albert Brooks
- Mel Brooks
- Johnny Carson
- Arsenio Hall
- Jay Leno
- David Letterman
- Terry Southern
- Howard Stern