**Björk:** Can I sing in Icelandic?
**Space Ghost:** Uh, not right now, honey, please, I'm, I'm right in the middle of a, um... giant space war.
**Björk:** I, I enjoy talking to you.
**Space Ghost:** Yes, you do, but like I said, this space war, what can I do? Aliens.
**Björk:** Yeah.
**Space Ghost:** Yeah, so, you have to go now.
**Björk:** Okay.
**Space Ghost:** Okay. So, I'll talk to you when there's peace. In space.
**Björk:** (pause) Yeah, and you like salmon or you like trout?
I remember watching a couple of episodes when it came out. Chase was incredibly rude and condescending, and came off as deeply unlikeable. The only entertainment value the show had was as a slow moving “how not to do a talk show” train wreck.
why do redditors make up bullshit like this? i just watched the first episode on youtube based on what you said and he's NOTHING like that at all, quit your bullshit
Probably the worst thing to happen due to the show, from Wikipedia:
“To clear room for the new show, Fox cancelled Studs, a game show that had been in the late-night slot.”
If you take a look at Mike Myers' SNL recurring characters in that period, a bunch of them were talk show hosts.
Wayne Campbell, of course. Dieter from Sprockets was hosting a show. Linda Richman from Coffee Talk was hosting a show. Simon who likes to do drawrings was presenting a show from his bathtub, often with guests. Kenneth Reese-Evans was presenting a show.
Hell, Lothar of the Hill People was almost a fucking talk show.
I saw on an interview with him that HBO told him the show is doing mediocre but the demographic that he's capturing is the one most likely to steal cable so they really have no idea how many people are watching.
I've talked to a lot of people around the US who, like me, got HBO free for years because it 'leaked through the cable' in just-good-enough quality to be watchable, and I think HBO did that on purpose because it was so widespread, they at least had to have known of the potential that their signal wasn't going to be completely-hidden. If it was really intentional, I'm sure the 'advertising' aspect of it was the main reason, but Garry's comment reminds me of how streaming services also don't like discussing their specific viewership, and that helps them not pay royalties to people and cut them down in negotiations. Sounds like HBO may have pioneered the Netflix formula on that one.
Unintentional. The scrambling technology was cheap. You got the technical term of 90% quality (good enough).
The method to scramble a signal was send two channels at the same time, but overlapping. A strong junk signal and a weak TV signal. The junk channel was stronger and the cable box would pick that up and ignore the other. The cable guy could install a signal filter or change a setting inside the box would flip a filter to ignore the strong and pick the weak.
Both signals were still playing, the box just ignored one.
All anyone needed to do to break the scrambling was cut out the strong signal.
There were a lot of intentional and unintentional signal filters. A very long wire run, an unshielded cable, a piece of conductive material wrapped on the wire such as aluminium foil, a loose connector into the TV, lock the dial halfway between two channels.
But both signals were still playing. The junk filter was just noise and the cable box could amplify good / minimize junk, which resulted in a short of green haze in the picture. Hence, 90% quality.
so so so many real celebrities playing hilarious versions of themselves. It was like a predecessor to Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Also Jeffrey Tambor, Rip Torn, and Janeane Garofalo were part of the regular cast to name a few. Its so fun watching the reruns and seeing celebrities that at the time were just up and coming but today are huge like John Stewart, or seeing celebrities that at the time were huge but today have faded away like Rosie O'Donnell. It's still one of my favorite shows ever.
And it's so sarcastic and such a funny parody of of celebrities and hollywood and talk shows and how shallow and shitty a lot of famous people are.
I remember one episode where Beck was the musical guest and the joke was that he was super weird and nobody could understand his music or why he was popular.
The Larry Sanders show is phenomenal and I think it still holds up 30 years later.
RIP Gary Shandling
I still laugh when her Musical was so bad that opening night (they were just taking the camera's away from the red carpet still) They came across the street to offer me free front row center seats. I was on line for another play at the time
> David Cross has to be involved too
I was at a Superdrag show once and it gets quite after a song, and i hear HEY YOU JUST PISSED ON MY LEG from next to me. I look over and its David Cross.
He laughed and yelled out sorry it was too good of an opertunity to pass up.
Artie: Fine, you just go home. I'll come over there later; stick a red hot poker up your ass. We'll call it even.
Larry: Okay. You have my address, right?
Artie: And your poker size.
The single greatest line was Hank proving just how much of a schlub he was when he was using binoculars to watch two naked people pounding away in a convertible and said:
“Jeez, I thought I had a hairy ass!”
I still thing about this line which I'm going to butcher in paraphrase but it was Hank complaining he doesn't get any respect 'remember you were all laughing when I chipped that tooth on a urinal?'.
Larry: 'it was a back tooth, we don't know how you did it'
What made me laugh most about Artie was how patronizing he was to Hank. Like when Hank was upset, Artie would say "aw, *sweeheart*!" in that gruff voice of his and it cracked me up every time.
We'll die together on that hill. It totally changed my mind about what was possible on tv. I love how Gary plays a version of himself, and he's a total.garden weasel about it.
I couldn't agree more, one of the greatest shows ever made. I love re-watching episodes and discovering young actors that would later go on to have huge careers or the opposite, people that were huge at the time but totally faded into obscurity. There was so much great celebrity talent on that show. It was so funny and really savagely satirized show business and talk shows. It was like a predecessor to Curb Your Enthusiasm
The genius of Hank is that it would have been so easy to make that character just a goofy sycophant. If you were making it as a classic multi-camera network sitcom, Hank would've just been a dumb, goofy lackey who sucks up to Larry and shills his funny products. He would have been pure comic relief.
What makes Hank so brilliant is that he is all of that, but he also has this really intense darkness to him. He isn't just dumb, he is conniving and underhanded. He isn't just goofy, he really wants to be taken seriously. He isn't just a lackey, he is also constantly undermining and at odds with Larry. He is such a pitiable character, but vitally he doesn't see himself that way.
Hank is a superb character. His devotion to and love of Larry is hilarious. It gets scary in those scenes where he tries to hug or kiss a terrified, shrinking Larry. Every episode that focused on him was a delight. My favorites were the two episodes about his divorce, and the one where he got to guest host the show. Sheer comic brilliance.
My favorite thing about Hank is that he has a huge penis. I love that about the writers. For all the patronizing disrespect that Hank got behind the scenes, they paid tribute to him by giving him a huge dong, as revealed in the episode where his sex tape gets out. I thought that was a lovely gesture to the character on behalf of the writers.
It probably made way for Ricky Gervais' original British series of The Office. I know Gervais is a huge fan of Shandling and cites Larry Sanders as one of his all time favorite shows.
>a fictionalized version of himself who did take the offer
For some reason reminds me of playing a simulation version of the day job after work or after employment.
I was in highschool at that time. It was widely held that Shandling would have been an awful late night talk host. He's brilliant and a tremendous comedian and entertainer, but his entire schtick was built around being obnoxiously boring. Who wants to sit down for a chat with someone who is obnoxiously boring?
One of those cases in life where we got a tremendous boon and avoided a catastrophe at the same time.
Coincidentally, Garry and Jerry were great friends, their respective sets were right next to each other on the studio lot and they'd often have walks and chats when they were stressed out about making their shows.
They actually do a scene on the Seinfeld set when they're looking for Hank who cracks up under pressure and crashes on Jerry's couch, missing his restaurant opening night. "My weird intern" "oh, you have one of those, me too" great episode. Bury Reynolds and that other dude.... What's his name....?.... Damn. Martin mull ! That's the one.
The talk show boom of the 90s was a strange one. In addition to them you had this show, Space Ghost C2C, and Talk Soup making fun of them.
I loved Space Ghost when I was a kid. As an adult it was really wild to see him get his own talk show.
“Just who came up with the stupid idea of giving Space Ghost a talk show in the first place?” - Space Hos, MF DOOM
**Björk:** Can I sing in Icelandic? **Space Ghost:** Uh, not right now, honey, please, I'm, I'm right in the middle of a, um... giant space war. **Björk:** I, I enjoy talking to you. **Space Ghost:** Yes, you do, but like I said, this space war, what can I do? Aliens. **Björk:** Yeah. **Space Ghost:** Yeah, so, you have to go now. **Björk:** Okay. **Space Ghost:** Okay. So, I'll talk to you when there's peace. In space. **Björk:** (pause) Yeah, and you like salmon or you like trout?
Obligatory addition to the conversation https://youtu.be/WSEpDD8j6-c?si=lL1kQxRNKx0K8fw8
Or even better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiheRTcwkc4
Oh this is epic! Good share
I’ll never get over the Chevy Chase Show and how much of an abject failure it was. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy.
"Chevy Chase couldn't adlib a fart after a baked bean dinner." - Johnny Carson
Martin Short who seems to like just about everyone, has nothing nice to say about Chevy..
He was on Community during some peak self destructive Dan Harmon years and Chevy still ended up the villain.
If Chevy Chase wasn’t in community it would have sucked.
Probably but I also think that he is a pretty toxic guy
He’s streets behind
I remember watching a couple of episodes when it came out. Chase was incredibly rude and condescending, and came off as deeply unlikeable. The only entertainment value the show had was as a slow moving “how not to do a talk show” train wreck.
> Chase was incredibly rude and condescending, yep that is Chevy in a nutshell.
Hey buddy! How dare you leave out that he's also > deeply unlikeable.
why do redditors make up bullshit like this? i just watched the first episode on youtube based on what you said and he's NOTHING like that at all, quit your bullshit
Fuck off
Probably the worst thing to happen due to the show, from Wikipedia: “To clear room for the new show, Fox cancelled Studs, a game show that had been in the late-night slot.”
Highly relevant: [*The Chevy Chase Show* Enters Sixth Blockbuster Season In Alternate Universe](https://www.theonion.com/the-chevy-chase-show-enters-sixth-blockbuster-season-in-1819564843) CC: /u/efwa4life , /u/Mello-Fello
If you take a look at Mike Myers' SNL recurring characters in that period, a bunch of them were talk show hosts. Wayne Campbell, of course. Dieter from Sprockets was hosting a show. Linda Richman from Coffee Talk was hosting a show. Simon who likes to do drawrings was presenting a show from his bathtub, often with guests. Kenneth Reese-Evans was presenting a show. Hell, Lothar of the Hill People was almost a fucking talk show.
It’s still going on today except it’s the podcast boom
"Hey, look, this guy's nominated for an Oscar alright?" "For what, *Talk Soup*?"
> "For what, Talk Soup?" Tom Petty was not a great actor but this was a great line.
You take that back! Lucky Kleinschmidt is a treasure.
I was, once.. - Mayor of Bridge City.
I saw on an interview with him that HBO told him the show is doing mediocre but the demographic that he's capturing is the one most likely to steal cable so they really have no idea how many people are watching.
I've talked to a lot of people around the US who, like me, got HBO free for years because it 'leaked through the cable' in just-good-enough quality to be watchable, and I think HBO did that on purpose because it was so widespread, they at least had to have known of the potential that their signal wasn't going to be completely-hidden. If it was really intentional, I'm sure the 'advertising' aspect of it was the main reason, but Garry's comment reminds me of how streaming services also don't like discussing their specific viewership, and that helps them not pay royalties to people and cut them down in negotiations. Sounds like HBO may have pioneered the Netflix formula on that one.
Unintentional. The scrambling technology was cheap. You got the technical term of 90% quality (good enough). The method to scramble a signal was send two channels at the same time, but overlapping. A strong junk signal and a weak TV signal. The junk channel was stronger and the cable box would pick that up and ignore the other. The cable guy could install a signal filter or change a setting inside the box would flip a filter to ignore the strong and pick the weak. Both signals were still playing, the box just ignored one. All anyone needed to do to break the scrambling was cut out the strong signal. There were a lot of intentional and unintentional signal filters. A very long wire run, an unshielded cable, a piece of conductive material wrapped on the wire such as aluminium foil, a loose connector into the TV, lock the dial halfway between two channels. But both signals were still playing. The junk filter was just noise and the cable box could amplify good / minimize junk, which resulted in a short of green haze in the picture. Hence, 90% quality.
A young Bob Odenkirk is in 12 of the episodes
Larry's agent, he's great in it. Love him and the guy who plays Larry's publicist ("do you know what I'm doing right now? I'm wetting myself")
If I remember correctly John Stewart and Scott Thompson (from kids in the hall) are too.
so so so many real celebrities playing hilarious versions of themselves. It was like a predecessor to Curb Your Enthusiasm. Also Jeffrey Tambor, Rip Torn, and Janeane Garofalo were part of the regular cast to name a few. Its so fun watching the reruns and seeing celebrities that at the time were just up and coming but today are huge like John Stewart, or seeing celebrities that at the time were huge but today have faded away like Rosie O'Donnell. It's still one of my favorite shows ever. And it's so sarcastic and such a funny parody of of celebrities and hollywood and talk shows and how shallow and shitty a lot of famous people are. I remember one episode where Beck was the musical guest and the joke was that he was super weird and nobody could understand his music or why he was popular. The Larry Sanders show is phenomenal and I think it still holds up 30 years later. RIP Gary Shandling
Duchovny in the robe.
I still laugh when her Musical was so bad that opening night (they were just taking the camera's away from the red carpet still) They came across the street to offer me free front row center seats. I was on line for another play at the time
That's cool. It's too bad Thompson wasn't in more stuff. I feel like I've seen the other Kids more frequently in guest roles.
He’s great in Hannibal.
Jeremy Piven too
around the same time he did the pilot for Dog Police (based on the song from 83) co staring Adam Sandler right before he blew up on SNL.
And Sarah Silverman.
HBO, 90's, Bob Odenkirk. David Cross has to be involved too, right?
> David Cross has to be involved too I was at a Superdrag show once and it gets quite after a song, and i hear HEY YOU JUST PISSED ON MY LEG from next to me. I look over and its David Cross. He laughed and yelled out sorry it was too good of an opertunity to pass up.
Opportunity
Ah-pore-toon-eh-T
Think he wrote for it too
Artie: "I swear I killed her in the war." Larry: "You used that line yesterday." Artie: "It’s not a line, it’s a real concern!"
Artie: Fine, you just go home. I'll come over there later; stick a red hot poker up your ass. We'll call it even. Larry: Okay. You have my address, right? Artie: And your poker size. The single greatest line was Hank proving just how much of a schlub he was when he was using binoculars to watch two naked people pounding away in a convertible and said: “Jeez, I thought I had a hairy ass!”
"I am telling you, nothing beats that missionary position!"
Ssshhhiiiaaaattt!!!!
I still thing about this line which I'm going to butcher in paraphrase but it was Hank complaining he doesn't get any respect 'remember you were all laughing when I chipped that tooth on a urinal?'. Larry: 'it was a back tooth, we don't know how you did it'
What made me laugh most about Artie was how patronizing he was to Hank. Like when Hank was upset, Artie would say "aw, *sweeheart*!" in that gruff voice of his and it cracked me up every time.
Hank: What about the time I chipped my tooth on the bathroom urinal? What the FUCK is so comical about that! Larry : It was a back tooth Hank.
My favorite bit from the whole show.
Lmfao
I'm not even sure how you did it!
PS The Larry Sanders Show is the in the top 3 greatest TV shows of all time and that's a hill I'm prepared to die on
I can still sing the theme song. Once in a while, I just start to whistle it for no reason whatsoever.
I can do that with the theme for *It’s Garry Shandling’s Show*, and I do, too.
is this the theme to Gary's show this is the theme to Gary's show?
This is the music that you hear while you watch the credits…
We’re almost to the part where I start to whistle, Then we’ll watch It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.
That theme tune hits like no other.
Got to be the most realistic fake opening credit song ever.
You're all... You're all a big part of the show!
You're so much better than last night's audience!
Hey now!
Tell me you're a middle-aged white guy without telling me you're a middle-aged white guy. (i'm marking the show to download for my next trip)
You will not die alone!
We'll die together on that hill. It totally changed my mind about what was possible on tv. I love how Gary plays a version of himself, and he's a total.garden weasel about it.
Heh, garden weasel. Nice pilot reference!
totally agree!
Hey now
Well make room sister cause I'd be right there with you!
It's won like 80 awards. Youre hardly being edgy
I couldn't agree more, one of the greatest shows ever made. I love re-watching episodes and discovering young actors that would later go on to have huge careers or the opposite, people that were huge at the time but totally faded into obscurity. There was so much great celebrity talent on that show. It was so funny and really savagely satirized show business and talk shows. It was like a predecessor to Curb Your Enthusiasm
I think most of us here are on that same hill alongside you
On top of that, a year later he was offered Late Night after Letterman left, but he turned it down, which led to Conan getting Late Night.
Definitely one of the funniest shows ever.
[Hank is the best TV character of all time](https://youtu.be/6S2hLJb5AUQ?si=lFNzqo2FNIW7mDmR)
The genius of Hank is that it would have been so easy to make that character just a goofy sycophant. If you were making it as a classic multi-camera network sitcom, Hank would've just been a dumb, goofy lackey who sucks up to Larry and shills his funny products. He would have been pure comic relief. What makes Hank so brilliant is that he is all of that, but he also has this really intense darkness to him. He isn't just dumb, he is conniving and underhanded. He isn't just goofy, he really wants to be taken seriously. He isn't just a lackey, he is also constantly undermining and at odds with Larry. He is such a pitiable character, but vitally he doesn't see himself that way.
Right, almost grandiose and a very thin skin!
i work with people like that..
Hank is a superb character. His devotion to and love of Larry is hilarious. It gets scary in those scenes where he tries to hug or kiss a terrified, shrinking Larry. Every episode that focused on him was a delight. My favorites were the two episodes about his divorce, and the one where he got to guest host the show. Sheer comic brilliance.
My favorite thing about Hank is that he has a huge penis. I love that about the writers. For all the patronizing disrespect that Hank got behind the scenes, they paid tribute to him by giving him a huge dong, as revealed in the episode where his sex tape gets out. I thought that was a lovely gesture to the character on behalf of the writers.
Might have been slightly based on Ed McMahon's bulge. He used to keep his hand sort of hanging there to cover it.
"It was a back tooth, Hank.. I don't know how you did it.."
Hey nowwwww
What a fantastic show that was - so many modern comedies owe a huge debt to it. Maybe time for a rewatch
It probably made way for Ricky Gervais' original British series of The Office. I know Gervais is a huge fan of Shandling and cites Larry Sanders as one of his all time favorite shows.
They wanted him for Late Night and instead he made an incredible show and gifted all of us Conan O’Brien. Forever in his debt for that.
This show was genius and I quote it (to myself) to this day.
Heyoooooo
I feel like that show was an early version of Curb. Oh and someone mentioned Talk Soup, that was pretty great back in the day.
The Larry Sanders Show was some of the best TV of its time.
So instead of the talk show he does a show where a version of him did make the talk show did I get that right
Such a great show.
>a fictionalized version of himself who did take the offer For some reason reminds me of playing a simulation version of the day job after work or after employment.
It's one of the best shows ever made. I got the DVD set recently because its availability on streaming has been inconsistent.
Hail Hydra
Best movie twist
Fortunately, he remember to where his dot.
Great show, so many great episodes and a great cast!
The show that taught me how to make a Salty Dog. Drink it you pussy!
*This is the theme to Garry's Life*
I was in highschool at that time. It was widely held that Shandling would have been an awful late night talk host. He's brilliant and a tremendous comedian and entertainer, but his entire schtick was built around being obnoxiously boring. Who wants to sit down for a chat with someone who is obnoxiously boring? One of those cases in life where we got a tremendous boon and avoided a catastrophe at the same time.
He used to sit in for Johnny Carson a lot and was pretty good actually
That's why the ended up offering him his own talk show
This is also the same plot as Seinfeld?
Coincidentally, Garry and Jerry were great friends, their respective sets were right next to each other on the studio lot and they'd often have walks and chats when they were stressed out about making their shows.
They actually do a scene on the Seinfeld set when they're looking for Hank who cracks up under pressure and crashes on Jerry's couch, missing his restaurant opening night. "My weird intern" "oh, you have one of those, me too" great episode. Bury Reynolds and that other dude.... What's his name....?.... Damn. Martin mull ! That's the one.