Garry Shandling

Garry Emmanuel Shandling (November 29, 1949 – March 24, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer.

Shandling began his career writing for sitcoms, such as Sanford and Son and Welcome Back, Kotter.

He made a successful stand-up performance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where he became a frequent guest host.

Shandling was, for a time, considered the leading contender to replace Johnny Carson.

Garry Emmanuel Shandling was born into a Jewish family in Chicago on November 29, 1949, the son of pet store proprietor Muriel Estelle (née Singer) and print shop owner Irving Shandling.

He grew up in the Casa Loma Estates area of Tucson, Arizona, having moved there with his family so that his older brother Barry could receive treatment for cystic fibrosis.

Barry died of the disease when Shandling was 10.

After graduating from Palo Verde High School, Shandling attended the University of Arizona to major in electrical engineering, but instead completed a degree in marketing and pursued a year of postgraduate studies in creative writing.

When Shandling was 19, he drove two hours to a club in Phoenix and showed some jokes to George Carlin, who was performing there.

The next day, on a repeat round-trip, Carlin told him that he had "funny stuff on every page" and should keep at it.

In 1973, he moved to Los Angeles and worked at an advertising agency for a time, then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son.

He also wrote scripts for the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter and attended a story meeting for Three's Company.

Shandling said that he became a stand-up comedian because of an incident that happened one day at a story meeting for Three's Company, in which one of the show's producers complained about a line of dialogue and said, "Well, Chrissy wouldn't say that."

He recalled, "I just locked. I said, 'I don't think I can do this.' And I stopped right there and went on to perform."

In 1978, Shandling performed his first stand-up routine at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

A year later, he was one of the few performers to cross the picket line when a group of comedians organized a boycott against the Comedy Store, protesting owner Mitzi Shore's policy of not paying comedians to perform.

According to William Knoedelseder, Shandling "was the scion of a family with decidedly antiunion views. He had not shared the struggling comic experience. He was a successful sitcom writer trying to break into stand-up, and prior to the strike, Shore had refused to put him in the regular lineup because she didn't think he was good enough. Of course, that changed the minute he crossed the picket line."

Shandling's onstage persona was an anxiety-ridden, nervous, uptight, conservative man on the verge of a breakdown.

After a couple of years on the road, he was booked by a talent scout from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to appear as a guest in 1981.

In 1984, Shandling performed his first stand-up special, Garry Shandling: Alone in Vegas for Showtime, followed by a second televised special in 1986, The Garry Shandling Show: 25th Anniversary Special, also for Showtime.

In 1985, Shandling and Alan Zweibel went on to create It's Garry Shandling's Show.

In 1986, he created It's Garry Shandling's Show, which aired on Showtime.

Shandling substituted for Carson on a regular basis until 1987, when he left to focus on his cable show, leaving Jay Leno as permanent guest host and Carson's eventual successor.

The edited reruns played on the Fox network beginning in 1988.

Shandling wrote 15 of the episodes.

The series subverted the standard sitcom format by having its characters openly acknowledge that they were all part of a television series.

Building on a concept that hearkened back to The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, in which George Burns would frequently break the "fourth wall" and speak directly to the audience, Shandling's series went so far as to incorporate the audience and elements of the studio itself into the storylines, calling attention to the show's artifice.

The series was nominated for four Emmy Awards, including one for Shandling.

He won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performance in a Series; and four CableACE awards, two for Best Comedy Series.

The show also won an award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy from the Television Critics Association.

It was nominated for four Emmy Awards (including one for Shandling) and lasted until 1990.

Through 1990, it ran for 72 episodes on Showtime.

In 1991, a third special, Garry Shandling: Stand-Up, was part of the HBO Comedy Hour.

Shandling's second show, The Larry Sanders Show, began airing on HBO in 1992.

He was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards for the show and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1998, along with Peter Tolan, for writing the series finale.

In film, he had a recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

He also lent his voice to Verne the turtle in Over the Hedge.

Shandling's final performance was as the voice of Ikki in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book, and the film was dedicated to his memory.

During his four-decade career, Shandling was nominated for 19 Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, along with many other awards and nominations.

He served as host of the Grammy Awards four times and as host of the Emmy Awards two times.