The comedian and actor – who was best known as his alter ego Larry Sanders – has tragically passed away at the age of just 66 from a heart attack, TMZ reports.
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While Shandling was resigned to fill short roles as a crotchety politician in his later years in movies such as Iron Man 2, as well as in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, most will likely remember him best for his brilliant ’90s HBO series, The Larry Sanders Show. You can listen to the Fresh Air conversation here.
Confirmation of his death was lamented in a tweet by the actress Kathy Griffin, a friend of Shandling. Shandling frets about former love Roseanne, who dumped him for a limo driver.
Garry Shandling, who as an actor and comedian pioneered a pretend brand of self-focused docudrama with “The Larry Sanders Show”, has died.
Talking to the BBC, the Los Angeles police had initially labeled Shandling’s cause of death a “medical emergency”.
“The Larry Sanders Show”, shown on HBO, featured Rip Torn, Jeffrey Tambor, JaneaneGarofalo and Penny Johnson Jerald as regulars in a series about a late-night variety show.
Born in Chicago but raised in Tucson, Arizona, Shandling attended the University Of Arizona initially to study electrical engineering, then switched to the field of marketing, in which he completed a degree. Even the theme song began with the explanatory lyrics, “This is the theme to Garry’s show…” Case in point, this home tour Shandling gave ET’s Leeza Gibbons in 1986 to prove the set of his Showtime series, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, was “almost identical” to his real home.
It was just three months after Johnny Carson had retired from “The Tonight Show“, where Shandling had appeared as a stand-up and occasional Carson stand-in.
The Larry Sanders Show was a late night TV talk show as well as showing the behind the scenes workings (or chaos) behind the show. “What are you doing?'” Shandling starred as the title character, the host of a late-night talk show.
He hosted the Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2004.
Shandling is credited with inspiring or influencing an array of comedians, many of whom expressed condolences via Twitter.
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Shandling never married but lived with former Playboy model Linda Doucett from 1987 until 1994. Tributes poured in for the comedian after news of his death.
