The Comedy Vault – The Larry Sanders Show.

The Larry Sanders Show (HBO, 1992-1998)

Recently, I took a look back at It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, a late-80s sitcom that really stretched the boundaries of what could be achievable in a comedy, and this helped to make him a big name. Once this ended, somehow he managed to surpass the success of this show, going on to star in what is considered by many critics and viewers to be one of the best sitcoms of its era.

The weekday late-night chat show slot is an institution in America, but there has never really been a successful comparison in this country. The Larry Sanders Show was essentially a parody of these shows, where the host has to go out on stage and perform topical material written by a group of stressed writers who he often argues with behind the scenes, and then he has to cheerily interview various celebrities.

Trying to look interested in whatever they are there to plug is one of his best abilities, along with making it look like everyone enjoys putting the show together, despite the pressure of having to do it five nights a week, and keep all of the viewers entertained. We do get a look at what really happens, and it does not seem a happy place. There are various other characters who Larry works with who try to keep the show going.

These include his producer Artie, who won’t be messed around, and his rather useless sidekick Hank, who tries to make jokes, but is often the butt of them. There are others, but you get the feeling that Larry wonders why there are there really. This was one of those shows where you didn’t know what was going to happen next, and the line between what was scripted and what was improvised really was like on no other sitcom.

Another interesting element is that the guests were played by real famous actors, comedians, musicians, and so on, although they took the opportunity to play an exaggerated version of their personality. Oh no, you haven’t booked Elvis Costello to appear again have you? Surely he can’t have yet another album of whiny rubbish out already? Well probably. There really were some very bizarre and embarrassing situations.

You have to wonder how Larry didn’t end up doing a Noel’s House Party and eventually walk out on everything, but he stayed loyal to some extent, as long as everyone knew who was in charge. The Larry Sanders Show was another hit for cable HBO, which at the time really was taking risks with ideas that paid off. There were 88 episodes in six series, and there was definitely no shark jumping going on around here.

Episodes were usually shown in this country on BBC2 rather late at night in the mid-90s, in a double with that other terrific sitcom Seinfeld about two or three times a week. Some felt that having to watch two great shows so frequently at that time might make the brain overload and struggle to deal with the excellence. Several years later, this was also shown as part of ITV4’s late-night schedule and reminded a treat.