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Posted

For any younger people on here or anyone that has never seen this show, I implore you to start watching if you have HBO Max. All of the episodes are available and it's very easy to binge watch.

Here is my pitch to sell you on watching: 

- IMO, The Larry Sanders Show is the greatest sitcom of all-time. It's 6 seasons (shot from 1992-1998) that originally aired on HBO.  It's a single camera show that is about a late night TV talk show and all the behind the scenes shenanigans. There is plenty of profanity and mature content, so no guardrails like a regular network TV sitcom. Most importantly, the show never falls off. It is great for all 6 seasons. It's set in present day (at the time) and lives in the real world where Leno, Letterman, and Conan are competition on other networks. 

- The regular cast is incredible, led by Garry Shandling (Larry Sanders), Rip Torn (Artie, Larry's show producer and best friend/confidante), and Jeffrey Tambor (Hank Kingsley, the Ed McMahon-ish sidekick). Artie and Hank are two of the best and funniest characters in TV history. 

- Because it's about a late night talk show, it has a very long list of famous actors, comedians, and musicians that are so fucking funny in their guest appearances. . 

 

 

I'm about to do a full re-watch, and will chime in about the episodes.  I know there are plenty of other fans on here, please share your favorite lines/episodes.  

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Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, Deej said:

"Don't take this as a threat, but I killed a man like you in Korea...hand-to-hand."

Yes! Melanie Parrish is great in Season 1, Episode 1. Artie continuously talking about killing her in Korea was a great gag. 

Maybe the best line in that episode is from Melanie Parrish. Larry is pissed and brings her into his office after she embarrasses him in front of his employees. 

Larry: If you were a guy, I'd take you outside and punch you in the face. 

Melanie: If you were a guy, I'd go! 

 

Edited by Hank Kingsley
Posted

Season 1, Episode 3: "The Spiders Episode". 

Goddamn, Carol Burnett is so fucking funny in this one. Her second delivery of "I saw your balls" is perfection. 

 

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Posted

I've started this 3 times and made it into the 3rd season or so..  I've enjoyed the show thoroughly.

I never caught onto the show as a kid at the time it came out, but it's Def worth watching.  I vow to finish it some day.

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Posted

Artie is the best character ever in a sitcom.

This is Scotch whiskey; Glenlivet; single malt. When you die, you'll go to heaven. You say "Hello" to God, and when God says "Hello" to you, this is what you'll smell on his breath.

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Posted

I have no idea why the South Austin in the 1992-1998 years never watched Larry Sanders, other than as I recall I was an undergrad and grad student during that entire time and I don't believe I never had premium cable with HBO.  I was an avid Seinfeld fan, and I've always thought Garry Schandling was hilarious.  

On a related note, sometime after Tom Petty's death, I saw this video of him hanging out at Shandling's house, just a couple dudes chilling and talking.  Apparently Tom and Garry were good friends, and I think that friendship may originated with Petty's cameo on the Larry Sanders show.

 

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Posted (edited)

Season 1, Episode 5 - "The New Producer" 

@henrygandorf and I were talking recently about how it doesn't take long for this show to find its stride, and I think this episode proves it. Artie has to take a couple weeks off after an appendectomy, and Larry hires another producer, Jonathan Lippman, to run the show while Artie recovers. Here is the whole episode on YouTube...the last half is just non-stop classic Artie and Hank. 

 

EDIT: Watching this again and tears are running down my face. 13:16 to 21:30 is just incredible. 8 straight minutes of genius writing and acting. 

This is the first of many classic episodes. 

Edited by Hank Kingsley
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Posted

Garry had a ton of friends. He hosted a a star-studded weekly basketball game. Here’s a photo from a memorial game soon after his death. 
 

1. Judd Apatow
2. Director Jay Roach
3. Juliana Roberts
5. Kathy Griffin
6. Kelly Carlin, daughter of George
7. Kevin Nealon
8. Kevin Nealon’s son
9. Kelly Carlin’s husband, Bob McCall
10. Tim Rose
11. Mark Flanagan, who runs the Largo in LA
12. Writer/producer Jay Kogen

Second row from bottom:

15. Bruce Grayson
16. TV writer/producer Phil Rosenthal
17. Richard Lewis
18. Breckin Meyer
19. Jesse Bradford
20. Sports journalist Jim Gray
21. Agent Jack Kinsgrud
22. Jeffrey Tambor

Third row from bottom:

23. Producer/director David Mirkin
24. Al Lubel
25. Jesse Stern
26. Ben Schwartz
27. Producer Zack Schiller
28. Writer/director Alex Richanbach

Top row:

31. Adam McKay
32. Wayne Federman
33. Ryan Phillippe
34. Chris Gartin
35. Suli McCullough
37. Lawyer Bill Isaacson
38. Producer/manager Jimmy Miller
39. Sarah Silverman


IMG_1817.jpeg.251f1d1b4a2468b9c931170b49a025c5.jpeg

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Posted

This reminds me that I need to go back and watch the two-part documentary that HBO ran of Shandling after he passed away.

Those of you that never watched it, should watch The Garry Shandling Show after you finish with this. It's not nearly as good as Larry Sanders but if you like Garry, you'll like it.

 

This is the theme to Garry's show,

The opening theme to Garry's show

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Posted

This show is one of the top sitcoms ever made.  Gary was brilliant in this.  It was a very good guest host on the Tonight Show, and he was always hyped as a successor for Johnny Carson.

the trio with Larry, Artie, and Hank was perfection. Artie is a perfect character and rip hammers it.

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Posted

Season 1, Episode 6: "The Flirt" 

Mimi Rogers is a guest on the show and basically wants to fuck Larry. Hank offers Larry the keys to his Malibu fuck pad, but Larry stays faithful to his wife in the end.

I feel sorry for younger generations not getting to experience Mimi Rogers in her prime. That is a goddamned woman

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Posted

Season 1, Episode 7: "Hank's Contract" 

Another classic episode. Hank is in contract negotiations with the network and is trying to play hardball. Artie and Larry think it's hilarious (knowing he would never leave the show) and continue to make fun of him. Hank gets pissed and it leads to some amazing moments and one-liners. 

Context for this scene: Earlier in the episode Artie and Larry laugh about the time Hank announced Winona Judd as "The Judd". And then the all-timer back tooth line. 

 

And we also get this great Robin Williams scene. 

 

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Posted
20 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Season 1, Episode 7: "Hank's Contract" 

Another classic episode. Hank is in contract negotiations with the network and is trying to play hardball. Artie and Larry think it's hilarious (knowing he would never leave the show) and continue to make fun of him. Hank gets pissed and it leads to some amazing moments and one-liners. 

Context for this scene: Earlier in the episode Artie and Larry laugh about the time Hank announced Winona Judd as "The Judd". And then the all-timer back tooth line. 

 

And we also get this great Robin Williams scene. 

 

she was half the judds!

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Posted (edited)
On 5/30/2025 at 4:58 PM, Hank Kingsley said:

I feel sorry for younger generations not getting to experience Mimi Rogers in her prime. That is a goddamned woman

Mimi in that episode....

Tex Avery Vintage Animation GIF

 

Edited by atomheartbevo
Posted

Season 1, Episode 13 - "The Hey Now Episode" 

Another great episode and the Season 1 finale. Larry is getting super annoyed with Hank, as he fell asleep on the couch on air and is trying to juggle so many side jobs away from the show. I think this is the first time a musical guest actually plays in an episode, and it's T-Bone Burnett. 

 

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Posted

Season 2, Episode 2: "The List" 

So many great one-liners in this one. Larry got a divorce from Jeannie in Episode 1, and is now dating his first wife Francine (played by Kathryn Harrold, smoking hot). Alec Baldwin is booked as a guest, and Francine tells Larry she had sex with Baldwin after her and Larry got divorced. Which makes things uncomfortable during the interview.

 

Larry: You were 100% right. From the time he walked out, all I could see is him fucking her. And she was on top! 

Artie: That lazy bastard...

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Posted
1 hour ago, henrygandorf said:

i have a friend who worked on knots landing and she said he banged half the town. 

what town?

knots landing!

So good.

Another scene that had me dying from this episode: Hank talks about his new restaurant "Hank's Look Around Cafe" that he's opening, and Darlene tells him that there's not enough money to build the rotating tables he desires. Then Hank says something like "We'll need investors!" as he flips through Rolodex cards. "It's a good thing I happen to be friends with some of the most influential and powerful people in Hollywood." He hands a Rolodex card to Darlene. "Get Chuck Woolery on the phone." 

I choked with laughter. Tambor just nails that line. 

 

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Posted

I fired this back up this weekend after this thread. Watched the first four or so. Such a wonderful show.

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Posted
5 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I started with having this running in the background while I’m doing various things, but when I finish, I end up sitting down and just watching an episode or two.

watching a tv show without doing other shit or being on your phone is basically 2025's version of reading a book.

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Posted

Season 2, Episode 12 - "Being There" 

Such a great Jeffrey Tambor episode. Larry and Artie decide to hire a new hotshot band leader who steals the spotlight from Hank, a Brit named Jake Woodward, and Hank fucking HATES him and all his British-ness. The back and forth between them throughout is fucking hilarious. 

 

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Posted

Season 2, Episode 15 - "Hank's Wedding" 

Out of the blue, Hank proposes to a girl on the air. She's half his age and they've been dating two weeks. Artie sees it as a ratings opportunity to have them get married on the show. 

Another classic. Co-written by a young guy named Judd Apatow, an Adam Sandler appearance, bachelor party with Ed McMahon, etc. Found the whole episode on YT. 

 

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Posted

Season 2, Episode 16 - "Off-Camera" 

Holy shit, I forgot how great this episode was. The show is really starting to fire on all cylinders at this point.  Focuses on a bunch of backstage disasters and hi-jinx ensues. Great guest stars: John Ritter, Gene Siskel, and WARREN ZEVON. 

This is an incredible Hank/Gene Siskel moment: 

 

Full episode:  

 

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Posted
10 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Season 2, Episode 16 - "Off-Camera" 

Holy shit, I forgot how great this episode was. The show is really starting to fire on all cylinders at this point.  Focuses on a bunch of backstage disasters and hi-jinx ensues. Great guest stars: John Ritter, Gene Siskel, and WARREN ZEVON. 

This is an incredible Hank/Gene Siskel moment: 

 

Full episode:  

 

They're all dead now. Fuck, Im old.

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Posted

This show was such a perfect send up of late night TV at the time. I always felt like what went on in this show actually happened for real at some point. Its Spinal Tap for 90s late night television.

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Posted

Just watched Season 2, Episode 17 where Hank has a nervous breakdown as his Look Around Cafe is about to have its grand opening. Burt Reynolds guest stars in this episode and it reminded me of a story that Peter Tolan, one of the main writers/directors of The Larry Sanders Show, told about Burt in an interview years ago. 

Tolan said Burt came to work on The Larry Sanders Show in a really bad mood, just pissy the entire day of shooting. At one point, Burt starts trashing a set piece and storms off into his trailer. All of the crew were stunned and like "WTF?", but also too intimidated to confront him. Some low level associate produce was willing to go to Burt's trailer and knocked on his door. He went into the trailer and Burt was sitting in a chair in the dark with his head in his hands. The first thing he said was, "I was the #1 box office movie star from 1972 to 1976."

Tolan said it was fitting because a big theme of The Larry Sanders show is how cruel and tough it is to work in Hollywood. 

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Posted

Season 2, Episode 18 - "NY or LA" 

Great season finale. A new company buys the network and jeopardizes the future of the show. Larry contemplates going to ABC and moving to NY, which infuriates the staff and crew. Fed up with everything, he decides to quit on air and moves to Montana. Howard Stern and Chris Farley guest star. 

 

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