Clouds in My Coffee #12: Garry's World

[Originally posted June 10, 2007] Time was when the comedian Garry Shandling stood smack dab in the center of our cultural zeitgeist.  Then his series The Larry Sanders Show ended its run, and aside from one feature film misfire, Garry seemed to disappear from the scene, inhabiting some semi-reclusive netherworld from which he surfaced for occasional stand-up/host appearances. His influence, however, has been more palpable than ever, and after the release of  his Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show DVD, Shandling has been ubiquitous.  

On TV, he faced off with Jon Stewart, David Letterman and most memorably, Bill Maher and killed, reducing each of these current Big Guy comedians to helpless hysteria.  (On Maher's show, he followed an impassioned political diatribe by the very serious Sean Penn with the observation that what he didn't like about America was "those computer pop-up ads."  After the panel fell apart, "I'm going to let Sean handle the serious stuff tonight," Shandling continued, "because he's got the second home in Iran.") On the occasion of his welcome re-emergence out among us all, I offer:

[Another installment in the ongoing true life adventures of Periphery Man, who has had myriad peculiar encounters with celebrities, while not being a celebrity himself.]

Some years ago in the midst of my Los Angeles single life, I was dating a woman named Liz, and we discovered that one thing we had in common was a love of the acidic comedic creation of Garry Shandling that was then still in its first run on HBO.  In The Larry Sanders Show, comedian Garry played comedian Larry, a latenight talk show host who seemed to be not unlike himself -- or at least, who presented a delightfully distorted version of the worst aspects of his actual personality.

One of the show's conceits was that in Larry/Garry's world, everything -- from the most private intimate relationships to the most trivial public encounters -- was ultimately about show biz.  When you live in L.A., where any meeting between two human beings tends to have a business subtext, the pained laughter Larry Sanders elicited was the laugh of recognition.  Both Liz and I confessed to having "Larry moments" on a fairly regular basis.

She had missed a few episodes of the previous year's Sanders.  Happy fanatic me had the entire season on tape.  So one Sunday night we got together at Liz's place to watch some Larry.  The episodes are short (under half an hour) and one leads to another, so we must have socked away three or four doses of Shandling's peculiarly sunny cynicism before we realized that dinner had gotten away from us.  We weren't quite sated on Larry, but our stomachs were talking as loud as the TV, so we reluctantly stopped the tape and hit the street.

Liz lived in Santa Monica and there was a decent upscale Italian restaurant within walking distance.  As we approached the entrance of this clean, well-lighted trattoria on Montana, we could see that the place was full and humming.  Once inside the front door I paused for a moment to assess table availability, and Garry Shandling emerged from the dining room proper, heading our way.

To make the sight all the more surreally confusing, his date, following close behind, was Linda Doucett, the actress who had played the role of his former girlfriend Darlene on the show.  I was trying to get my mind around this (wait -- Garry's still seeing Darlene? I mean, Larry's with Linda?) as Garry caught sight of Liz and I and addressed me with the friendly directness of an old acquaintance.  "You'll love it," he said, indicating the restaurant, and as he drew closer, added in passing, like one comedian giving another the lowdown on a prospective audience: "Great crowd."

As it happens, I've been told that Garry and I have some passing facial resemblance, so maybe in subliminal recognition of my altar ego-like appearance, he assumed I was someone he did, could, or might as well know.  Or maybe he was just being "on," and not really seeing me at all.  But at any rate, I instinctively smiled a thanks.  Garry and his date swept past us.  And I was left blinking at Liz in wordless incomprehension of how we'd left one TV set, only to walk onto another.

What are the chances?

Well, in Garry's world, it was evidently just another night.

Comments

[Julie Goes To Hollywood]

I think the real question on everyone's mind is whether or not Garry's had work done, and if so how much. His face always looked somewhat plastic to me, even in his youth. And that's no reflection on your vague resemblance, dear, since you're teasing us blog fans with your head down pose. (Me I do the head up thing with the dogs and sunglasses). You get my inner thoughts, folks, but not a chance of looking me directly in the eye.

[binnie]

Billy, baby, bubby, I've known you, like, a thousand years. No way you look like Garry Shandling.
Um, did I somehow miss Clouds In My Coffee #11??

[E.C. Henry]

Love your choice of words as always, Billy. Had to look this one up: zeitgeist.

Zeitgeist: the taste and outlook characteristic of a period or geneation.

You've lived an interesting life, Billy -- and it ain't done yet!

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

[Diana Celesky]

Hey, Billy

Great post. I'm not sure what's more surreal: The fact that Larry was out with the woman who had played his girlfriend on his show, or that you ran into him at a restaurant shortly after spending a chunk of time watching his show. I mean, I know there are only so many restaurants in Los Angeles, but it's not exactly a one horse town. I'm eager to read some more periphery man stories. Sounds like there could be a book deal there of the nonfiction variety.

[mernitman]

Julie: Yes, his skin is... odd, isn't it? It's a kind of do and don't wanna know situation.

Binnie: Here's a link to CLOUDS # 11: http://livingromcom.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/11/clouds_in_my_co.html

All I can tell you is that other people (used to) note a certain resemblance. Thank you for not seeing this.

But Binnie, Boopie, Batty, Buppie, for the love of all that's holy, will you please stop addressing me like an old Yiddishe mama?!!!

EC: It IS a fun word, isn't it?

Thanks, Diana: An early version of a few of these stories and others did make the rounds some time ago, but the industry was hugely uninterested. However, it does look like the CLOUDS material may surface in a project that I'm currently developing...

[binnie]

Ohhhhh yeah....now I remember - you were jogging, wearing the headband...riiiight. And while you were reading my delivery as Yiddishe mama, I was thinking more old-school cigar-chomping William Morris agent. Almost the same, not quite!

[Audrey]

forgive me, but i have yet another PeripheryGirl-to-your-PeripheryMan story: years ago, Garry and Bob(cat) Goldthwait were crossing Radford (NOT in the crosswalk) and I almost ran them over, then we had some nicey-nicey fun exchange (because i was a girlinajeep wearing sunglasses). This is way before i knew you, Billy, otherwise i would have yelled, "get back on the sidewalk, you Billy Mernit wannabe!"

[jess]

I'm posting this on the wrong entry -- then again, I'm a rebel -- but I was also vaugely concerned about that weird plot lapse in Knocked Up.

I was laughing too hard at the time to care...but I mean...I honestly thought they were both 'pretending' when they said "i love you", and it was going to come out at the end that neither really loved the other, they just said so because it seemed right.

That would have been more real...but it might also have ruined everything.

[Diana Celesky]

Billy,

Please keep us posted on when/where the CLOUDS stories will materialize. I'm eager to read/see them in a book or on the screen.

[mernitman]

Binnie: Ah-HA.

Audrey, ah those girl in a jeep w/ sunglasses girls...!

Jess: Yes, that could've been so real (as opposed to surreal).

Diana: I'm in the kitchen with it, currently.