The Larry Sanders Show: Celebrating 30 Years of Music & Laughter
Frank Fitzpatrick 03/30/2021
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Celebrating 30 Years of Music & Laughter
It was 30 years ago when I first met with Garry Shandling to discuss the music for his upcoming HBO series, The Larry Sanders Show. While I wasn’t a big fan of the sitcom format, it was clear that Garry was already breaking the boundaries of traditional sitcoms, including eliminating laugh tracks and using 5 camera shoots with traditional film for the behind-the-scenes and video TV cameras for the ‘on-the-air’ portions. Since the cat was already out of the box, it only made sense to stay away from old-school sitcom music.
Instead, we decided to use only the actual band music and live artist performances for the soundtrack. Because the show was born at the time of the 90’s talk show wars, with each of those competing shows boasting world-class bands, I decided to put together our own all-star band to perform the show’s original music, just as Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall and David Letterman had.
You can learn more about the band members and hear the previously unreleased album of the Larry Sanders Show Band HERE.
Finally, because the show was a satire on the current real and highly competitive Late-Night shows, I wrote the theme for The Larry Sanders Show as a kind of satire on talk show themes, giving the audience the same feeling that they would have if they were about to see Letterman or Carson. The main title music was later selected by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Best Themes on TV.
Beyond the show band and original music, the artists we selected to appear on the show were both original in their music styles and eclectic fans of the show. The musical guests who participated, like other celebrity guests on the show, were also written into the script, playing themselves in the show. Some of the esteemed artists included Sting, Shawn Colvin, Perry Farrell, k.d. Lang, Elvis Costello, Chris Isaak, Beck and T-Bone Burnett. You can hear some of them on the soundtrack HERE. One classic TV musical moment that you can only see and hear in the show, however, is a live musical performance of the late Jim Carrey singing a show-stopping version of the Dreamgirls hit “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” to Larry for the closing episode. It is a timeless tribute to two late, great comedic geniuses.
Albeit an essential part of the mix, the music was only one of the original characters that contributed to the success of the series and helped put HBO solidly on the map. There were also incredible performances by Garry and his co-leads Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor, along with an amazing cast and crew, and a revolving door of marquis guest stars. Great writers added to the mix, including Judd Apatow, Dennis Klein and Peter Tolan. Staying outside the box, using the creative freedom that HBO provided, and bringing together an eclectic mix of top-notch talent, gave Garry the ingredients he needed to successfully execute his vision.
Airing from 1992 – 1998, the show became HBO’s flagship series of the decade. The Larry Sanders Show won over 24 major awards, garnering 86 nominations, and ranking on both the Time magazine and TV Guide lists for the Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Garry Shandling was deeply committed to both creative freedom and the show. He even turned down multi-million dollar offers to leave the show on two occasions: first to take over Late Night when Letterman left NBC, and later to host The Late Late Show.
In addition to his commitment, we all learned a lot from working with Garry. He was always trying to push the boundaries of tradition in comedy. He also gave us each creative freedom to express our own genius. I’ll always remember one thing he said to me before his unexpected passing that made realize how he was always striving to take his craft to the next level: “I aspire to be able to do an entire hour-long live routine which the audience doesn’t realize is funny until I’m half way home in my car.”
The other thing Garry wanted was for The Larry Sanders Show to eventually return home to HBO in its original Uncut verizon. Due to “inappropriate” language restrictions on network TV, and Rip Torn’s freestyling deliveries, the show had been seriously edited for it’s syndication.
I don’t know that Garry ever hit his own ultimate measure of comedic genius with that live performance, but his show did return home to HBO, where it is streaming Uncut on the new HBO Max platform.
I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity I had to work with Garry and, more importantly, for his friendship.
Rest in peace, Garry. You have been a gift to all of us, brought joy to millions, and left an indisputable legacy that bridges the science of laughter with the art of comedy.
Want to Learn More?
For NEW Previous unreleased album of the All-Star Larry Sanders Show Band performing full-length recordings of the music from the show, including the award-winning theme, listen HERE.
For a playlist soundtrack combining songs performed by leading artists who appear on and in the show, compiled by multi-platinum producer and Grammy-nominated Composer and Music Supervisor for the show, Frank Fitzpatrick, listen HERE.
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About the Author
Frank Fitzpatrick is a Creative Visioneer, Engagement Expert and High-Performance Coach on the Faculty of Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine.
To connect, go to FrankFitzpatrick.com
To learn more about working 1-on1 with Frank, go to BeyondPerformance.Life
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