Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Judd Apatow memorializes
mentor, the late Garry Shandling
By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — After
Garry Shandling died two
years ago, his longtime
friend Judd Apatow went
through emails he and the
comedian had recently
shared. Then he started
bawling.
"I realized that every single
time I asked him for any-
thing or wanted him to
come to some event or
to read something for me,
he said 'yes' every single
time," said Apatow. "It really ment" and a generation of
made me cry."
Shandling, a groundbreak-
ing comedian not far from
the neurotic characters he
played, had dedicated his
last years to consciously
encourage and mentor his
friends and fellow comedi-
ans but Apatow hadn't re-
alized the full extent of his
generosity.
"He had a lot of conflicts
with people but he was
also trying very hard to fig-
ure it all out so he could do
better," he said. "He was a
complete, complex human
being with all the flaws and
all the greatness as any-
body else in the world."
Apatow decided to me-
morialize his friend in an
appropriate way. Shan-
dling, who masterminded a
brand of phony docudra-
ma with "The Larry Sanders
Show," is now the subject
of Apatow's four-hour HBO
documentary called "The
Zen Diaries of Garry Shan-
dling."
The film includes interviews
with James L. Brooks, Linda
Doucett, David Duchovny,
Sacha Baron Cohen, Jay
Leno, Kevin Nealon, Conan
O'Brien, Bob Saget, Sarah
Silverman and Jeffrey Tam-
bor. The documentary airs
in two parts on March 26
and March 27.
While four hours sounds like
a lot, Apatow goes deep,
drawing on 30 years of
Shandling's intimate diaries
and notes, childhood mov-
ies, stand-up performances
and raw footage. Michael
Cera reads the diary en-
tries, which show a man
trying to quiet his demons.
"You are scared of awak-
Thursday 22 March 2018
ening. Let go of that," one reverberating in his rela- In this Aug. 7, 2015 file photo, Garry Shandling arrives at the
entry reads. tionship with his suddenly 15th Annual Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala in Los
"It was very difficult to sit clingy mother, his future Angeles.
down and read his diaries," love affairs and his quest for
said Apatow. "It was like honesty. Associated Press
living in Garry's head for a “When his brother died,
while. It was very emotion- his family didn’t talk about kid rising around with his for the memorial service.
al. I felt all his pain and his it ever. That’s how they brother.” Shandling died of “Now that’s over I’m very
joy." dealt with it — by not talk- a heart attack at age 66 in sad because it’s like letting
"The Larry Sanders Show" ing about it. And I think 2016. Apatow channeled go of my relationship with
was the forerunner to a Garry became obsessed much of his grief into the Garry,” he said. “I already
new kind of painfully awk- with presence and truth documentary, which grew miss him because the proj-
ward, authentic comedy because he didn’t get that out of short films he made ect is over.”q
that would inspire "The Of- as this important moment,”
fice," ''Curb Your Enthusi- said Apatow.
asm," ''Arrested Develop- “This moment changed
him. He was very happy as
comics. a little kid. He had a dream
In the series, Shandling relationship with his brother.
played an insecure and I can’t say he ever seemed
spineless late-night TV talk- as much at peace in foot-
show host with a regular age as he does in the
habit of watching his show footage when he’s a little
in bed at night. Shandling
had already made a name
for himself with the comedy
series "It's Garry Shandling's
Show," in which the actors
routinely broke the fourth
wall to comment on what
they were up to.
Apatow had a long history
with Shandling, interview-
ing the comic when he was
a 16-year-old high-school
student doing a radio show
on Long Island. He went on
to write for Shandling, di-
rect episodes of "The Larry
Sanders Show" and consid-
ered his "Freaks and Geeks"
a version of "The Larry Sand-
ers Show," only set in high
school.
"The Zen Diaries of Garry
Shandling" explores the
development of both hit
TV shows and delves into
Shandling's childhood, his
tortured romance with
Doucett, his messy break
with former manager Brad
Grey and the time he be-
came a target of private
eye Anthony Pellicano.
Nealon praises the docu-
mentary, calling Apatow
"a skilled surgeon when it
comes to putting the right
things in there. He could
have made it an eight-hour
documentary and we still
would have been riveted
to it."
The film reveals that the
death of Shandling’s older
brother from cystic fibro-
sis when Shandling was 10
became a pivotal event,