‘The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling’

HBO:

When Garry Shandling passed away in 2016, he was widely remembered as a top stand-up comic and the star of two of the most innovative sitcoms in TV history. But to those who knew him, the “real” Garry Shandling was a far more complex person. Now, Judd Apatow has created a remarkable portrait of this iconic comedian in the four-and-a-half-hour documentary The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling.

Epic in scope and intimate in detail, The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling features conversations with more than 40 of Shandling’s family and friends, including James L. Brooks, Jim Carrey, Sacha Baron Cohen, David Coulier, Jon Favreau, Jay Leno, Kevin Nealon, Conan O’Brien, Bob Saget, Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Silverman, and four decades’ worth of TV appearances, along with personal journals, private letters and candid home audio and video footage that reveal his brilliant mind and restless soul.

This movie looks amazing. I cannot wait to see it.

Here’s a brief story by Ed Solomon about meeting Shandling when Solomon was a 19-year-old aspiring comic, and the role Shandling wound up playing in his life. Perhaps even better, here’s another thread from Solomon listing his favorite jokes written with or for Shandling.

★ Tuesday, 13 March 2018