OldBoy

I read Jamie S. Rich's DVD review of Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=27587 and...i had no interest in this until this review. but, i don't know if this show is my brand of humor. i never saw it on hbo when it was on, but know it was acclaimed.

is there anything i may have seen in movies or other shows that could give me a hint of what this type of humor is all about to see if it would be worth tomorrow's purchase?

calhoun07

Do you like Arrested Development? I say the show has a more intelligent sense of humor to it...not very low brow at all. If you like more thinking man's comedies, then I'd say you'd like this.

And pick up season one while you're at it too...Seeing the studio re-release that gives me hope they are trying to see if they can get sales to justify further seasons. And while I know it's frustrating to only own one season of a particular show and never see any more come, this show needs all the support it can get.

Shannon Nutt

I've wondered the same thing as the OP. I've heard great things about the show, but my only experience with Shandling has been his various talk show appearances and some awards shows he's hosted...and I've never found him funny.

ShaunoftheDead

I was thinking of picking this up as well.
What if I liked his old 'It's The Gary Shandling Show'? I remember enjoying that a lot (especially the jingle opening), but I think that is more domestic humor?
Somewhat similar?

kenbuzz

Man, I wish "It's Garry Shandling's Show" was available on DVD. I'd buy it just to hear the theme song.

"This is the theme to Garry's Show...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-p...096312-1755110

Cosmic Bus

I've been watching the "best of" set over the past couple of days. I'm a big fan of shows and movies that this was inspired by and paved the way for (Arrested Development, CYE, Guest and Gervais' material, etc) but I'd never seen the Larry Sanders show itself before... So far it's alright, but not terribly funny to me; a few decent chuckles now and then, nothing more. There's obviously a reason so many critics and viewers liked this one, but I'm unsure at this point if I'm simply missing something or...? I'm not much of a fan of Shandling, but can generally overlook indifference to an actor if the writing is good -- which, from what I've watched, it is, but I'd hoped for the darker, more malicious edge I enjoy in comedy and have some to expect from most similar projects.

Trevor

One of my all-time favorite series. I second what calhoun07 typed.

legend42

If you don't find Shandling funny in his other appearances, then this show might not hit you, as his brand of beneath the surface humor kind of drives the tone of the show.

A point of reference that hasn't been mentioned is the Rip Torn 'defense lawyer' in Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life. Torn basically repeats his sharp-witted, somewhat smarmy but still likable personality here (and he's very prominent in the series, and many fans' favorite character). Also, if you've ever really liked Jeremy Piven or Sarah Silverman in anything, you might enjoy it.

I, for one, can't recommend the show highly enough. When it played back-to-back with Dream On on HBO for several years, that's one one of my favorite hours of television ever. But it's definitely not for everyone. Give a better idea of what kind of comedy you like, and we might be able to help you further.

Cosmic Bus

Having now gone through the whole set and started looking at the extras and earlier episodes again, I must say that my appreciation is much higher than when I'd previously commented. The first disc (and some of the second) still feel somewhat shakey to me, but from the third season's material on, the show has become something truly great. It was also around that point that it occured to me... I'd been expecting a somewhat dark "tag-along" comedy (a la CYE), but eventually embraced it as something else: sharply intelligent, observational humor more akin to Sports Night than anything. I still didn't find a huge number of laugh-out-loud moments (Duchovny's appearances continue to be my favorites, mainly because I'm such a fan) although that really didn't seem to be the goal anyway.

In the end, I'm not sure I'd be up for buying full seasons, but I'm happy this collection was released since Shandling/Sanders has a new fan that probably wouldn't have watched it otherwise.

james2025a

I finished watching the last of this set last night and i think its an essential purchase. I bought the season one set they released ages ago and have been eager for them to release more. The set has a lot of episodes (23 i believe) and the extras are well done. The only problem i have with the DVDs and this also goes for the season one set is the picture quality is not great. They really need to remaster these. I just hope that they release all the episodes eventually. The characters are fantastic and i cannot remember ever seeing an episode that i didn't like. I was actually surprised on the DVD the amount of musical bands that are included. I had read that one of the reasons they were having problems with the release of the show onto DVD was because of the music involved. Hopefully any issues like that will be sorted out and this set will sell well so that they green light future releases.