I have a secret movie review tumblr that I don’t share with anyone because I’m just that kind of guy, but I wanted to bring up something I wrote there over here, after I saw Molly Lambert post to this insane then-and-now photo of Michael Cera (holding a glass of white wine, yep) and Garry Shandling, Godhead of the self-obsessed neurotic. So, ahem, (this is weird), I wrote:
“As a young struggling comedian in the ’80s, Apatow found his calling, and made his bones, writing for other comedians, including Roseanne Barr and Garry Shandling. It’s hard to watch Funny People’s George Simmons (Adam Sandler) and not think of Shandling, a comedian I struggled to comprehend as a teenager, but now understand completely. He has no family or wife. He’s a narcissist of the highest order. He always pushes the awkward but tangible moments of self-aggrandizement in ways Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld cannot. Because Shandling is a legitimately bleak human being. The extras included on his Larry Sanders DVD released last year were a perverse rodeo of personal confession and exploration with friends, colleagues and old flames (including one encounter with Sharon Stone, his ex, that challenges the tension-conjuring powers of Edward Albee.) Simmons appears to be a stand-in, at worst a facsimile, for Apatow’s mentor and for that, I wonder if Shandling were consulted first. Maybe the speculation runs too deep.”
