It's Garry Shandling's Book by Judd Apatow

It's Garry Shandling's Book Reviews

• 
  Mike

  Judd Apatow has done a great honor to Garry Shandling and given a gift to his fans with both this book and the accompanying documentary. This is a massive 400+ pages of personal reflections, diary entries, letters, jokes, scripts, and other documents that chronologically present Shandling’s personal life and career. We get full color photos and scans of many writings in Shandling’s own handwriting, as well as remembrances from some of Shandling’s family and friends. It is at once a tribute, memoir, biography, autobiography, scrap book, and oral history all rolled into one.
  
  The book ultimately reveals a brilliant, sensitive, empathetic, self-reflective man whose private struggles informed both his comedy and his worldview. Rather than allowing his mistakes and set-backs to hold him down or to become fatal flaws (like so many entertainers -- especially comedians) Shandling turned these moments into ways to improve his life and generate the wisdom needed to adapt and grow. There are so many pieces of learned insight and philosophical musing in this book that surpass anything you might read in a self-help book, mostly because these reflections were meant for an audience of one; but such personal epiphanies are precisely those that can be universal and lasting when shared with others. We are lucky enough to share in Shandling’s life experiences through this book. It’s a rare instance when a deep look into the life of one of your favorite performers reveals a better person than what you saw in public -- and that’s saying a lot, since Shandling’s public persona was always wonderful and highly regarded to begin with.
• 
  Stewart Tame

  Through the use of photos, interviews, script excerpts, and dozens of pages from Shandling’s own journals, Judd Apatow creates an intimate portrait of the famous comedian. I found the book fascinating, and will definitely be checking out more of Shandling’s work in the future.
  
  Because I actually haven't seen much of it. Garry Shandling is one of those comedians I know more by reputation than actual experience. I’ve never been a big watcher of late night talk shows. And I’ve never been interested in subscribing to any premium cable channels, so I missed out on his TV shows and stand-up specials as well. But I have seen him in a couple of things, and I’ve heard enough other comedians talk about his work to have a good idea what to expect. Just haven't gotten around to checking it out yet. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on either of his two TV series. Seems like they shouldn't be too hard to find, as good as they’re reputed to be.
  
  Anyway, a fascinating portrait of a fascinating man. Recommended!
• 
  Randee

  There are a few authentic, original thinkers who could not be anything but their quirky selves. Garry Shandling was one of them. Judd Apatow has honored his friend and mentor with this insight into Garry’s life and delivered the goods to his many fans. I miss Gary. I miss Gary’s sense of humor. I was so happy to take this peek into Garry and sad, all over again, that he is gone. I think many would agree that we witnessed greatness in this man. I might add that Gary was a practicing Zen Buddhist and was always striving to improve himself on his journey through life. He never married or had children-some may think he was too self-absorbed. Maybe. But, I like to think he marched to a different drumbeat and had a higher calling.
• 
  Kerri

  I would literally give this 10 stars, ALL the stars, if I could. It captures the genius and the complexities that made Garry Shandling so funny, so philosophical, so layered, so unique. I could go on but there aren’t enough words to praise Judd Apatow for this thing of beauty. I was devastated when Garry died and I will treasure this book always. It was a gift from my son, who tried to understand my deep mourning for a man I never met, yet cared so much about. Truly a masterpiece.
• 
  Daniel

  Enjoyable tribute to Garry Shandling full of bits of his own notes, scripts and photos from his life. I enjoyed learning about his career arc: from writing ads and then to writing for television, into standup and then the late-night show world. The Larry Sanders Show fused the late-night talk show with a sitcom and aired on HBO from 1992-1998. He was a major contributor to comedy in America during my childhood and adolescence.
• 
  Tony Barilla

  An intimate look at the life of the comic genius that was Garry Shandling. This book does his life and career such an honor by sharing personal handwritten notes about his act and moments in his life, marked up scripts from It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and The Larry Sanders Show, interviews with friends and colleagues, and a plethora of photographs from throughout his life.
• 
  David

  Great life. And I loved the ending with that eulogy by Sarah Silverman was great.
• 
  Paula Rohde

  Absolutely fantastic
• 
  Simon Sweetman

  An intimate memoir hides inside this revealing archive of photos, joke-drafts, script excerpts and general miscellany. A wonderful tribute to an amazing comic.
• 
  Matt

  What a lovely valentine to a funny, flawed, brilliant man.
• 
  Antonio Depietro

  Great book but not a must read if you already saw the documentary. Which i loved. It was nice to see all the clever jokes and word play all written out. You really see the craftmanship and the effort to create those classic Garry lines.
• 
  Heather Culley

  It’s seems cliche but Gary Shandling is the funniest person who has ever made me cry.
• 
  Rob

  Garry Shandling was a formative personality in my teenage years.
  
  He helped normalize being awkward and nervous and neurotic at a time when I was trying to figure out why I didn’t have the confidence of so many of my high school classmates. But not only that, his series, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, was one of the first (along with Monty Python’s Flying Circus and George Carlin’s standup) to show me how subversive comedy could be.
  
  There’s part of my identity now, even in my 40s, that I owe to him.
  
  Which is why it came as such a relief to see that Judd Apatow’s tribute to his late friend and mentor is every bit the love letter I hoped it would be. Poring through the journals and photos Shandling left behind after his death in 2016, Apatow has compiled a roughly chronological account of the comedian’s life in images and words (Shandling’s own, as well as excerpts from interviews conducted with his many friends and colleagues).
  
  The real highlight, though, is the reproduction of Shandling’s journals. A prolific writer throughout his life, these entries – presented in Shandling’s own hand – offer an unvarnished look at the comedian’s evolution from a child in Arizona to one of the most influential voices in comedy.
  
  And the candid nature of these journals is what really gives this book much of its heft. It’s easy to see that Shandling was often deeply unhappy, but this is leavened with his relentless quest to be GOOD. Not necessarily as a comedian or an actor as a writer; but as a person. Refusing to settle for merely being a funny guy, Shandling was heavily influenced by Zen philosophy and saw his life’s goal as a journey toward love and leaving his ego behind.
  
  I love this book, and it makes me love Shandling even more. The best thing I can say about it is that it’s caused me to reevaluate my own life, my insecurity and anxiety, what I find important, and to try – after 25 years – to finally appreciate what I do well professionally.
  
  I’ll exit with Shandling’s own words:
  
  “You don’t need to be successful. You don’t need to be funny or a good actor or writer. You don’t need to be ANYTHING. You can just be.”
• 
  The_J

  The term genius is batted around quite a bit, but perhaps it lands here. This is someone who fit into a transitory period in Comedy bridging the 70s sitcom and Johnny's Tonight Show to the start of Cable Freedom of expression, giving posterity two groundbreaking shows. But with the notes he seems to be another tortured comedian. But even with whatever his art created and cost him, his legend was concurrently made with his Sunday Basketball games with A through D listers, highly competitive but a two decade cathartic experience which bound together a generation of actors. The book manages to capture slices of Garry (in his own word and pictures), which I suppose is more than we could expect, but perhaps less than we should ask.
• 
  John Kube

  This was a somewhat difficult read for me.
  
  I have followed Gary since the 80s. Watched him on the Tonight Show. Letterman. His own show in the 80s. Larry Sanders. Saw him live in 1990. Obviously I was a fan and found him very funny.
  
  That being said, I had no idea how he struggled. From the death of his brother when they were kids to his struggle with his career (or what he wanted to do for a career). I certainly could relate. Constantly having to tell himself that he could do comedy/acting. Having to retreat to Hawaii between work. Buddhism to help. Like I said, through this book, I saw his life as a struggle.
  
  Great insight to his inner thoughts, but somewhat sad for me.
  
• 
  D. Thrush

  Readers have complained about the Kindle version. That’s what I bought. It took me a while after owning a Kindle to realize you can make pictures (and Garry’s journal pages) larger by tapping them and zooming or spreading your fingers like on a phone. (Though Garry’s handwriting is still hard to read.) The book has large fonts, smaller fonts, journal and script pages, and lots of photos and interviews. This is a wonderful tribute to a great comedian. It seems it was never about fame or material things. He strove to challenge himself and grow as a person and performer. I loved his first series and went to a taping. It was so different and clever. I never got into his second series as much but was always a fan. After reading this I like Garry even more as a person.
• 
  Lois

  I was really excited when I first heard about this book, but it far transcends my expectations or even my hopes. It’s intimate, very funny and very moving. It’s not a conventional narrative of Garry Shandling’s life. Instead, the book includes a collection of Shandling’s handwritten notes—jokes, acting prompts scribbled on scripts, spiritual and inspirational thoughts and memos to himself written in notebooks—supplemented by news clippings and friends’ observations. The book’s format offers insight into Shandling’s creative process and his nonstop drive to be a success not only as an artist but also as a good human being. For us fans of Garry Shandling, this book is a treasure.
• 
  Kirk

  If you've seen the Zen Diaries documentary by Apatow, there's little in this book that you won't already know. I was hoping that this would be more focused on Garry's journals. While it does include journal excerpts, they constitute roughly one third of the material and are at times hard to decipher. This book appears to have had a hefty budget: glossy pages, large font, and plenty of pictures. Where's the beef!?
  
  One funny thing I don't remember from the documentary: a "Happy Holidays from the Shandling Family" card with a picture of Garry sitting alone on a lounge chair, surrounded by empty chairs.
• 
  I.D.

  Once again, a Judd Apatow project goes on longer than it should. This book, after the amazing Zen Diaries documentary is almost too much and weirdly Inessential. There’s nothing here that wasn’t better expressed in that movie and lots of the scribbles are either hard to read, repetitive, or the kind of things that I doubt Shandling wanted people to see. That said, you can tell this was put together out of love, but maybe a misguided one. Some nice photos and remembrances but overall it’s just the same stuff or extraneous info from the documentary. Honestly just watch that and skip this book.
• 
  Amy

  My genuine thanks to Random House for sending me "It's Garry Shandling's Book" in a Goodreads giveaway.
  
  It will take a while to go through it thoroughly, because it is so thoroughly researched and beautifully presented. I was a huge fan of It's Garry Shandling's Show because it broke all the rules about television, primarily in how it broke down the 4th wall. The home audience was part of the show. This book reads the same way, breaking down the wall between public and private persona. We hear from all the industry greats who worked with Garry, and see through countless pictures, what led to the creative genius behind that show and The Larry Sanders Show. For example, I didn't realize that Garry wanted The Tonight Show when Carson left. And when Garry didn't get it, it spurred the creation of The Larry Sanders Show - a show about a guy with a talk show.
  
  Most of the pages are supplemented with examples of Garry's handwritten notes, showing his thought process. We often think that because someone is publicly "on" whenever we see them, that they are instantly and automatically that way all the time. I love these notes, for telling the story himself. Seems like the book is built around them, and it's perfect.
• 
  Lisa Brandt

  The only reason I'm giving this book 2 stars is because I couldn't read it on my eReader. Well, I could read about 40% of it, since most of it was composed of type-written letters and hand-written notes composed by Garry through his life.
  
  A book like this should never be made available for an eReader. It's a waste of our money and time. I would have purchased the physical book, had I known I'd only get a fraction of it it.
• 
  Jason

  Wow what a fascinating book! It was awesome to get an up-close-and-personal look at the mind of Garry Shandling. He was always inquisitive and the book dives into what makes him tick. I loved the handwritten letters sprinkled throughout and the great insight into what makes comedy work.
  
  This was one of the highlights of my year. Definitely near the top of the books I read in 2019.
• 
  Benjamin Van Buren

  Judd Apatow’s final love letter to Garry Shandling, told (mostly) in Garry’s own words. This was a gorgeous looking book and a bittersweet read. But holy hell is Shandling’s handwriting painful to read—there were times when I literally groaned out loud after turning the page to find yet another spread of Garry’s handwritten notes.
• 
  Garin

  A very intimate look at one of the greatest comedic minds. Well put together and attractive, this book evokes emotion as you see into Garry's most private thoughts with his journals written during the height of his career. Highly recommended for fans and even more so for anyone interested in a career in show business.
• 
  Jay Clement

  12-2020. This is the companion book to the very great documentary on Garry Shandling. Not much really new here, if you saw that doc. Everything here sure lets you know Shandling’s particular comedic genius, as well as his reputation as a Buddhist practitioner who freely advised so many comedians and writers.
• 
  Tony Foxhoven

  A beautiful tribute to a beautiful human. You can tell that a lot of love was put into the making if this book. His jokes and wisdom have helped me out in life so many times, and even after his death he is still reminding me to live in the moment. Read this = you will not be disappointed
• 
  Phil Simon

  Interesting read about a very interesting cat. I had seen the two HBO specials before. To this end, the book covered familiar territory. Also, although I understand Apatow's desire to include Garry's handwritten notes, I had a hard time reading them—not that my own handwriting is any more legible most of the time. I would have put some pictures of his notes next to more readable versions.