The Garry Shandling Show: 25th Anniversary Special

This show takes hold of older but greatly aging stars, throws them into a Shandling condom, publicly displays violent jerking motions for laughs, then shoots them out, one or two at a time, to take a swim in junk. In no possible world does this qualify as comedy- satire or otherwise; it's awful and a complete waste of time, even for the 80s. Anyone who says they laughed or that this was funny is paid to make that statement because it isn't true. Stars showed up, likely because they had to and not because they were delighted to be there. Showers afterward wouldn't have helped. Doug McClure looked great but was treated as a sad and stupid waste of everyone's time. Zero stars. Hard pass.

I saw this show when it came out, and I can still remember it and laugh. Using the conceit of the 25th anniversary of an imaginary talk show, Shandling satirizes 25 years of television. Jokes within jokes, comedy that makes you laugh and you don't know why, from slapstick and crudeness to dry wit and wet wit, Shandling sums up the golden era of 80's comedy. He pays tribute to the borscht belt, to every guy who wrote a laugh-tracked crappy sitcom, and to everyone who has told jokes in front of a brick wall, by doing their schtick as well as they ever did. You can't watch a comedy today without seeing echos of the style he invented 20 years ago.