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Yes, The Larry Sanders Show (TLSS)is all of these things and more. This was, no make that is, the most consistently funniest show I've seen on TV.
The material really spoke for itself, the actors excelled most of the time, and you never felt that they were shoving the comic moments up your mush just to make sure you knew it was funny, or trying to be smart alec with the script for the sake of it. It didn't need a laughter track.
The comparison with Seinfeld is pertinent, and I have to say that Seinfield left me cold, a very bad case of "Emperors' New Clothes". I could never understand all the plaudits, but maybe its just not to my taste. I think it was very good in the sense that for many, it pulled all the comedy levers by the book, but because of that it was just too obvious. It needs saying though, if only because Seinfeld has become the byword amongst the masses for classic comedy writing over that period.(I think this kind of commentary is apt given the material in the LSS show).
TLSS was THE show about the shallowness of TV and film business personalities, even down to the real life LSSish saga of Gary Shandling falling out and suing his one time friend and manager, Brad Grey for $100m.
So then, if you've never seen Larry Sanders, try it - truly a work of art. If you like Seinfeld, you probably won't like TLSS, but hey, it's (still) a freeish country.
score /10
MrMuffinMan 26 July 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1135294/ |
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25-10-2020 12:43:06
