The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling Page #16

---

And he was there to go,

"We can do it."

You know,

"You've got the talent,

you can make it right."

- ( artillery explosions )

- F***!

I think we can take them,

but we're gonna need a new spot!

Roger that!

Berg:

I never did a film

that I didn't have him come in

and do a Shandling pass at.

When I was getting ready

to make "Lone Survivor,"

Garry started talking to me,

and this was maybe

a four-hour conversation.

I'm not kidding,

literally for four hours

about why that movie

needed to be made,

what that movie was,

what brotherhood really is.

I don't know.

I never would have thought

Garry Shandling

would have been--

of everyone in my life,

that Garry Shandling

would've been my muse

in that movie.

Do you or do you not possess

a specialized weapon?

- I do not.

- You do not?

I do not. Well, it depends

on how you define

the word "weapon."

The Iron Man weapon.

Jon Favreau:

He had the kind of impact

where I thought I had

a special relationship with him

because he was a bit

of a mentor.

I would show him my scripts.

I would show him

cuts of my movie.

He would make the time for me.

But there were

dozens of people

who felt this deep connection

to the guy.

A whole generation, really,

of people coming up

and how generous he was

with his time.

Because I think he knew,

especially like the experience

he had with George Carlin,

a few words, well-placed,

can really change

the trajectory

of somebody's career.

Silverman:

He was so warm

and so supportive.

He was everything

he needed and was never given

for everyone.

He was so nice to me

for so long, and I thought,

I feel like he's trying to be

the parents he wishes he had.

He never guilts me

about anything.

Which, I always...

I was aware with Garry,

that he never plays on guilt.

And he did so many things

through us,

through you,

through Sacha,

through everyone

he touched.

Every single person.

I mean, I think he's affected

probably "NCIS" scripts somehow.

You know what I mean?

Like the "Garry effect" is,

I think, beyond what any of us

can really imagine.

( music playing )

Kevin Nealon:

He would make you feel

so good about yourself.

Every time I talked to him,

"Kevin, you're at the top

of your game.

You've never been funnier,

and you're looking good."

And he genuinely-- he wanted

things to happen for everybody.

Apatow:

I think he felt

a calling to be a monk.

- Nealon:
Yeah.

- Apatow:
He felt some calling

to mentor people.

Nealon:

He was a mentor to so

many comics and writers.

Some people would say,

you know, you've done...

"It's Garry Shandling's Show"

and "Larry Sanders."

What's your next thing?

And the next thing was us.

You know,

it was all of us.

O'Brien:

When the whole thing

blew up for me,

"The Tonight Show,"

I thought "I just have

to get out of town."

So we flew to Hawaii,

and I was going to just

stay in my room

and try and sort through

this madness

that I had just

been through.

And the phone rings.

I'm alone for literally

about a minute.

And the phone rings and I pick

it up, and I go, "Hello?"

And I hear, like, "Conan?"

And I'm like, "Yeah."

"It's Garry Shandling."

( laughs )

And I thought

he was calling from...

And I said, "Where are...

you calling from L.A.?"

Are you calling

from New York?"

And he said,

"I'm four bungalows down.

I heard you're here."

And his attitude was,

"there's no escaping me."

We spent... this was a week

I was supposed to spend

with my wife and kids,

I spent the entire week

with Garry Shandling.

- ( audience applauds )

- Yeah, it was...

And I'll tell you something.

I was at a real low point.

He counseled me,

he cheered me up,

he told me jokes,

he talked to me

about philosophy,

he talked to me about

how there are bigger things

in the world

and how I was going to be fine.

He'd talk about

Eckhart Tolle.

He went-- about all this

amazing stuff.

We took this really

long walk.

We climbed over

lava formations.

We went to this far part

of the island,

and we saw a little

stretch of sand,

and we laid down on it.

And the sun

started to go down.

And we're both watching the sun

go down.

And I turned to Garry

and I said,

"Garry, this is the most

romantic moment of my life,

and it's with you."

I just hope that he was

able to feel

some sense of how much

he meant to people.

That would be my wish,

is that he was able

to understand

what a quality person he was.

Shandling:

It all comes around.

And I get a great joy

and learn myself

about where I'm at

by helping.

And I think I do.

I think I do help,

and I think I do learn.

- I love you.

- Love you, too.

I really did...

- Look at you.

- Look at you.

- You look great.

- ( laughs )

Nice, strong shoulders.

Well, I got some more

working out to do,

but we'll talk

about that.

I got to catch up

on my training.

Could I take

a quick leak?

- Yeah. The-- You use

the women's or the...?

- ( chuckles )

Seinfeld:

When's the last time

you were here?

- This is the Comedy Store.

- Seinfeld:
Huh?

It's always tough for me

at the Comedy Store.

There's a vibe

that never changes.

Never. It's horrible.

But let's deal with it.

Come on.

I know.

This is a little

uncomfortable for me.

- Shandling:
This is...

- Seinfeld:
Garry.

-I'm telling you.

- I used to stand here

and watch you.

- I would stand right here.

- Oh!

This really is a killer.

- Isn't this a killer?

- Because I have not been in...

to hang out with you here

is genius.

Genius that we came here.

John, Garry's 8 x 10 is right

over his head there.

Just kind of

put that together.

Shandling:

There's a big picture of me.

Someone sent me a big

picture of me from here.

It's just all embarrassing,

because I don't know

how to relate to the...

I don't know

who that guy is.

- Am I right?

- Yeah.

Suli McCullough:

With "Comedians in Cars,"

we had talked about

using that as a vehicle

to really talk

about his spirituality

and be really funny

in the process.

Like, what I thought

was really great about it

was how funny he was.

Seinfeld:

You know David Brenner

passed away last year.

All that material,

he worked so hard on it.

It's just gone.

It doesn't mean anything

to anyone anymore.

It took so much work

to create it.

That material

and your material

is purely a vehicle

for you to express

your spirit and your soul

and your being,

and that's why

you're fantastic.

So it doesn't have

any value beyond that?

It doesn't have

any value beyond

you expressing yourself

spiritually

in a very soulful,

spiritual way.

It's why you're on

the planet.

God, open up the sunroof.

What year is this?

You know, because he was...

he was out of the limelight

in a lot of ways,

and people were wanting

to know what he's doing,

where was he.

You know, there was a lot

of questions.

And this was the forum

to address all that stuff.

Shandling:

I'm so happy to see you.

That's all this is about.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes