Comedian, Gary Shandling died on March 24, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.  He was only 66 years of age.  As of this posting, it’s not entirely clear how he died, so I’ll leave that up to the experts. All I know is that I liked his sense of humor and his acting ability.  His smirk and huge smile could lighten the gloomiest of days.  

While his “The Garry Shandling Show” was definitely adult oriented, and sometimes too risqué for my taste, he had great comedic timing and I enjoyed his character’s interaction with the other characters populating his show.  His comedy was often self-deprecating, which is what endeared me to him.  He didn’t have to poke fun at others to be funny, he looked at himself. 

You sometimes couldn’t tell where the humor ended and the reality began.  Case in point, a quote attributed to him – “My friends say I have intimacy problems, but they don’t really know me.” 

It was that self-deprecation that I liked the most about him.  Probably because I myself have so much material to draw from!

Garry Shandling with his wife, Linda Ducette – Photo by Alan Light