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Since 1998, when the iconic cable series The Larry Sanders Show went off the air, much praise has been heaped on the final scene of the show-within-a-show's last episode. It takes place after Sanders (the Johnny-Carson-like talk show host played by series co-creator Garry Shandling) has given his on-air farewell and the lights have gone dark. Only then do Sanders, his producer Artie (Rip Torn) and his sidekick Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor) gather to say their goodbyes in the tiered seats that the studio audience has just vacated. They squabble at first (Hank is mad that he didn't get to deliver his testament to Larry on live TV), but then, after Hank has a good cry, the three hug and exit Stage 11 for the last time. Particularly beloved and famously shot in a single take at 1 A.M., one reviewer called the quiet ending a "smart choice" that prioritized "the show's heart over its comedy in a wholly satisfying way."
It came as a surprise, then, that while I was discussing _Larry Sanders _with Tambor earlier this year for a profile he asked: "Do you know the real ending?" Tambor said this discarded ending had something to do with animals and "that wonderful actress, Illeana Douglas" (who played Sanders' love interest at the end of the series).
Below, the men (and woman) who were most closely involved (Shandling, Tolan, and Douglas) share their recollections of the Larry Sanders ending that ended up on the cutting room floor:
GARRY SHANDLING (series co-creator and star): Yes!! There was another ending! I'm emphatic, because I always forgetthat…The other idea for the close of the series was motivated by a correctorganic instinct: What would Larry be like now that there is no talk show?Let's see him outside interacting with his last girlfriend on the series, Illeana Douglas. Somehow we considered what would make Larry the mostuncomfortable (Substitute Dave Letterman in this scenario, now, andyou can imagine it.). We came up with him going on a date to a petting zoo–outdoors in the bright sunlight with lots of people walking around. Illeana's character tries to talk Larry into petting one of the animals -- a llama?And during this action we pan back about twenty feet and you seeHank kind of stalking them, as though he couldn't let go.
TOLAN: As far as I remember (and I'll be interested to hear if I'm wrong) the scene was never written out. I do remember it being talked about–but I never got the real sense that Garry was serious about going ahead with it. So if people remember reading it or seeing it filmed–well, I'll be shocked…If Illeana Douglas tells you she was there and we shot the zoo scene, I'll have to question every memory from my entire life!
ILLEANA DOUGLAS (actress): Of course we shot it!
SHANDLING:There's a chance that scene was shot when Pete wasn't there. Also, during Sanders we often shot scenes out of context, on different days or even weeks to plug into scripts that were still unfinished…But I completely remember how we shot it, with Jeffrey stalking behind.
DOUGLAS: It was shot in that same place that Seinfeld shot scenes in "the park": right off the parking lot at CBS Radford Studios [in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley], where we shot the show. It's the Seinfeld park–the place where Jason Alexander meets Marisa Tomei. It's been used a thousand times.
TOLAN: Okay, it's slowly coming back to me. I seem to remember a petting zoo set being put together down near the lagoon at Radford. I must have gone down there and watched some of it….Crazy...
DOUGLAS: The idea was to try to have Larry do something normal. His talk show has ended and we go to the zoo. And he has never seen a hot dog stand, and he says, "What is that?" And I say, "A hot dog." And I show him one and he says, "Oh, yeah, that's what the crew eats." I was crazy about Garry. So it worked: there was this romantic quality to the scene. I'm this kind of innocent gamine and he finds love and happiness. We were going to live happily ever after.
SHANDLING: I remember studying it in editing over and over, and reediting and there was a strange little bump there where I had to make the decision.
DOUGLAS: My understanding is that they went back and forth and back and forth and that they ultimately decided that the series should end in the studio. Of course, it's an artistic decision–whether that is the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. In my opinion, I prefer our ending. The one they went with is extremely traditional and clean and good. But ours was Fellini-esque in that it stepped outside of the realism that the show normally did. That's why I felt it worked so well as a coda. It was fantastic.
TOLAN: I loved one part of the zoo idea: seeing Larry in the real world without the anchor of his show, and seeing how uncomfortable he is out from behind the desk with people wandering around freely and not arranged in the studio in orderly rows. That I love. The Hank part of it though -- with him following at a distance–that felt jokey to me, and it diminished Hank to an almost surreal degree. So the scene is half a good idea–and that's probably why Garry decided against it.
SHANDLING: The zoo ending was humorous,but it was past the ending. Why, I myself haven't even made it to a pettingzoo, yet.
DOUGLAS: I was disappointed because I loved the idea that Garry was going to find happiness with me. (Laughs). And I really did make Garry-slash-Larry happy. He really was enamored of me and I was enamored of him. So it made perfect sense. And then with Jeffrey walking behind us, there was a sadness. Hank has no other life but to be somehow attached to Larry. Either way, though, I loved The Larry Sanders Show. I've kept some memorabilia. I have the final script of "Flip" that all the
cast signed: Sean Penn, Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres. I have Garry Shandling's last wardrobe tag – from the pajamas that he wore. During the shooting of the final episode, I was there every day whether I had a scene or not. I watched Penn and Carrey shoot their scenes. And yes, I watched Garry and Jeffrey and Rip shoot what ended up to be the famous ending. It was extremely poignant. You could sense there would never be another show like that again. And there hasn't been.
