Jimmy Fallon honored the late Garry Shandling last night on the Tonight Show, and it was pretty much Jimmy at his best. He began by noting that the staff learned of Garry’s death “after the show yesterday” — which was actually true, since Jimmy’s the rare hard-working talk show host who’s taping Monday through Friday. Jimmy probably really learned of Garry’s death about two hours before taping the show, but that’s forgivable, considering what he cooked up for Friday.
The thing certainly goes on longer than you’d expect. Jimmy goes to the Tonight Show archives for Garry’s first appearance with Johnny Carson back in 1981, and that’s fun to see. It’s an important moment in Tonight Show history, too, since Garry went on to fill in for Johnny at the host’s desk several times over the years.
Jimmy doesn’t stop there, though. He keeps reminiscing about Garry in the manner of a true fan, and then finally has a big finish by singing the theme to It’s Garry Shandling’s Show from the late comic’s old Showtime series back in the ’80s.
That really was as important a show as you’re hearing on Facebook, and it was probably also the first pay-cable show to ever get picked up to run on network television for a while — thanks to the fledgling folks at FOX needing to fill a half-hour on their Sunday night schedule. Anyway, here’s something really heartfelt and sweet, which you don’t get often on talk shows nowadays…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCSv0yMUpF0]
