The comedy world was shocked and saddened last week by the death of iconic standup comedian and TV star Garry Shandling.
Director/producer Judd Apatow was one of the comedy minds affected by the loss of Shandling, releasing a statement that said, "Garry would see the ridiculousness of me being asked to sum up his life five minutes after being told of his passing. It is a perfect, ridiculous Larry Sanders moment. I can imagine how Hank would handle it, but I just don't know how to sum up someone I loved so much who taught me everything I know and was always so kind to me. I am just too sad. Maybe tomorrow I will do better."
In the days since, Apatow has paid extraordinary homage to the star of The Larry Sanders Show—which recently Shandling had negotiated to bring back to HBO—on his Instagram account.
On Sunday, Apatow and other comedians like Larry Sanders co-star Jeffrey Tambor, Sarah Silverman, Bill Maher, Kathy Griffin, and Richard Lewis participated in one final game of basketball at Shandling's house to honor the 66-year-old.
But a quick browse through the rest of Apatow's feed from the past few days returns some extraordinary results.Here's Apatow with Shandling and Tambor.
Shandling with Apatow and Bruce Springsteen (Apatow guesses this was snapped in 1989, but the time stamp on the photo is 1994).Apparently on the set of Larry Sanders with Warren Beatty, Rip Torn, and Apatow—who was a writer and producer on the show.With Ellen DeGeneres.One of the more famous Larry Sanders episodes occurred when Sanders tries to get Ellen to come out of the closet on his show but then can't figure out if she's truly gay. Which you can see here.With a goateed (and hairy-armed) Jon Stewart, actor David Duchovny, and late comedy actor Charles Nelson Reilly.And here's my favorite of the bunch: Shandling posing, for some reason, with boxer Peter McNeeley, whose sole claim to fame was getting destroyed by Mike Tyson in Tyson's first fight after serving his prison term.Photo via Judd Apatow/Instagram