Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host

by Garry Shandling

With the wit and charm and wit that have made him one of America's most beloved, and now most sorely missed, television personalities, Larry Sanders tells here the story behind the man -- Larry -- from his emotionally barren beginnings in Mound, Minnesota, to his ten-year run as the man millions went to bed with every night. (He had a very big bed.) Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host is a Hollywood autobiography like no other because it reveals all -- the loves and losses, the pain and joy, the shrinks and doctors -- and it is uproariously funny. Larry Sanders has written a book that will have the same ten-year run that his show did. Larry Sanders is no ordinary man, and this book will show America and the world how very different he is. Fueled by an enormous need to be loved and gifted with a talent beyond even his own, Sanders has risen to the top of his field -- and dropped -- while retaining all of his dignity and modesty. As he says on the first page of his story, "I'm famous. Actually, I'm very, very, very famous." Sanders's story is laced with the names (and some of the faces) of the thousands of celebrities who have sought his attention for a decade -- and Sanders tells the world what he thinks of all of them, even if it hurts his own feelings. Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host is a Hollywood tell-all that will forever change the nature of this kind of book. While Geraldo Rivera used his sexual exploits to shamelessly promote his book, Sanders uses his conquests of thousands of women to illustrate his compassion and grace. "If it sells, it sells," Sanders says. "There was never a hidden agenda." While Roseanne used her book to promote her many personalities, Sanders's book shows how a straight-shooter can not only survive but thrive in Hollywood. Most of all, Sanders, in truthfully disclosing all aspects of his life and those of people he has never met, hopes to heal and entertain. Sanders has written a wonderfully hilarious book that will make some of his fans wish he were back.

Genres: Fiction, Comedy, Humor, Tv

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 1998

Reviews

[Gil Basque · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a waste of paper - and I don't mean that about the writing content! Large print, big margins, the huge microphone image printed at the start of every section, whole backs of pages left empty.. They really stretched an essay-length collection of musings out to make it look like a book.

The writing itself was fine. It has some memories, some laughs - but I had hoped for more variety than primarily the same I slept with her, I didn't sleep with her, I slept with her but don't ask her she'll say no joke over and over.

[Ryan Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a pretty silly book with giant, almost large-print size text. Still, I laughed at something on every single page. There is an authentic Larry presented on these pages, and while an argument could be made that the book suffers from not having the show's intermittent flashes to the POV of the wonderful supporting cast, the narrative here is as wrought with insecurity, ego, and humor as I'd hoped. A wonderful nightcap to the end of the show. You may now flip.

[Mark Ramsden · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Larry Sanders fanatic a little underwhelmed by this which will trigger some rueful smiles but then it would hardly have been realistic for Larry to have laboured long and hard to give us a comedic masterpiece. Perhaps a thousand page biog of Artie wold have been better, maybe giving us the inside story of Rip Torn's filmed fight with Notman Mailer, a YouTube classic.

[Edmole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, knocked off, intermittently hilarious mock biog of a mock man mocking biogs. I have given it five stars, because this book commemorates The Larry Sanders Show, and as such is little short of a religious artifact. You can't give an artifact anything other than five stars, really. "This shroud has an imprint of the face of our Lord!" "Oh yeah... ah, it's not all that."

Love you Garry.

[Richard Luck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good rather than great. Now a Larry Sanders oral history - stop that! - well, then we'd really be talking.

[Suzanne Fournier · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because it was the only book I found in connection with Garry Shandling, and my library copy is mis-shelved as non-fiction.

I understand it could be funny to fans of the Larry Sanders show but I am amazed this was published. It's mostly not very funny sex jokes about celebrities. The only reason I kept reading is that I kept imagining it was the opposite of Garry Shandling.

Do not recommend.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what it says on the tin. There's enough Garry in the meta humor to make it a worthy afternoon read.

[David Parke]

I got a few chuckles. I don’t keep up with the Late Show but this feels like a good stocking stuffer for people that do.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really quick read. It was pretty funny, although I don't remember the Larry Sanders character being so totally clueless. He was self-absorbed, insecure and paranoid, but more human than the guy who supposedly wrote the book. Still, I got a few laughs out of it.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of the show, you'll probably be a fan of the book too.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very slight book, but well written and funny.

[Jeff Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big fan of the show so I decided to give it a read. A little thin on content, but several laugh out load moments.

[Kevinjwoods · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny but loses stars due to the Photo section consisting mainly of the person who photo is about being placed in the fold.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, if fluffy. Doesn't have the same concentrated bite as the show did.