One of the earliest shows to feature a comedian playing someone with his profession (if you forget the lead's earlier It's Garry Shandling's Show), The Larry Sanders show starred Garry Shandling as the titular talkshow host in his studio and office, dealing with exaggerated parodies of celebrities - many of whom were played by themselves. Airing on HBO from 1992-1998, Larry Sanders set the bar for many of the shows which followed it, particularly in its use of profanity, which allowed other HBO shows like The Sopranos, Oz, Deadwood and Curb Your Enthusiasm to follow suit. The show was an extreme showbiz satire, particularly of the Tonight Show, which Shandling had previously appeared on many times, and it was groundbreaking in the stark light in which it showed famous people acting when they were 'off camera'. Larry Sanders also had an incredbile cast that included future Arrested Development star Jeffrey Tambor, Janeane Garofalo, Rip Torn and Jeremy Piven.
