The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series

In case you hadn’t noticed/had forgotten/or were not aware, the new late night series entitled Conan starring former Simpsons writer, Conan O’Brien, starts on Monday night (Nov 8) on TBS. In other somewhat related news, perhaps the funniest late night talk show that wasn’t actually a talk show or on late night is finally out in its entirety on DVD. The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series is now available as a 17 disc box set just in time for the holiday season. The new 89 episode set also includes deleted scenes, outtakes, and a 60 page book featuring essays from Howard Rosenberg and Jeffrey Tambor.

Q. It was never a secret that Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” was the primary inspiration for “Larry Sanders.” Did he ever give you feedback on your show?

SHANDLING: I don’t recall Johnny saying anything specifically to me. But Peter Lassally, the producer of “The Tonight Show” then, told me that Johnny really liked the show. Peter Lassally would call me, “We have a saying here backstage, on tough days when things aren’t going right, and we can’t get a guest or any number of other circumstances: This is a Larry Sanders moment.” And he still does that, evidently, over at Craig Ferguson. [NYTimes.com]