Judd Apatow has issued a statement on the unexpected death of comedian Garry Shandling, who was one of his mentors in Hollywood.
“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,” Apatow wrote in an email sent to TheWrap.
Shandling appears in Apatow’s latest book of interviews with comedians, “Sick in the Head,” in which the author credits Shandling for much of his own success. Apatow first interviewed Shandling as a young man in 1984, when he could only dream of one day working for his comedy idol. He went on to write and produce numerous episodes of Shandling’s iconic HBO series “The Larry Sanders Show.”
A flood of tributes to Shandling have been pouring in on social media from his comedy colleagues, with many more joke-tellers expected to weigh in soon once they’ve had a moment to process the loss.