It's Garry Shandling's Show is an American sitcom created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. It originally aired on Showtime from September 10, 1986, to May 25, 1990. The series is notable for breaking the fourth wall.

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It's Garry Shandling's Show
Title screen from the first episode
Genre	Sitcom Meta-humor
Created by	Garry Shandling Alan Zweibel
Starring	Garry Shandling Geoffrey Blake (first six episodes) Molly Cheek Jessica Harper Scott Nemes Michael Tucci Co-Starring: Bernadette Birkett Ian Buchanan Barbara Cason Paul Willson
Theme music composer	Joey Carbone
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	72 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Bernie Brillstein Brad Grey Garry Shandling
Producers	Jeff Franklin Jim Geoghan Al Jean Mike Reiss
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Our Production Company Showtime Networks
Original release
Network	Showtime
Release	September 10, 1986 (1986-09-10) – May 25, 1990 (1990-05-25)

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Garry Shandling plays a stand-up comedian who is aware that he is a television character. The show features Shandling interacting with the studio audience and manipulating storylines for better outcomes. The series was critically acclaimed and ran for 4 seasons and 72 episodes. Initially aired on Showtime, it was later picked up by Fox for reruns. The show received multiple awards and nominations, including five CableACE Awards and four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

The series stars Garry Shandling as himself: A neurotic, sardonic stand-up comedian who just happens to be aware he is a television sitcom character. Garry spends just as much time interacting with the studio audience as he does the regular cast members, performing monologues and show-closing summations of the episode's events (much like George Burns on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show). However, on Garry's show, all the supporting characters know they are on a TV show, not just Garry; and the studio audience (itself a character) is often in the storyline.

At the time of the series' production, Shandling actually lived in Sherman Oaks, California, just like the character on the series. His condominium on the series was styled to be just like his real-life condo, down to the room layout and the furnishings.^[1]

Storylines were often manipulated by Shandling to create more favorable outcomes or simply to speed the story along. One episode ended years later, for example. Another allowed Shandling to tell the audience that time had passed in order to console an angry neighbor whose wall he had damaged; by the time the scene transitioned, the workmen had already fixed the wall. On America's presidential election night in 1988, Showtime presented a live episode wherein Shandling brought in Soul Train host Don Cornelius to incorrectly announce that Michael Dukakis had soundly defeated George H. W. Bush.

The series' theme song is "This Is the Theme to Garry's Show", sung by Los Angeles musician Bill Lynch.^[2] The song's lyrics are self-referential, explaining how the song came to be ("Garry called me up and asked if I would write his theme song") and asking what the listener thinks of it.

Considered a critical and niche success,^[3] It's Garry Shandling's Show ran 72 episodes and was on the air for four seasons (1986–1990). The show was later picked up by the broadcast Fox network from 1988 to 1990 as part of its Sunday night lineup with minor cuts for language and advertising breaks; Fox began airing the show from the beginning, but due to longer seasons for network shows versus cable, had caught up by the time the show left Fox in March 1990. New episodes continued for a few months thereafter on Showtime. The series put Shandling on the A-list and prompted the success for his run as Larry Sanders on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show.

Throughout the series, the cast was divided into the "Starring" cast, whose names were featured in the opening credits; the "Co-Starring" cast and the "Guest Starring" cast, both of which had the actors' names featured in the end credits.

The series was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards. It won five CableACE Awards (three for Best Comedy Series and two for Garry Shandling). It won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performance in a Comedy Series-Cable or Syndicated, and an award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy in 1988 from the Television Critics Association.