Shandling was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Muriel, a pet store proprietor, and Irving Shandling, a print shop owner. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona and had an older brother, Barry, who died of cystic fibrosis when Garry was 10. Shandling attended Palo Verde High School. After graduation, he attended the University of Arizona, at first majoring in electrical engineering, but eventually completing a degree in marketing and pursuing a year of postgraduate studies in creative writing.

In 1973, Shandling moved to Los Angeles, California. He worked at an advertising agency for a time, and then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son. Shandling's script became the November 21, 1975 episode titled "Sanford and the Rising Son," in which Ah Chew (played by Pat Morita) turned junkyard owner Fred Sanford's (played by Redd Foxx) house into a Japanese restaurant. Shandling also wrote the script for the Sanford and Son Episode, "The Committee Man", in which Fred Sanford represents the community of Watts on the Los Angeles Mayor's Committee. In addition to "Sanford and Son," Shandling wrote scripts for the sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter and Three's Company.

In 1977, Shandling was involved in an auto accident in Beverly Hills that left him in critical condition for weeks. He later turned the accident into part of his stand-up comedy act.

Although born into a Jewish family, Shandling has been a practicing Buddhist since the '80s in association with Thich Nhat Hanh.

In an interview, he said that he became a stand-up comedian because he was frustrated by situation comedy's formulaic writing. In 1978, Shandling performed his first stand-up routine at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. His persona was an anxiety-ridden, grimacing, guarded, confused man always on the verge of losing control. After a couple of years on the road, a talent scout from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson caught his act and booked him to appear as a guest host on March 18, 1981. Shandling began substituting for Carson on a regular basis, along with Joan Rivers, until 1985.

In 1984, he made his first stand-up special, "Alone in Vegas," for Showtime, followed by a second televised special in 1986, "25th Anniversary Special," also for Showtime. In 1991, a third special, "Stand-Up," was part of the HBO Comedy Hour.

Shandling is still doing stand up comedy and is touring the U.S. each year. He also continues to perform on various television talk shows. Some of his stand up performances can be viewed on YouTube, including his first appearance on The Tonight Show and some of his Comic Relief act.

Early career

Shandling began as a television writer in shows such as Sanford and Son, in which he wrote three episodes, one episode of the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, and one episode of The Harvey Korman Show.

It's Garry Shandling's Show

Shandling and co-writer Alan Zweibel went on to create the surreal comedy series It's Garry Shandling's Show in 1985, which ran for 72 episodes on the Showtime cable television network through 1990, with edited reruns playing on the Fox network beginning in 1988.

The series subverted the standard sitcom format by having the characters openly acknowledge that they were all part of a TV show. Building on a concept that harked back to The Burns and Allen Show, in which George Burns would frequently break the "fourth wall," talking directly to the audience, Shandling's show went so far as to incorporate the audience and elements of the studio itself into the storylines, calling attention to the artifice of the show.

Shandling wrote 15 episodes of the show. The show was nominated for four Emmy awards, one time for Shandling. He won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performance in a Series, and won four Cable ACE awards, two for Best Comedy Series, and another two for Shandling. The show also won an award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy in the Television Critics Association Awards.

On October 20, 2009, Shout! Factory released It's Garry Shandling's Show: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. The 16-disc set features extensive bonus features including featurettes, commentaries & outtakes. The first season is due to be released individually on April 15, 2010. The complete series box set is also set to be release on Blue Ray and is being listed at Amazon.com, but they have yet to make a release date.

The Larry Sanders Show

In 1992, Shandling launched another critical and commercial success by creating the mock behind-the-scenes talk show sitcom The Larry Sanders Show, which ran for 89 episodes through 1998 on the cable network HBO, garnering 56 Emmy Award nominations and three wins. In an interview, he stated that he based the show on his experiences guest hosting The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

The show was a behind-the-scenes look at the world of Larry Sanders, a fictional television host of his own talk show The Larry Sanders Show. It sardonically depicted the talk-show business as a den of vipers, with egomaniacal celebrities, clueless network executives, drug addiction, broken marriages, cutthroat competition and comedic camaraderie.

In 1993, NBC offered Shandling $5 million to take over the late-night talk show Late Night when host David Letterman announced his highly publicized move to CBS, but Shandling declined. The Larry Sanders Show later spoofed the network's efforts to find a Letterman successor, making it appear to be Tom Snyder.

Shandling wrote 38 episodes of the show and directed three in the show's final season and was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards for the show; five for acting, seven for writing and six for being co-executive producer with Brad Grey. He only won one Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the series finale Flip. He has also been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in 1994 and 1995. He won two American Comedy Awards for Funniest Male Performance in a Comedy Series, Eight CableACE awards and a BAFTA Award.

It is the most successful show Shandling has created. The show also influenced other shows such as Entourage, Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm in which guest stars play (often spoofing) themselves in episodes of the series.

In 2002, TV Guide named The Larry Sanders Show as 38th Greatest Show of All Time. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked the show the 28th Best Show of the past 25 years. It was also included on Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Shows of All Time.

The first season was re-released in 2007 along with a Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show which are Shandling's pick of the best 23 episodes.

In February 2010, Shout Factory, who has released Garry Shandling's first show on DVD, said they will be releasing The Larry Sanders Show...The Complete Series box set by Fall 2010.

Shandling has been nominated for nineteen Primetime Emmy Awards through 1988 and 1998 by his two sitcoms, It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show and has won one time: Outstanding Writing in Comedy Series for the series finale of The Larry Sanders Show. He has received five for acting in The Larry Sanders Show, six for producing The Larry Sanders Show and seven for writing on The Larry Sanders Show and one for writing for It's Garry Shandling's Show. Additionally, he has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for acting on The Larry Sanders Show. He has also won two British Comedy Awards.

He has also been nominated for seven American Comedy Awards, two for It's Garry Shandling's Show and four for The Larry Sanders Show and one for hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for It's Garry Shandling's Show and three for The Lary Sanders Show, overall of four wins. He has also won eleven CableACE Awards, seven for The Larry Sanders Show and four for It's Garry Shandling's Show. He has also won a BAFTA Award for The Larry Sanders Show. Also, he was nominated for two Writers' Guild of America Award for The Larry Sanders Show.

Shandling has appeared occasionally in movies, beginning with a cameo as dental patient Mr. Vertisey in The Night We Never Met. He played supporting roles in the 1994 films Love Affair and Mixed Nuts (a.k.a. Lifesavers), Dr. Dolittle (1998) as the voice of a live-action pigeon, the David Rabe play adaptation Hurlyburly (1998), and Trust the Man. He wrote and starred in director Mike Nichols' What Planet Are You From? (2000), and co-starred with Warren Beatty and others in Town & Country. Again voicing an animal, Shandling co-starred as Verne the turtle in the computer animated comic strip adaptation Over the Hedge (2006)

Shandling hosted the Grammy Awards from 1990 to 1995, and the Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2004. At the first Emmy hosting job, Shandling cracked up the audience by saying "I auditioned to play the Vice President on The West Wing, but they said 'No--too Jewish'", a reference to real-life Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joe Lieberman during the 2000 Presidential campaign.

In 2006, comedian Ricky Gervais interviewed Shandling for a British documentary, citing him as a comic influence. The reviews of British TV critics were mixed — one Guardian reviewer described it as "the uneasiest interview ever", another as Gervais' most interesting but the general consensus was that it felt "awkward", a hallmark of both the artists' comedic styles.

Shandling starred as himself representing Fox Mulder alongside Téa Leoni as Dana Scully in The X-Files season 7 spoof episode "Hollywood A.D."

Shandling, along with co-author David Rensin, wrote the book Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host: The Autobiography of Larry Sanders written in the voice of his alter ego, Larry Sanders.

In 2009, Shandling returned to the stand-up circuit. He appeared in Iron Man 2, released in May 2010, as Senator Stern, a man trying to get Tony Stark to hand in his Iron Man armor. The film was a box office success, grossing $300 million dollars in its opening weekend worldwide.

Shandling is unmarried and shares little about his personal life. He shared an apartment with actress fiancee and onetime Playboy model Linda Doucett from 1987 through 1994. When they broke up, she filed a lawsuit against Mr. Shandling and Mr. Grey's company for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. To promote "Not Just the Best of The Larry Sanders Show," he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, where he explained that he plays a lot of basketball and has just started boxing. He was one of a few people to attend Farrah Fawcett's funeral. He has also mentioned on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that he has a pet snake.

In the Butthole Surfers song "Revolution Part 2," Gibby Haynes sings a long chorus of Shandling's name interspersed with those of other famous actors.Butthole Surfers. "Revolution Part 2." Pioughd. Capitol Records, 1991. Haynes said that Shandling was "just one of those people who haunt me."