You had to know that late night was going to have a lot to share about the loss of Garry Shandling. Conan is the veteran these days and he had plenty of personal tales to share about the late comedian, including Shandling’s involvement following the end of Conan’s tenure on The Tonight Show.
The picture you get from Conan and many other memorials shared today is that Shandling had a lot going on behind the scenes. Conan notes his effect on the Conan writer’s room, the stories being shared, and then moved into his own personal experiences. The end of the clip shows a bit from the 2002 Emmys that Shandling agreed to help out with and seems to mirror the later, real life situation between the two.
That involves Conan’s tumultuous end at NBC and his exit from The Tonight Show. As Conan shares in the clip, he escaped to Hawaii with his wife and kids, meant to spend the entire week with them, but somehow ended up hanging around with Garry Shandling. It clearly pays to know people and the entire experience sounds amazing, especially given what O’Brien had just went through. As someone who wasn’t as familiar with Shandling, it’s a great tale that offers a glimpse at what the guy was really like.
We also get a chance to see a little bit of comedy from Shandling on the show — and some bad hair choices from Conan. It’s nice to get the two sides, even if it comes about due to a crappy moment.