One of 11 Emmy-show hosts last year, Garry Shandling is glad to have the job to himself again.
An Emmy winner himself for writing his talk-show parody “The Larry Sanders Show,” the droll comedian and actor will have sole charge of steering the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards when ABC televises the event from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 19. Shandling last handled the role alone in 2000, and although he’s planning a creative twist he wants to keep a surprise, he lets it slip that some of his Emmy humor this time is inspired by TV’s unscripted-series craze.
“Having done two series and enough hosting of shows like this,” he reflects, “I feel I have a perspective on the changes in television, and I intend to address those perceptions of mine. Last year, I said I would do the opening monologue; they didn’t tell me they had 10 other hosts. You can’t have a thematic show with 11 different people. They were all funny and had their moments, but on the whole, it was like a bad date where the person across the table keeps changing every 10 minutes. Besides being funny, a good host can keep the thing centered.”
HBO enters this year’s Emmy Awards with particular strength in numbers. With the most nominations of any network — 124 — it also has the most-nominated program (“Angels in America,” with 21 bids), drama series (“The Sopranos,” 20) and comedy series (“Sex and the City,” 11). Once an HBO resident via “Larry Sanders,” Shandling admits he isn’t the most consistent TV watcher, but he wasted no time getting up to speed for his latest Emmy gig.
“I think this is, generally speaking, a three-month preparation circumstance,” he says. “I started in mid-July, so I feel like I’m a month shy. Maybe I can get them to push the Emmys back.. I keep a subtle watch on the world, and the transitions we go through in life seem to be reflected by what we watch on television. Whenever I’m asked to host this, I don’t say ‘yes’ for a while; I first consider whether I have something to bring to the show, both as a writer and a performer. My normal approach, even in dating, is to look for the most unique way I can find. We’ll see if I’m right this time.”
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