Me saying the House impeachment inquiry enters a new phase this week with hearings that will be widely publicized across media platforms the Intelligence Committee will hear from key u.s. Diplomats for the 1st time in a public setting investigators are trying to determine whether president leverage u.s. Military aid to press the Ukrainian government to open investigations for his political game we have more from N.P.R.'s to mak weeks of dramatic closed door testimony will now be brought into full public view the committee will hear from u.s. Diplomats George Kent and William Taylor on Wednesday and they will also hear from former u.s. Ambassador to Ukraine revolt of it on Friday last week Democrats released transcripts from their closed door depositions those transcripts suggest that the White House leveraged u.s. Foreign policy to urge Ukraine to begin investigations into the Biden family and it's on the basis of these transcripts that lawmakers will likely start their questioning Republicans have argued that there was no quid pro quo between the president and the Ukrainian government to mak n.p.r. News Washington think he Haley is among the prominent Republicans to come out in defense of the president the former South Carolina governor and former u.n. Ambassador was among the few senior level officials to get a warm sendoff from the president N.P.R.'s Ron Elving reports that Haleigh's new memoir paints a picture that appears to support from suspicions about people he ultimately ousted she portrays the White House and the trumpet ministration as largely a mess uses all kinds of critical terms about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who clearly regarded Nikki Haley as a subordinate Nikki Haley saw herself as an equal Nikki Haley tells us in the book is that she was sounded out to be secretary of state right from the very beginning but didn't think that that was the right role for her N.P.R.'s Ron Elving while Haley explicitly rules out a challenge to President Trump in 2020 questions still remain about whether she might be interested in replacing vice president Mike Pence or running for the nation's top office in 2024 the international. Atomic Energy Agency says he Ron is accelerating its enrichment of uranium European countries are now scrambling to try to get Iran back into compliance with the 2050 nuclear deal N.P.R.'s Michele Kelemen reports the e.u. Foreign policy chief Federica Mo greeny is joining France Germany and Britain in calling on Iran to stick to the nuclear agreement even if it's increasingly difficult to preserve it we'll continue our efforts to have a full implementation of the agreement Mo greeny says the Europeans are extremely concerned about Iran's decision to resume low grade uranium enrichment at its underground Fordo facility they are calling for a meeting of the dispute resolution mechanism that would include all the signatories of the deal except for the u.s. Since the Trump administration pulled out and re impose sanctions on Iran Michele Kelemen n.p.r. News Washington you're listening to n.p.r. News. Astronomers are raising a red flag about a space x. Satellite venture that they warn could light up the skies to the point they're unable to accurately study real stars and that's compounded by persistent worries about producing extra junk in space those are fears space x. Founder Elon Musk has been trying to put to rest as he forges ahead with the dream of someday launching tens of thousands of satellites into orbit the private company launched 60 tiny internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Florida today with many more slated to follow in the coming months from member station WFIU Brendan Byrne has more the 60 satellites launched today are the foundation of an Internet service network called Starlink space x. Wants to blanket the globe with broadband Internet coverage to do that it will need hundreds if not thousands of these satellites in space some satellite watchdogs worry all that traffic could lead to congestion and possibly collisions in space space x. Says the network can operate safely each satellite is equipped with collision avoidance capabilities and if a satellite dies it will fall out of orbit and burn up safely in the atmosphere the company plans to launch another batch of 60 satellite soon satellite internet competitor one with plans to launch 30 satellites a month starting next year for n.p.r. News I'm Brendan Byrne a court in the Netherlands is ordering the Dutch government to use all possible means to bring home children whose mothers travel to Syria to join violent extremist groups provided safe enough to do so in its ruling today the court said the children should not be held responsible for the actions of their parents the Dow closed up slightly this is n.p.r. News support for n.p.r. Comes from the George Lucas Educational Foundation creator of Edutopia air and online resource dedicated to improving the learning experience for America's students with information and strategies about what works and k. Through 12 education learn more Edutopia dot org. Good afternoon you're listening to cap radio we get support from the month obvious center u.c. Davis is in in these searching orchestra performing 4 seasons in Harlem 100 details in Texas at Mondavi arts or. This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross my guest Judd Apatow has given many actors their 1st big break or given their careers a big boost for the movies and t.v. Shows that he's produced and or directed like Freaks and Geeks the 40 Year Old Virgin Superbad anchorman bridesmaids girls train wreck the big sick and crashing we're going to talk about the comic who gave Apatow his big break and became his mentor and close friend Garry Shandling Apatow has edited a new book built around interviews as well as the photos jokes letters and journals Apatow found in channelings home after Shandling's death in 2016 the book is called it's Gary Shandling's book and it's a companion to the h.b.o. Documentary Apatow made last year titled The Zen diaries of Garry Shandling at the heart of the film and book are Shandling's journals dating back to 1908 shamming practiced Zen meditation for decades and pages and pages of his journals are reminders to himself to remain calm not get attached to worldly things let go of his ego aspirations that came into conflict with his neuroses and his obsessive dedication to his comedy shamming became famous as a comic in the seventy's when Johnny Carson was still hosting The Tonight Show after making many guest appearances shamming became a frequent guest host when Carson was away the channelings groundbreaking contributions were his to t.v. Shows it's Garry Shandling Show foreshadowed reality t.v. And featured a fictionalized version of shambling that showed him living his life well being followed by a camera crew the show was very matter and so was the theme song whose lyrics were about being a theme song. The end of the show and to. Recall me for the past if I would try it is. Almost up to me and it's really like. Out. Like the Jerry show. She likes next t.v. Series The Larry Sanders Show was also mega it was a satire in which he starred as the host of a late night talk show kind of like The Tonight Show let's start with a clip in which Larry's producer played by Rip Torn as asking Larry if he's read the new book about the competition and conflict between late night hosts what you think about book or did you finish Oh yeah I've written on a plane now I can't believe when I actually get in the closet so we can hear the whole network meeting I'm sick to be so obsessed with what people are say I know that it's sick but if you see about me not being mentioned everybody in town stalk about it good. Job Apatow Welcome back to Fresh Air. This new book and your documentary The book is a loving tribute to Garry Shandling it's also about how a comic turns insecurity an emotional suffering into comedy Garry Shandling practice Zen Meditation is a way to deal with his stress insecurity emotional pain and because of that because because he was so into Zen Buddhism you assumed he didn't hold on too much into terms of like possessions anything and he sentimentality so after he died when you went into his how you were surprised by all the stuff that you found there pertaining to his life tell us a little bit about what you found that you've worked into your documentary about him another book I went to his house and you know there's the immediate question of what do you do with all this stuff and. I just as a friend you know was willing to help the family deal with it and as a hoarder I was interested in it not being lost. But because to me everything about Gary was valuable and is valuable. He wasn't sentimental and so for instance all of his awards were in a trophy case that he built next to his washer and dryer. So I could Sammy and his Peabody they're all in this little trophy case in the most disrespectful place in the house and that's what Gary felt like he also didn't have any photos of family anywhere in his house and I just assumed that he didn't care about any of that stuff and tossed it all and when I started opening closets and looking in boxes I realized that he didn't throw everything in the garbage he threw everything in boxes and just chucked them in closets So for instance his brother died when he was 10 years old and I'd never seen a photo of his brother but then I would open a box and there would be 100 pictures of his brother so I don't know if he had a secret the style joke or sentimental side but he did keep everything and he kept his journals which he started in the 1970 s. And you write that when you found Garry Shandling his journals you wondered if it was Ok for you to read them if you'd be either violating his privacy or if you'd find out things about him that would make you like him less but you decided to read them did it change your impression of him. Oddly it changed my impression of him in the sense that. I already had mired him and I knew he was a man who struggled but I was surprised that. 30 years of journals mainly contained. Gary trying to talk to his positive voice so they weren't journals from the point of view of someone who was just trying to spew all their toxic stuff a lot of us writing journals like that we just want to get the bad voice out of our head and that's not what Gary's journals were like they were a voice talking to the panicked anxious voice so most of the journals were reminders to try to get out of ego to try to be more kind and loving to let go and it's 30 years of reminders about the type of person that he wants to be how would you describe Gary Shandling splays in comedy. Gary always cut his own path so when he did it's Garry Shandling Show there really hadn't been a show like that that was so experimental and weird and which made fun of the whole concept of sitcoms it just describe the show well the show was Gary playing you know a version of himself. And he basically would look directly into the camera and talk to the audience at home and he would comment both on the show the story and the mechanics of making the show so he might suddenly jump on a golf cart and drive through the studio and reveal the studio audience and the warm up person and the director while still doing the story of that episode and then he did the Larry Sanders Show which was a satire of talk shows it was a behind the scenes look at a anxious neurotic talk show host somewhat like Gary and in it he tried to explore the way show business and ego prevents people from connecting and loving each other that was his premise and in a way he was trying to use this show to explore his own psyche and I always thought he was mocking the part of himself that he didn't like mocking the person that wanted to be rich and famous and someone who could hold this high position for a long time. You know Garry Shandling really well but your 1st encounter with him was when you were in high school when you're 16 and you had a radio show in which you'd interview comics and you'd somehow manage to get really great comics to talk to you a high school kid on this tiny little high school radio station and we talked about that on one of your visits to our show and you have a whole book collecting some of your high school interviews with with comics but anyways you interviewed Garry Shandling when you were 16 in 1903 and this was about 5 years after you 1st started doing comedy it was about 22 years after his 1st appearance on The Tonight Show how did you get Garry Shandling to talk with you. Well back then there there wasn't an Internet at least none that we knew of and most comedians didn't do long format interviews there were no pod casts and other than maybe some morning radio to promote gigs so I interviewed about 50 comedians mainly by tricking their publicist into thinking that it was a high school radio station that it was just a normal radio station and most publicists because these comedians didn't do many interviews were very willing to let me talk to them Gary was in Vegas I think opening for Joan Rivers when I did this interview and he had just hosted The Tonight Show for the 1st time which is very rare for a young comedian who wasn't that famous to get to host The Tonight Show I don't remember about the interview was he was just really funny and was very willing to talk about how jokes are written and then tell me a bunch of jokes to to show me the process and it was one of the interviews I appreciated the most and you know looking back it's weird because he completely changed my life he hired me to write for his show he did a cameo. In the pilot of The Ben Stiller Show which I thought was part of why we got picked up he asked me to direct I had never directed before so it's weird that I knew him for so long it almost feels predestined our relationship it and then ultimately being able to tell you know the story of his life. Your book about Garry Shandling has been published in your earlier documentary about him the Zen diaries of Garry Shandling you play a short excerpt of that high school interview you did with Garry Shandling So let's listen to this this is recorded in 1983 when you were 16 How would you describe the type of human that you do it oh man was it right that conventional It seems that you know when you watch it if you like your ideas. I think it's great I didn't drop my act and I heard every excuse for a woman not going to bed but I think I heard them I remember that one girl actually said. Well not with this off an island. And I thought that was over a year. That I haven't gotten over it. And I thought right could understand them better. Ok it's a brief excerpt of my guest Judd Apatow has interview with Garry Shandling when I was and in high school did that interview helped lead you to have enough of a connection with Garry Shandling that he would be willing to help give you your start in comedy. I'm so excited to talk to him you could just hear in my voice Oh absolutely to leave it at sea it's like I'm talking to you know John Lennon and. I didn't ever tell Gary about it when I 1st met him I think I waited a very long time to tell him that we had met over the phone oh he didn't realize he didn't put 2 and 2 together. You're the kid who. Yeah I was so embarrassed about it and I met him because he was looking for jokes for the Grammys he was hosting the Grammys and my manager connected me with Gary and Gary said well you know send me some jokes and I stayed up all night and wrote like 100 jokes because I really felt like I think this is the big break of my career and he liked the jokes enough to hire me on in a more serious way and then he took me to New York to be at the Grammys with him and on stage during the show and I don't think I wrote it but he showed that he used I wrote a lot of set ups for jokes and then he would get rid of my punch line and write a better punch line and I think that that was helpful to him that I I knew music that I knew the this city of a joke let's take a short break here and then we'll talk some more if you're just joining us my guest is film director screenwriter t.v. And movie producer Judd Apatow and his new book is called it's Gary Shandling book we'll be right back this is Fresh Air. Is kept Radio 99 Sacramento and 91.3 stock the Midwest to your n.p.r. Station we get support from Safe Credit you know offering the capital club a suite of services and financial products designed for high balance members who are more about Safe Credit Union and safe. Swash capital. This is Fresh Air and if you're just joining us my guest is t.v. And movie producer writer and director Judd Apatow how the person who gave him his break in comedy was Garry Shandling and Judd work with Garry Shandling on projects and now. A couple couple years like 3 years I guess after Garry Shandling staff he has a new book editing things from Garry Shandling his life his journals interviews with other people about Garry Shandling interviews that Garry Shandling gave during his life and it's called it's Gary Shandling this book. Gary Shelley grew up in Tucson because his older brother needed a warm dry climate because he had cystic fibrosis which is a genetic progressive disease in which mucus clogs the airways in the lungs and makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and carries older brother Barry died at age 13 Gary was 10 then and it sounds from your documentary in your in your book that. It traumatized Gary when Barry died and left scars that never went away and I mean he was he wasn't told that the end was imminent he didn't get a chance to say goodbye he wasn't taken to the funeral How did that affect him. You know it's hard to know for sure but it certainly scarred him in a way that affected him throughout his life after his brother died the family dealt with it by not talking about it which I think you know for that time period this is the 1960 is something a lot of people did in post World War 2 America they said All right we're going to move forward and how we survived this is we are going to stuff it down deep and not talk about it and so throughout Gary's life he was all for being honest and open and vulnerable and present and real and I think that's because at the key moment of his childhood people were not real with him I want to read a journal entry from his diary in 2005 years before brother you were a happy boy in your body his death was a mind f. Event and disappointment you had to deal with on your own go back into the body don't try to avoid pain it is a struggle to stay in the body for every one discipline breathing confusing. So he's still trying to deal with this and it still seems to be like in 2005 to be kind of shaping how he wants to get by in the world to like be you know go back into your body don't try to avoid pain this is a common struggle you have a 2. Yeah it's it's heartbreaking to see hear that and I think Kerry was trying to understand how the death of his brother affected his life and his choices and he knew that he hadn't dealt with it in the way that he should have and so that at the end of the documentary there's a long letter that he wrote to his brother in which he he basically says goodbye to his brother in a way he didn't get to in life and. It's just so beautiful and so sad. Joining me in some of the well he says at the end. Good bye from this world. Goodbye from the pain of your body. I honor your life what is special short life. To affect me so severely for so long Thank You see you on the other side I love it. Clear you still find that very moving that really speaks to you. You know I was you know going through his things and I had this idea that. His brother who he didn't ever talk about might be you know the key to a lot of his personality then one day I just stumbled upon that letter and I just think. You know it's it's so sad and also so beautiful that he got to a place where he understood it and could express something so deep and loving and it's heartbreaking because ultimately it's a little boy who loved his brother so much there was all this home video and in every shot Gary looks like he is in heaven with his older brother and so you know. It's you know it's the worst possible loss for a little kid. Sounds like Gary Shandling was also really shaped by a near death experience that he had when he was in a car accident in Beverly Hills and nearly died so he was 27 when this happened and he writes about it and his journal and he says Remember when you were hit by the car death was in your face and you realized just to live even with nothing is a more than fair trade What do you need nothing if you had everything you would still have to face death don't be attached to life let go of everything see what's left. I think that's an example of what you were talking about earlier him him giving advice to himself and using his his own voice his calm voice to talk to himself. That was a turning point for him wasn't it when he was in that traffic accident he did he changed his life and his what he wanted to do with it afterwards he was writing for sitcoms like Welcome Back Kotter and Sanford and Son and doing some standup but he wasn't that committed to it he was having a hard time finding himself and after the car accident he decided to quit writing and focus all of his time on his stand up so it had a big effect on him. My guest is screenwriter producer and director Judd Apatow his new book is a tribute to Garry Shandling called It's Garry Shandling book and it's a companion to h.b.o. Documentary called The Zen diaries of Garry Shandling We'll talk more after we take a short break I'm Terry Gross and this is Fresh Air. The new power Family Foundation supports w.h.y. Wise fresh air and its commitment to sharing ideas and encouraging meaningful conversation support for n.p.r. 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This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross let's get back to my interview with Judd Apatow who's produced and directed films and t.v. Shows like Freaks and Geeks the 40 Year Old Virgin Superbad anchorman bridesmaids girls train wreck the big sick and crashing He's edited a new book about Garry Shandling built around interviews photos jokes letters and journals Apatow found in channelings home after his death in 2016 Shammai was a mentor and friend to Judd Apatow and taught him about comedy how to write direct and mentor other young comics the book is called It's Garry Shandling his book and it's a loving tribute to a highly neurotic comic who practice zen meditation while trying to turn his insecurity and neuroses into comedy it also tells the story of Shandling's life the new book as a companion to the h.b.o. Documentary Apatow made last year titled The Zen diaries of Garry Shandling. Garry Shandling came of age in comedy during the period when if you wanted to make it big you had to do The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson It was the only late night show and it was really like the only venue where you're going to get a national audience and people can hear you your name so in your documentary back area Shandling you play a clip from Kerry's 1st appearance on The Tonight Show so I thought we should hear that clip I dinner last night a friend of mine's house and he has when he comes sings a baby he has a baby and. It was sealed I don't know how to relate this to well you know in the baby's crawling around on the carpet in this baby looks up his diaper you know and. I'm sitting there you know when the mother comes over and says Isn't that adorable Brandon made a gift for daddy. Now I'm figuring this guy's got to be really easy to shop for on . That's Gary Shandling 1st Tonight Show performance so you know it's funny it's so not like anybody could have told that joke you didn't need to be Garry Shandling to tell that it's not a personal joke it's not something that really comes out of his experience. Is just interesting since he became so personal as a comic since he did 2 shows that were basically a comedy version of his life with him playing himself it's such a really big journey that he took comedically. I can only equate it to something like music you know the Beatles start out and they do I Want To Hold Your Hand or Love Me Do and then it turns into Sergeant Pepper and you know that joke is you know it's a it's you know a solid joke you know there's been so much comedy since then that it seems mild at this point but Gary was a great joke writer a great writer of one liners and and bits and he evolved into something that was much deeper and more heartfelt but like a lot of people it starts out with something simpler. So in talking about how Gary Shandling went from you know telling jokes that other comics could tell to doing standup that was much more personal that's one of things I asked him about when I interviewed him in December of 1902 and he was supposed to show up at a studio but we got a call from his publicist saying that he had car trouble and that. He couldn't he couldn't make it so we just did a phone interview. But anyways I was talking to him here about like developing his voice in comedy so let's hear a short excerpt of that and I should mention you clearer now I'm honored to say you include an excerpt of this in the documentary version of your story about Gary Shandling's life so thank you for including that thank you so here's an excerpt when you started doing stand up did you have a sense of who you want to be on stage you know like what what aspects of your own personality really wanted to bring out your stage persona. It was really a nightmare I had no idea who I was when I started and I was frightened to death and I have no natural performing skills I never performed before in my life and to be thrown onto the stand up stage is an experience that you cannot fathom until you're actually there because there's no place to go and everyone is looking at you and you can't even see them because of the light and yet you have to manage start talking and be funny on top of it and. At the beginning I think I did I wrote material that was very much influenced by Woody Allen who is my favorite And and I used to do very off beat jokes that sounded like I was reading them and. And it took years to develop a style and actually what happened is I was involved in a relationship. And. The girl left me and I was very hurt very hurt and I had to go up on stage and my father just turned to be honest said this girl left me. I said. Well I said What happened is she moved in she moved in with another guy so I dumped her because that's where I draw the line. And so that was the beginning that was really the beginning of you know people of the Garry Shandling dating years. In stand up that came out you know because I realized oh I started really spill my guts about being hurt and and people really related to it and that and it just was one of those things that was in a nightclub in Dallas I really remember it very well and yes I think that's so interesting how uncomfortable he was on stage at the beginning and how he felt like he sounded like he was reading his jokes. And Mitzi shore who own the Comedy Store was very direct about the fact that she thought he was a terrible performer and she didn't like writers who try to do stand up so Gary. You know couldn't really get into the conversation and then he just I didn't gigs at all these little crappy places in the valley and he he didn't come back to the Comedy Store for a year and then a year later he came back and he had found his voice in his confidence and then they let him be a regular at The Comedy Store but it is interesting that sometimes just one joke unlocks the key to your whole approach you know he had one joke that was very honest and based on his suffering and then he realized oh this is the way I go down this path. So Garry Shandling became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show and then became one of the most popular guest hosts of The Tonight Show but he decided Garry Shandling decided to stop doing The Tonight Show which is really surprising because he was guest hosting so much I mean it was such a privileged position to be in but he gave it up how come. When Gary was doing is Garry Shandling showed the same time and and Gary just got tired he just said I can't do a great job of both of those things I think the pressure to do work that was great just was almost unbearable to him that the pressure other people put him put on him of the pressure he put on himself I think he put it on himself completely and he just had a bar he was trying to reach and it was almost maddening to try to reach that bar he just didn't mail anything in he was obsessed with with doing something. Unique and amazing and I think it's exhausting in a way that people can't really understand when your mind works like that if you care and you're passionate and your soul searching it's also a very painful compulsive process let's take a short break here and then we'll talk some more if you're just joining us my guest is film director screenwriter t.v. And movie producer Judd Apatow and his new book is called it's Gary Shandling book we'll be right back this is Fresh Air. Good afternoon this is Cap Radio 90.9 Sacramento streaming cap radio dot org We get support from family promise of Sacramento helping homeless families regain independence through life skills education job searches budget assistance and more family homelessness knows no season sac family promised dot org. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Warner Brothers Pictures presenting the good liar a suspense thriller about the secrets people keep and the lives they live starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen the good liar rated are only in theaters Friday and from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company family owned operated and argued over since 1900 proud supporter of independent thought whether that's online over the air or in a bottle or at Sierra Nevada dot com. This is Fresh Air and if you're just joining us my guest is writer director producer Judd Apatow how and he got his start with movies like Superbad and the 40 Year Old Virgin and one of the people who gave him his start in comedy back when he was really young was Gary Shandling and now Judd Apatow How about 3 years after Gary shellings death has published a new book that he edited called It's Garry Shandling his book that includes interviews about Garry Shandling as well as a lot of excerpts from Garry Shandling diaries. You work with Garry Shandling on the Larry Sanders Show in which he played a late night talk show host was kind of like a satire of The Tonight Show with a producer who was similar to that tonight show's producer an announcer who is similar to The Tonight Show's announcer except everything is very funny and very very satirical. So you are a writer and then one of the show runners for the Garry Shandling Show when he asked you to be a show runner you were afraid to take the job of apparently very stressful position apparently working for Gary was very stressful and you expressed your reluctance and you said to him I don't want you to hate me what made you think that if you became the showrunner that it would kill your relationship with him. Well there was just. A long line of bodies of people who had held that position. I always liken it to trying to paint with Picasso that if you were painting a painting with him he probably at some point would turn to you and go you do it all wrong what's with the red you know you would always disappoint him because this show is so in his mind and it's so based on his feelings and experience that when you work on something so personal how could you ever know what he would do what's in his heart how he would behave. And because Gary was you know neurotic about running a staff and he was an amazing with the writers and compassionate of what was so hard about pleasing him that it was a combative show it was painful at times if you pitched Gary a joke and he hated it you would feel it's you would I mean it would hurt you the look of disappointment in Gary's eyes and there were very few people that Gary felt like could write the show so when he said hey can you do me a favor and Co show run this last season I was terrified because I loved my relationship with Gary and I didn't want something to go terribly wrong with it and I said to him Gary I'll do it but you have to know how hard this is I was just honest with him in a way probably no one ever had bit and I was honest about why he was difficult to work with and I said let's figure out how we can do it where we don't turn on each other and a lot of it was about trying to pull Gary into spaces to get him to have a little more time to figure out the solutions and to make the work more fun for Gary so he wasn't just waiting on the writers to hand him solutions you know how could we get him more involved and in the process at certain key moments and you know it worked pretty well we remained friends at the end and he really liked the final season Adam Resnick also ran the final season was brilliant. So it is one of the great accomplishments of my life one of the funny things is when I was reading Gary's diaries I kept thinking he never slams me in these diaries I was so happy and then one day I opened the diary and there was a list of everyone who had disappointed him that year and I was in number 3. Because I left the show one year to go make a movie and I wasn't there to help him saw I think it hurt him more than he he let on but it wasn't your performance as a comedy writer as the fact that you have to do something a project of your own yes and I didn't even know that he cared that I was there at that point I was young in a consulting producer I wasn't really in charge of anything I was just pitching jokes and trying to be helpful but I guess I guess I hurt his feelings. Ok so he got sick toward the end of his life Gary Shandling got sick to the end of his life he had hyper parathyroid ism I'm not sure what that is and pancreatitis and I'm not exactly sure what that is either but so what are those conditions and how did they affect his his outlook on life and his ability to function well the fibroid issue. Affected you know Gary's brain it slowed him down and someone described it to me as almost mirroring what aging feels like so there were years where Gary felt like he was running out of gas or he was getting old but actually he had this condition which was fogging up his brain and he only had an operation that dealt with it but I think as a result of it not being dealt with for a long time it may have contributed to pay great Titus which is cysts on his pancreas and he had to have a you know a life threatening operation to deal with that and part of the result of all this was that he did get foggy in his brain he he had years where you would see Gary and he would just seem like a mess and you didn't really ever know what it was what was it from being sick was he on medication Was he depressed and we all worried about him and Gary would you know would would say to me sometimes how do I seem you know what are people saying about me what do they think's going on and he had an awareness of and he was always trying to get more clearheaded but he was fighting multiple illnesses. He died on March 4th 2016 he's 66 years old you remember your last conversation with him. In the month before Gary died he was obsessed with getting the Larry Sanders Show. On h.b.o. Should remain he wanted it to exist somewhere and we would talk in strategize about how to make that happen because it had been sold off in pieces to different entities and he was trying to get h.b.o. To buy all of it and to make it accessible and he wasn't sure if h.b.o. Is the place or not and I said well what is the issue. Is it money do you try to find a place that will pay you the most money or you just want to have it out there for the most people to see and he said I just want people to be able to watch it and we had a bunch of conversations about how to expedite that process and the morning that he died he got a call and his agent told him that h.b.o. Had closed the deal and they were buying play Santa show and they were going to run it and a few hours later he died and I'm not a believer that Gary knew he was going to die and that's why he was obsessed with getting the show seen but it it certainly was strange that he was so concerned with that issue at that time. As you say although we talked about the hyper parathyroid is a man Packer otitis that's not what killed him in the end it wasn't the final thing that killed him he died of a blood clot that moved from his leg. To his heart he had major dental surgery at a y. And he flew back home and. It there it may have been the result of his other medical problems that this developed Let's take a short break here and then we'll talk some more if you're just joining us my guest is film director screenwriter t.v. And movie producer Judd Apatow and his new book is called it's Gary Shandling his book we'll be right back this is Fresh Air. 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And movie producer writer and director Judd Apatow how the person who gave him his break in comedy was Garry Shandling and job work with Garry Shandling on projects and now. A couple couple years like 3 years I guess after Garry Shandling staff he has a new book editing things from Garry Shandling is live his journals interviews with other people about Garry Shandling interviews that Garry Shandling gave during his life and it's called it's Gary Shandling this book. You had to give a eulogy and I assume you wanted to give a eulogy at his memorial service and several comics including Sarah Silverman Kevin Nealon gave you a G.'s and you had to decide whether to be serious are funny. Tell us how you decided what tone you wanted to take and then we'll hear what you had to say. I I I did you know sometimes you're just. So grief stricken that you don't even know how something got done you don't know how you wrote a speech or put together a memorial because you're. You're just in a weird fever of sadness so I you know I think we all felt that the best way to honor Gary would be to make a speech that was you know heartfelt and funny and Gary would wanted to be funny and you know it's something that it's hard to look back on and then know how how we got through it so I just tried to be sincere and do it in a way that I thought would make Gary laugh Ok so here's Judd Apatow as eulogy at Garry Shandling memorial. Very emotional to go down the rabbit hole of Gary but I feel like it's a lesson for me to just think very deeply about Kerry's life and his death and to learn from it it's odd that Prince just died because Gary and Prince were very similar. They really were no differences when you really get down to it. Gary was the prince of comedy. It was mysterious complicated sexually ambiguous. Talent was endless He was a brilliant performer who may or not have been high the entire time. He had great hair both stood up against the man to get their back. And both were sexy as. Larry Sanders Show with Gary's Purple Rain it's Gary Shandling Show with his dirty mind the only difference between the 2 men is that Gary had a huge. That is the. Gary would've wanted to do. And that's just up to tell you a Gys ing Gary Shandling in that excerpt is included in the documentary that Judd Apatow made back every shambling there's an diaries of Garry Shandling. So I mean I can hear you tearing up at the same time you're trying to you know say some funny things about Gary. Was it hard to hold it together while you're doing that oh I did it I couldn't hold it together. I just had to had to get through it you know Gary had so many friends there were a 1000 people at his well Morial service it was really a beautiful event and I made a few documentary pieces that were about 5 minutes long showing moments from his life and interviews with Gary and that's what made me want to do the documentary because in just preparing those I realized that there was a story that people would like to hear and inspiration in his life and I think Gary . Wanted to try to find a way to figure out how to tell people about everything that's in the book and in the documentary and he hadn't figured it out yet so to me a lot of this work is you know completing something that Gary had started. So before record we recorded our interview I went to see if you were on Twitter and what you've been tweeting about what you've told my God what you've been tweeting about is from from from trop like lots of tweets about Trump lots of links to articles about Trump It sounds like you're in a very political frame of mind right now as are many people in America. Anything you want to say about that about how absorbed you've become politically judging from what you're doing on Twitter Well I follow it too closely my wife decided to not watch the news that much and she is getting younger by the day she's very generated she looks like Millie Bobby Brown I look like a wartime president. I'm going gray fast it's all collapsing but I do feel like these are scary times and we have to speak up something really awful is happening you know we talk about all of the you know possible reasons for impeachment How about just lying 10000 times do we actually need more than that separate from our differences and how we should handle the economy or taxes or health care don't we just want to person that doesn't lie 10000 times and I I hope to encourage people to register to vote and to get other people to register to vote you know the percentage of people who vote is sos sadly low and we do have all the power to change things and get better people in charge of our government but people need to do the work to figure out how to vote to make sure their vote isn't suppressed which is happening so I'm hopeful that people will go to the polls when it's time Judd Apatow it's been great to talk with you again thank you so much thank you Judd Apatow his new book is called it's Gary Shandling this book. Tomorrow on Fresh Air My guest will be Andrew Moran's a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the new book anti-social on line extremists techno utopian and the hijacking of the American conversation he reported on the Op Right during and after the 2016 presidential election I hope you can join us. On this Veterans Day we send our gratitude to those who have served and our thanks to the families who have made sacrifices while a family member served well close with music performed by the Bay State wins the clarinet quartet of the Air Force Band of their pretty. Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller our technical director and engineers r.v. Band for our associate producer of digital media is Molly c.v. Naspers 2 recent Madden directed today's show I'm Terry Gross. And the. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Indeed with it skills tests built for employers who want to see a deeper sense of the person behind the resume learn more eating indeed dot com slash n.p.r. And from Total Wine and more where in-store teams can recommend a bottle of wine spirit or beer for any occasion shoppers can explore more than 8000 wines 2500 beers and 3000 spirits more a Total Wine dot com. November a crucial presidential election did you examine all the issues that you look at polls do the research did you watch the debates every vote counts the fate of the nation is hanging in the balance and you're not prepared oh that's November 2020 well in that case you've got a whole year to prepare with Morning Edition right by your side to have a get you through next Election Day Listen every morning from n.p.r. News get your morning edition every weekday morning until I'm right here on listener supported cap radio from Sacramento State this is Capital Public Radio 90.9. F.m. An h.d. Sacramento streaming cap radio dot org I'm happy to see me the world is taxed. Join us in support of p.b.s. K.v.i.a. Presenting the warrior tradition discover the heartbreaking and inspiring story of Native Americans in the United States military the warrior tradition tonight at 9 on k.v.i.a. Your p.b.s. Station. Who is hip Who is Gary Gary on a c Jass. Hipness is a state of mind and will explore all its facets Saturday night at 10 or any time online at Cap radio dot org slash on demand pretty much. I'm Gary join me for acid jazz. Turmoil in Hong Kong has protesters asking themselves about violent tactics I would say I'm not afraid it will be a lie I said I'm not afraid it's hard but I would be more afraid if the whole call people care for violence has people in Hong Kong asking yet again is this a turning point I'm Marco Werman Also in the grip of massive popular protests Bolivia president ever Morales may have resigned but his supporters are not backing down they are. Not going to accept the submission. And be I'm calling for a civil war and in Germany luxury tax includes tampons the state is telling me is your plans for a nation this is not worth it and you as a woman are not worth it that's all ahead today on the world. This is the b.b.c. News Hello I'm Jonathan Izod Mexico has announced that his granted asylum to the ousted Bolivian President Evo Morales the Mexican foreign minister. Said Mr Morality his life was at risk in Bolivia where I'm rest is continuing after his resignation on Sunday there have been renewed clashes between police and the former president supporters America's editor Leonardo Russia reports the latest on rest came after Mr Morales published a letter calling on his supporters to resist what he called the dark powers they had forced him to resign on Sunday he'd been on the strong pressure following allegations of widespread fraud in last month's elections but in his resignation letter Mr Mollett said he was deflates him off a right wing coup there is plenty of uncertainty in Bolivia after the dramatic departure of the man who's led the country for the past 13 years the country has also been caught up in the ideological battle that has split much of Latin America over the past decade President Trump has described the departure from office of the Bolivian leader as a significant moment for democracy he said it paved the way for the Bolivian people to have their voices heard. The Bronx it Party has dropped plans to field parliamentary candidates to oppose M.P.'s belonging to the governing conservatives in Britain's general election next month the party's leader Nigel Farage who has been under pressure not to split the pro breaks it vote said he would instead focus on seats held by the opposition Labor Party but the B.B.C.'s Chris Mason says that even so the Bracks at party could still hamper the conservatives unless there is a further backpedaling from the Bracks party in the next few days the crucial seats that will determine whether Boris Johnson can advance from work to resume made the former British prime minister was 2 years ago those crucial seats will have the Bracks it Party contesting them and therefore there is another question that frankly we don't know the answer to Will large or far as he's out fit in those seats to take more votes from the conservatives than he takes from Labor Britain France and Germany have said they're extremely concerned that Iran has restarted the process of enriching your rainy.