The Terrible Catsafterme

SEASON 1 – Showtime

Created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel

Theme song: “This is the Theme to Garry’s Show” written by Joey Carbone and performed by Bill Lynch

• 001. The Day Garry Moved In – 9/10/1986
  • Garry Shandling (himself) is a neurotic, self-obsessed stand-up comedian living in Sherman Oaks, California. Having just broke up with his girlfriend Patty who was dating someone else, he moves into his new condominium, which was once owned by Vanna White, where his neighbor is his platonic friend Nancy Bancroft (Molly Cheek). Garry frequently addresses the audience to explain the action, and all of the cast members are aware that they are in a sitcom. As he moves in, he meets the roughshod phone woman (Suzanne Kent) and the cable woman (Shawn Southwick aka Shawn Ora Engemann), to whom he is attracted. While playing basketball with his friend Pete Schumaker (Michael Tucci) and Pete’s son Grant (Scott Nemes) against two incredibly tall black players Marvin (Marvin Roberts) and his friend (David Vaughn), Pete gives Garry advise to ask out the cable girl. When he gets home, he finds out that his new condo has been robbed and all of his furniture is missing. Garry imagines that Vanna White (herself) has stolen the furniture and used it as prizes on Wheel of Fortune. Garry ends up taking out the cable girl, but finds he’s not attracted to her when she sings along to the lead-in of Gilligan’s Island and forces him to kiss her cat. Officer Ralph Sweeney (Jason Bernard) finds the culprits in the robbery and offers Garry his counseling for further relationship advice. Garry’s friend Lewis (Geoffrey Blake) shows up too late for the show. Lloyd Bremseth, Jean Adams, and Kerry Slattery are Wheel of Fortune contestants. 12/15/16

• 002. Grant Gets Broken – 9/17/1986
  • Garry hopes to spend the episode in his bathrobe listening to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn read by Dick Cavett since the story is more about Pete and his wife Jackie (Bernadette Birkett), who are watching The Newlywed Game and get in a fight because the couples on the show know each other better than they know one another. Garry arranges a trip for them as a getaway to Santa Barbara, and agrees to watch Grant, although they both feel nervous about leaving their son with Garry. When Nancy says she will assist Garry, they head out on their getaway. Grant is quickly injured when Lewis walks in the condo and hits Grant in the eye with the door, which results in a scratched cornea. Garry has a dream that the eye injury resulted in Grant’s death and funeral, at which Garry gets shot by Pete with the encouragement of the priest (Richard Karron)… although the dream ends with a beautiful girl (Lesa Lee) mourning over him. Grant feels bad about getting Garry in trouble, so disguises himself as a pirate when his parents return. However the ruse fails when they give him a View Master and make him take off his patch. Pete and Jackie berate Garry and storm out, but later Pete joins Garry during his basketball game with the tall black guys, instantly forgiving him. 12/16/16
• 003. Garry Throws a Surprise Party – 9/24/1986
  • Garry attempts to throw a surprise birthday party for his mother Ruth (Barbara Cason) but when the guests and studio audience yell “Surprise!” she has a heart attack and is sent to the hospital. Garry feels terrible and even more so when the doctor (Armin Shimerman) uses her as training for a group of medical students (Richard Biggs, Clark Sayre, Kitty Swink). Garry has a his friends over for a slumber party to show films of him and his mother. Lewis shows up at the slumber party late for the party with a blonde babe (Sally Ann Miller) and her friend. Garry meets with Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) to give him some spiritual advice and to practice for a basketball game. Ruth wakes up and reevaluates her life and decides to start dating again, and introduces Garry to her new boyfriend Stanley (Richard Bull), another heart attack victim she met in the hospital. Garry hosts another surprise party, but this time prepares her for it and very quietly whispers “Surprise!” They share the birthday cake with the studio audience. 2/1/17
• 004. Foul Ball – 10/1/1986
  • Garry accompanies Pete and Grant and the Cub Scout Troop that Pete heads up to the Dodgers-Cubs game, where Pete is humiliated when he is hit in the nose by a fly ball. All of the other kids in the group make fun of Pete and Grant, and Garry doesn’t help when he cracks jokes as well after newscaster Ted Dawson (himself) announces the accident on the news. Pete gets angry at Garry, so Garry tries to rectify the situation with Grant, but Grant tells him that he doesn’t want to participate in the father-son competition. Garry ultimately solves the issue by inviting Ted Dawson over to the next Cub Scout meeting where he shows them a reel of sports bloopers, and tells them that Pete is part of a long line of people who have made clumsy mistakes, which solves the situation and appeases Pete. Nancy congratulates Garry on the job he did, and he suddenly becomes attracted to her. Meanwhile Garry meets Leonard Smith (Paul Willson), the head of the condo association, who wants to participate in the show. Garry lets the studio audience hang out in his condo while they are at the game, and some of them drift in Nancy’s condo, while one of them steals 75 cents from Garry. He gives the thief the opportunity to return it when his back is turned, but the man is arrested when he does. Jason Naylor is Renaldo. Johnny Green, Cliffy Magee, and Raven Pearce are Cub Scouts. 2/3/17
• 005. The Graduate – 10/8/1986
  • Garry and the gang are celebrating getting picked up by a network executive (Ken Olfson) for another twelve episodes. Garry’s mom has her friend Jeannette Robertson (Bibi Besch) with her, and she flirts mercilessly with Garry and has him drive her home and makes a pass at him. Garry would rather be dating her daughter Elaine (Bader Howar), and ends up on a successful date with her…hoping for a second one, despite Mrs. Robertson’s threat to tell her daughter that she had an affair with Garry. When Garry starts to see the similarities of his story to the film The Graduate, Norman Fell (himself), who is watching the show on TV and had actually appeared in the film, comes to give him the advice to go to Elaine. When he arrives at her apartment set, he only finds the stage manager Peter Barth (himself), who tells Garry that she’s back at Garry’s apartment. Elaine chooses to believe Garry over her mother and they ride off into the sunset. After the credits roll however Garry tosses Elaine out of the car after she rebukes his advances. 5/15/17
• 006. It’s Garry’s Problem, But It’s JoJo’s Show – 10/15/1986
  • Garry introduces Jodi “JoJo” Jones (herself) from Texarkana, Texas, a Me and Garry Showtime Contest winner who gets to be part of the show. Garry promises to turn the show over to her, but she ends up getting cast aside when Garry meets Nancy’s friend Morgan (Christine Kellogg), with whom Garry hits off and sleeps with immediately. When all of Garry’s friends come over to greet JoJo, Morgan ends up hitting on most of the men including Lewis, Pete, and even Leonard. Nancy determines that Morgan may have a sex addiction problem, so Garry goes to consult Dr. Brody (Lynette Mettey), where he runs into his former date Bethany (Kate Mulligan) and Norm Crosby (himself). Dr. Brody advises Garry to talk to her, and throw him out when Garry secretly asks her a sexual question about himself. Morgan is ready to move on to another ‘show’, but Garry tells her if she ever wants to settle down on his show, she is welcome back. One month later he is still waiting…and gets berated for leaving JoJo behind, and getting told by JoJo that her name is actually Jodi. 5/15/17
• 007. Garry Met a Girl Named Maria – 1/23/1987
  • Garry and the show return after a hiatus of several months and tells the audience about his trip to Hawaii. Then he introduces the studio cleaning woman Maria Herrera (Kamala Lopez) since she is getting ready to move back to her home country Guatemala. Maria breaks down crying and tells Garry that she’s actually being deported. Garry tries to avoid the subject of him marrying Maria, but after consulting Nancy, Leonard, and members of the studio audience, he decides to go forward with the wedding. Although has other dreams for a wife (Julie Moran), he breaks the news to his mother who finds it laughable, and guesses he is marrying a man. During the wedding she guesses it is Maria’s brother Jorge (Tony Plana). The wedding continues and priest (Richard Karron) announces them man and wife, interrupted by his mother, Jorge, and the studio audience singing Sunrise Sunset. Garry is happy with his beautiful bride, but a month later she has turned into a nagging shrew who constantly scratches off lottery tickets. Maria ends up winning goes on The Great Spin hosted by Jack Wells (himself), where she wins 11 million dollars and decides to take her half and go home to Guatemala. Garry considers himself the luckiest man on the Earth – ala Lou Gehrig – and gives his half to the studio audience. 1/4/18 
• 008. Grant’s Date – 1/30/1987
  • Garry is late arriving at the studio, but once he arrives he announces that Grant has a date with a 12-year old girl named Kim Stevens (Priscilla Weems) and that he will be chaperoning them. Grant is nervous about the date because he thinks Kim is much wilder than him. After Grant gets through Kim’s father, she criticizes Grant for bringing a chaperon, but when she recognizes Garry as a celebrity, she develops an instant crush on him. They all head to the drive-in movie to see The Attack of the Ninjas, and Kim ignores Grant in favor of Garry, then encourages Grant to steal some popcorn. By the time they get home Grant is furious and whisks Kim away and steals Garry’s car, pretending to be a ‘bad boy.’ Garry has visions of them hitting a moose and dying, and heads out to find them. Grant takes Kim home and she encourages him to run off to Las Vegas with her. Garry arrives and rescues Grant, who has had second-thought about being bad. Garry takes Grant back to his house and they agree to keep it a secret. Grant performs the closing music on his spare clarinet kept in Garry’s wine rack. 1/5/18
• 009. Pete Has an Affair – 2/6/1987
  • Garry works on cooking up a Chinese meal for everyone. While Nancy is finding ways to discard the disgusting egg roll hors d’oeuvres, she begins finding bras and women’s underwear in hiding places in the living room. Jackie comes over and tells them that Pete has been acting very strangely, buying gifts for Jackie and Grant, and crying as he walks aimlessly around the house. She also finds Pete’s Scoutmaster neckerchief on Garry’s floor. Garry goes over to talk to him, and Pete tells him that he had an affair with Grant’s den mother. They take a walk in the park where they happen upon a young couple (Adam Englund, Kate Mulligan) pledging they will never cheat, and meet Nurse Helen (Tina Lifford) and her patient General Wernick (Ed Morgan). Gary advises Pete to get it out in the open and tell Jackie the truth, which causes him to get kicked out and show up at Gary’s to stay – as The Odd Couple theme plays. Two weeks later amidst Pete’s mess, he is still writing love songs to get Jackie back. She eventually comes over and decides to give him a second chance and let him come back home. Meanwhile Gary has forgotten to turn on the oven, and live duck is still found inside. 9/9/18
• 010. Fate – 2/13/1987
  • Ian Abercrombie (himself), portraying fate, introduces the first act – and all succeeding act. While getting ready for a fishing trip with Pete and Grant, he gets a visit from Leonard and his cousin The Amazing Al (Christian Clemenson), who is psychic and delivers three predictions: that Nancy will be permanently scarred by a man in the fourth scene of the show, that Garry will be visited by a man from space, that Garry’s hair will look bad from the back, and that someone will delivery a sentence with all the words beginning with the letter G. When Pete Conrad (himself), the third man to walk on the moon, comes along for the trip, and tells Garry that his hair looks like a monkey from the back, and Pete tells Grant to “go get Garry’s gear,” Garry starts to worry. He jumps ahead to the scene of Nancy’s date and meets her date Tim (Kevin Scannell), who he finds to have a horrific temper. When he returns home, Fate announces that it is now Scene Three, so Garry decides that he will stay home and demonstrate square dancing so that they will never get to Scene Four, also locking Fate in the closet so that he can’t announce it. Since Nancy doesn’t take Garry’s warning and goes on the date, Garry decides to peek in on the scene at the restaurant. Leonard and Al are there too, and pull him into the scene. Garry disrupts the date to ensure that Nancy doesn’t get hurt. Tim begins to lose his temper during the date, when suddenly Fate returns to the scene, angry at being locked up, and shoots at Garry. He misses him and Nancy gets hit in the arm, scarring her for life. Fate gets arrested, as does Tim, who stabs the arresting officer. Garry delivers his closing monologue as Pete, Pete, and Grant return with lots of fish. 9/9/18
• 011. The Morning After – 2/20/1987
  • After addressing the audience about his workouts, Garry looks forward to visiting the beach with the Schumakers, but they do not show up as expected and when Garry calls they hang up on him. Garry heads over to their house to check on them and they all give him the cold shoulder, telling him that he did something despicable the night before at the party that he threw for Pete’s parents (Martin Garner, Amzie Strickland) the night before. Utilizing his “It’s Garry Shandling’s Flashback Machine,” Garry sees a portion of the party where the guest are entertained by a hypnotist (Alan Haufrect), but the flashback skip to Garry waking up on the couch with a headache and his shirt on inside out. Garry tries to call the guests to see if they can tell him what happened, but they all hang up on him as well. When he enlists the aid of Nancy, she consults Leonard who was videotaping the party and forces him to show Garry the video, in which he bribes the hypnotist to work his magic on Gary and make him think that Pete’s mother is Bo Derek waiting to have sex with him, and that the party was a nudist beach. Garry’s behavior gets him knocked out by Pete’s father, and gets all of the guest angry. Garry and Nancy take Leonard over to the Schumakers so he can confess what he did. Garry tries to hypnotize the audience to take off their clothes as well. 6/2/19
• 012. Sarah – 3/6/1987
  • An old girlfriend of Garry’s named Sarah Reynolds (Shawn Southwick aka Shawn Ora Engemann)  has written an article in L.A. Magazine about Canada, where she now lives as a journalist. He looks her up while she’s in town and they meet a restaurant. They have a nice dinner and romantic walk where they are serenaded by Ed Ames (himself) singing My Cup Runneth Over. He christens the little pond outside the restaurant as Lake Sarah and throws cash into it and makes his wish. They go back to her apartment, and he covers the camera so the audience can’t see. However while talking to her romantically, the cloth falls of the camera and it is revealed that he is alone in the room. When Sarah comes into the room, Garry tries to kiss her, but she tells him that she only likes him as a friend. Gary walks home alone and retrieves the money he threw into Lake Sarah. Nancy is there to console him but says she never got over a lost love. Grant stops by and demands more lines on the show or he will quit. Garry imagines a litany of women giving testimonials to him. A green beret named Captain Gordon (Blake Clark) stops by to kill him. The episode indicates that it is ‘to be continued’ but Garry tells the audience that they surely don’t care what actually happens so the new episode will be all new. Peter Crook is the maitre d’. 6/3/19
• 013. Laffie – 3/13/1987
  • As Garry and Nancy prepare to watch the boxing match, and get into their own petty fist fight, a female collie arrives at Garry’s front door. Garry falls in love with the dog and names her Laffie, since they couldn’t get the rights to the name Lassie. Leonard however points out that the condo doesn’t allow pets. Garry ignores Leonard and keeps the dog, and Nancy is forced to hide her under her dress when Leonard comes to visit wearing his engineer outfit and ready to video tape the last trip of the Union Pacific train. He finds Laffie and demands that Garry get rid of her, so Garry is forced to take Laffie to the Schumakers where they spend hours having her fetch Pete’s Hushpuppy shoe. Meanwhile Leonard gets ready to film the train, and gets his foot stuck in the track. When Laffie goes out to play hide and seek, she finds Leonard and heads to Garry’s place to tell him. Garry is able to interpret Laffie’s barks and heads out to save Leonard. Nearly getting his own foot stuck, he manages to save him from being hit from the oncoming model train. Leonard is remorseful how cruel he was to Laffie. All is well, and then June Lockhart (herself) arrives to take Laffy back home to Timmy. 2/19/20
• 014. Dial L for Laundry – 3/20/1987
  • There isn’t much going on at Garry’s place, so when Rob Reiner (himself) stops by looking for a job, claiming that parts have dried up since All in the Family. He wants to be a handyman in the vein of Schneider on One Day at a Time, but the best Garry can do is allow him to wash his dishes. While Rob is working, Garry heads to the laundry room where he runs into a seductress named Sylvia (Claudia Christian). The room becomes smoky and fills with steam in the film noir genre, and they begin to kiss… until they are interrupted by Sylvia’s ex-boyfriend (Chris Mulkey), who threatens to kill Garry if he ever sees her again. When Grant accuses Garry of being chicken to fight the bully, Garry returns to his childhood room, now a museum, and puts on his flashback hat and remembers back to his time as a child (Scott Sherk) when a bully (Chance Quinn) entered his room and demanded his lunch money. Garry flips a rubber band and puts out the kid’s eye. Garry then vows that he will only bring comedy to the world and never fight again. His mother then enters and sings the adult Garry a lullaby and puts him to sleep. Garry decides to keep seeing Sylvia, and sure enough the bully enters and attacks him. Garry attempts to tell the bully jokes, but he persists to beat up on Garry… until Rob Reiner knocks the guy out. Claudia and Sylvia continue with their date until another ex-boyfriend named Johnny bangs on Garry’s door and she is forced to leave. Garry and Rob wrap up Rob’s involvement on the show and remain friends, walking along the train tracks together to the tune of Stand by Me. 2/19/20
• 015. Dinner with Garry – 4/3/1987
  • Garry wants to set up his widowed mother Ruth on a date with his internist doctor Paul Derwin (Dennis Patrick), so he invites her over for dinner to discuss it. They discuss how much Garry misses breast feeding and then he brings up the date, to which she agrees as long as he and his friends go along with them. They all go out to a big band Moondust Ballroom – where the studio audience represents the ‘big’ band. Garry and Nancy dance a synchronized Busby Berkeley style dance. Ruth and Paul dance the night away as well and the date is considered a success. Garry then goes on a 3-day spree of matchmaking, including arranging a date between Grant and Lisa Bonet. Unfortunately Ruth comes over upset because Paul never called her after the first date. Garry goes to see him at his office, and he confesses that he doesn’t feel ready to date because he’s still not over his wife Aretha and thinks he may not be ready for two years. Garry advances the timeline by one year and checks in and finds that he’s still not ready. He advances it another year and brings along Ruth, and this time he is ready to date again. She is upset with him, but agrees to go out on a date, admitting that she too took a long time to get over her late husband Phil but they their former spouses will always be with them. They return to the Moondust, which is now a disco. Styles have changed to turtle necks, Bermuda shorts, black knee socks, and sandals…and Grant (Jay Kogen) is now full-grown. Garry lets him know that he and Lisa Bonet broke up a year earlier and he is now dating Mary Lou Retton. The DJ (Jocko Marcellino) plays the number one disco hit song of the day, The Garry Shandling Closing Theme. 5/31/20
• 016. Force Boxman – 4/10/1987
  • Garry announces to the audience that this is the last episode of the season, and will be his last time performing in the show, as he will be moving on to New York and performing the lead role in a cop show called Force Boxman. As he packs up his apartment, he shares the promo of the show starring his co-star Angelique De Windt (herself) as Amaretto Jones, in which they play a veteran and an ex-hooker fending off thugs (Bradley Fisher, James Staszkiel). Garry says his goodbye to his friends, his cameraman Bruce Bonnett (himself), and his mother. Garry drives through the studio through the night and stops at a diner along the way. He watches a new series called It’s Red Buttons’ Show starring Red Buttons (himself), who has sublet Garry’s apartment and is now filming his own show from there. Announcer Ed Herlihy (himself) introduces the cast, all of whom were co-stars on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. Red does a monologue, roasts the show characters, asks Garry’s mom out on a date, and then they head out for a double-date with Marty Allen (himself) and his date. Back at the diner, Garry reads a note from Nancy and the gang that makes him drool and miss home. He returns to his house and asks Red if he can have a part on the show. Red tells him that he can have the show back and gives him some advice on how to keep it fresh. Garry asks Red if he had ever been to New York, prompting him to launch into his I Was There routine. He gives Garry a kiss on the lips and the cast dances to the closing music. Douglas DuVal is the diner counterman. 5/31/20

SEASON 2

• 017. Who’s Poppa – 10/24/1987
  • Everyone returns from their Summer hiatus, and attend a baby shower for Jackie. Garry is excited to deliver the monologue he’s been working on all summer, but Peter interrupts him to tell him that he’s worried that he’s not father since Jackie was out of town in Chicago for her high school reunion during her cycle. He also finds some secret pictures from the trip of her old high school sweetheart Donald Rapaport (Stan Ivar), and deduces that Jackie had a affair to get back at him for the one he had. Garry agrees to talk to Jackie, but when he brings up Donald, she rushes off to tend to her ‘pies.’ Garry then takes his rinky-dink private airplane to Chicago to chat with Donald. He ends up returning with him, and tells Pete the true story: that he made a pass at Jackie, who admits that she nearly slept with him but couldn’t at the last minute since she loves Pete so much. Pete is extremely grateful, and is stern with Donald, although apologetic afterward for yelling at him. Garry announces the “Name the Schumaker Baby” contest, then turns on a pregnancy workout tape for the audience to get some exercise. Kate Mulligan is the stewardess. Dick Tufeld is the announcer. 9/13/20
• 018. No Baby, No Show – 10/25/1987
  • Garry announces that this will be a special episode since Jackie will be giving birth to her baby on the show. However when they sit down to wait for it, Jackie only has a contraction. Leonard Smith comes over to assist and uses the block and tackle to help her deliver, but the baby simply doesn’t come. Garry is afraid the show is a bust, but then Tom Petty (himself) stops by to return some hedge clippers. Garry talks him into performing his song The Waiting. Tom joins the others on the couch, and Garry sets up his living room like a talk show stage. Nancy stops over, and Grant swings by on his way to rehearsing his school play Fiddler on the Roof, and performs a snippet of “If I Were a Rich Man”. Finally actress Susan Anton (herself) stop by to be interviewed. Jackie then starts having some major contractions and goes into labor. Garry calls in the Doc, who happens to be bandleader Doc Severinsen (himself) to deliver the baby boy (Sam Grey). The audience gets a baby’s-eye-view of everyone surrounding Jackie. Tom and Doc perform the closing theme music. 9/13/20
• 019. The Fugitive – 11/13/1987
  • After going over the rules of the show with the audience, Garry announces that he is heading to the post office to pick up his latest TV celebrity book from his book club. Before he leaves, Jackie brings over her old friend Richard Kimball (David Paymer), who shares the same name with the TV accused criminal character on the show The Fugitive. Richard is a veterinarian, and even saves Garry’s bird Brownie when he flies into the window. Garry gets dizzy and dissolves into his scene at the post office where he sees announcer Dick Tufeld submitting his entry in the Name the Schumaker Baby contest. Garry notices a wanted poster for a murderer named Richard Kimball. When he returns, Richard is helping Leonard with his goldfish and Grant with his ant farm, and Garry tells Jackie that he thinks Richard might be a fugitive. Still, when an officer named Lieutenant Gerard (Joseph Mascolo) shows up, Garry agrees to hide Richard. However he is not too keen on smuggling him into Mexico, until he thinks back to an episode of the actual Fugitive TV series. BAsed on a tip from Leonard Smith, the police surround Garry’s house, so they all escape through the missing fourth wall and take Garry’s car from its display. Garry’s car and Brownie are both shot in the chase, but they make it to see Richard off to Tijuana. However when Garry shakes his hand, Richard’s arm falls off, indicating his guilt. Lt. Gerard arrives in the nick of time to arrest him. Jackie agrees to help Garry change his tire, but he roams off while she is lifting the car. Bruce Mickelson is the security guard Bentley. 1/2/21
• 020. The Schumakers Go to Hollywood – 11/20/1987
  • Grant has won a poetry contest about hat Hollywood means to him and won a trip to visit the town, which as Garry explains through the use of a map, is extremely close to their home in Sherman Oaks. Garry agrees to feed Grant’s fish while he and his father are on their trip. Pete and Grant arrive and take a walk down Hollywood Boulevard to check out the sites and end up meeting actress Florence Henderson (herself), who knows Grant from his poem. They wind up getting free tickets to see a TV show taping from a girl (Dana Stevens) at a ticket booth… and they choose to see It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. While in the audience, Grant witnesses Garry finding his dead fish and attempting to write a suicide notes on its behalf. Garry also finds a poem that Grant wrote for a girl he likes named Lily Woo (Kimberly Tamura) and reads it to the audience. Grant is mortified and runs out of the studio. Pete returns in a panic so Garry returns Hollywood to help find him. Grant is hanging out by the Hollywood sign changing his Hollywood poem. Pete and Garry locate him, and Garry advises him that Lily will be impressed by his poetry. Garry adjusts the Hollywood sign to say ‘Lily Woo’ and has Grant sing his poem to the tune of Hooray for Hollywood, joined by the Garry Shandling Dancers (Steve Belin, Larry Blum, Murphy Cross, Dani Douthette, Keith Ellinger, Tricia McFarlin). Lily suddenly appears and everyone completes the musical number together. Jackie brings Grant’s fish and says that Florence Henderson, who also joins them in the song and dance, had revived it. The entire audience dances to the closing theme. Lydia Bornino is the studio page. 1/2/20
• 021. Nancy Gets Amnesia – 11/27/1987
  • One rainy night when Garry is expecting Nancy to come over for game night, Officer Sweeny (Jason Bernard) brings her over and tells Garry that lightning struck near her, and she now has amnesia. Garry shows her where she lives, and goes over pictures of her relatives with her. He tries to restore her memory by putting her into the Flashback Booth, but it overloads and starts smoking. Garry’s mother also shares with her an album of Garry as a child. Nancy seems to be developing feelings for him, and asks his mother how she might win him over. When she starts to understand that Nancy has a crush, she tells Garry, who is dumbfounded by the notion, but who is oddly intrigued. Garry imagines that he and Nancy have stolen away to Paris as young lovers. His fantasy is interrupted by the Flashback Booth repairman (Blake Clark), who shows up at Garry’s house to fix the equipment. Nancy reluctantly enters it, sad that she will now know that she and Garry were merely friends. She comes out back to normal, but is apologetic that she acted flirty toward Garry. They discuss Paris, and Garry suggests that at some point, they go together. 4/27/21
• 022. Angelica: Part 1 (aka It’s Garry and Angelica’s Show: Part 1) – 12/4/1987
  • Garry is in a particularly good mood when he addresses the audience, and then whips out a VHS tape to show why. He had gone on the game show Love Connection, and host Chuck Woolery introduces him to Vicky (Valerie Breiman), who trains horses and thinks that men should be treated like horses, Francine (Laura Wernette), who hopes to inherit her grandparents’ money, and Angelica (Jennifer Tilly), who is compassionate and does charity work. Garry naturally picks Angelica, as does the audience. They then bring her on and they talk about their first date, which was a success. Garry then brings Angelica out to meet the audience and Garry’s friends and mother. Their relationship moves along as normal, with a series of ups and downs, until Angelica hints at possibly moving in. Garry isn’t sure what to do, so he goes to the ocean where he chats with Nancy, who tells him not to let her get away. The Goddess of Commitment (Zsa Zsa Gabor) shows up and also encourages him to not overthink it, and just commit. Garry returns home and invites Angelica to move in, and she agrees. Garry remarks that he’s surprised the show didn’t kill her off, just as a thrown knife nearly hits her. The Goddess of Commitment helps bring Angelica’s stuff in. NOTE: This is the first of a two-part episode. 4/27/21
• 023. Angelica: Part 2 (aka It’s Garry and Angelica’s Show: Part 2) – 12/11/1987
  • After a recap describing how Garry met Angelica on an episode of Love Connection, leading to her moving in with him, he brings a painfully shy Angelica onto the stage to meet the audience. He also introduces the premiere of the new theme song to the show, now titled It’s Garry and Angelica’s Show. Garry then leaves to go play basketball with Pete, leaving a self-conscious Angelica behind with the audience. She gradually gets more comfortable and decides to feed the audience while having a clambake. Leonard tricks her into letting him sing to the audience, while she heads off to the pier to get clams. She takes Garry’s car, but since she is talking to the audience while driving, she drives the car off of the pier into the ocean. Nancy shows up to help her fix the car, but since it will take hours, she fast-forwards time, as Garry is prone to do. Meanwhile, Garry gets home and announces that he and Pete ran into Magic Johnson, and he is coming over to teach them calligraphy. When Garry is home, he is only mildly irritated that Leonard and the Lads (James F. Dean, David Wells, and Christian Clemenson as Al) are singing in his living room, that she is planning to feed the audience, and even is more sympathetic than angry when he finds out she crashed his car. However, he can’t help but show his anger that she moved time forward, which caused him to miss the calligraphy session with Magic Johnson. Chuck Woolery stops over and sees that things aren’t going that well. He advises that they moved in together too quickly, and advises that maybe that they step back and return to merely dating. Garry and Angelica both agree, and Garry promises that they’ll date away form the audience. 8/21/21
• 024. It’s Garry Shandling’s Christmas Show – 12/17/1987
  • Garry has his friends and family over for a Christmas Eve party, where Tom Petty has joined Leonard and the Lads to sing Christmas carols. As Pete decorates the tree with food products, Grant complains that there aren’t enough single women. A new neighbor named Dominic Carbone (Dom Irrera) stops by at Nancy’s request, even though Garry has never met him. Garry’s mother gives Garry a watch belonging to his late father. Garry is thrilled and shows it off to everyone, and Dominic takes a special liking to it and remarks how much it must be worth. Everyone then has to take off, leaving Garry home alone. He decides to re-wrap the watch to open again the next morning, but it has disappeared. He start looking for it everywhere, turning the house upside down – literally – before he starts to think that Dominic may have taken it. He goes over to confront him at Nancy’s house, where he finds them drunk and throwing tinsel at each other. Once he mentions it to Dominic, he becomes furious and tells Garry that he’s a good guy and has never done anything to anyone, then hurls insults at him and offers to fight him. He slinks back home, only to find that he is locked out and is stuck on his front porch. Garry’s mother then returns and confesses that she got emotional as she was leaving, and took back the watch herself. She feels much shame, and brings him a replacement watch that belonged to his grandfather, but Garry insists that she keep both watches. Santa Claus (Cliff Emmich) hurts himself sliding down Garry’s chimney, and comes out the front door and lets Garry and his mother in. Garry laments that he just wanted a traditional fun family Christmas show, so Santa brings everyone back, along with a live snowman, skaters,  and snow in the house. Now after he gets everything he wants, he volunteers to go run Santa’s route, as the Lads join everyone in singing Garry Shandling’s Coming to Town. 8/22/21
• 025. Killer Routine – 1/8/1988
  • Garry addresses the audience and tells them that they’ll be seeing him perform in a nightclub. There is one man in the audience who keeps laughing at his jokes, even the ones that bomb with everyone else. He goes up to meet the man named Norman Wachs (Lew Gallo) and his wife Rose (Mina Kolb). Garry keeps telling him jokes, until it causes Norman to laugh uncontrollably and have a heart attack. Jerry calls for a doctor and the show goes to ‘stand by.’ Garry then announces that Norman has died. Although Nancy and the Schumakers try to convince him that it wasn’t his fault, Garry feels tremendously guilty. Nancy talks him into going to the club Mr. Peck’s (Danny Dayton) and performing his act. As he makes the crowd laugh, he starts to see a target over each audience member, including Abe Lincoln. He leaves the stage and goes home, and decides to quit comedy. Nancy and Garry’s mother decide to have Carl Reiner (himself) come over and cheer up Garry. He tells Garry that he and many other comedians have killed lots of audience members by making them laugh themselves to death. Carl convinces Garry to go to the funeral and have some closure. As Garry talks to the corpse in the coffin, Norman starts speaking to Garry telepathically and convinces him to tell him more jokes, and then dance with his wife at the wake. Garry decides to stick with his comedy. Carl shows up and finishes the dance, while Norman as an angel, plays harp over the closing credits. Warm-up comedian David Wood appears as himself in the audience. 2/20/22
• 026. Mr. Sparks – 1/15/1988
  • Garry has Grant helping him install his new stereo VCR. Garry goes out for a run to the hardware store to get a needed cable during the opening credits, and while he is out, Grant accidentally creates a giant hole in the wall. This exposes his apartment to his neighbor Bert Sparks (Dick O’Neill), whom he meets for the first time. Garry invites him over, and he proves to be extremely crotchety and disagreeable to Garry, especially when Garry blames Grant for the hole, when he was actually doing Garry’s work. Garry has three days elapse quickly and the wall is now repaired. Mr. Sparks has missed his medication, and the Schumakers are planning a day at the amusement park Shandlingland. Garry regrets lending his name to the theme park because there are too many rides and not enough learning. Grant wants Mr. Sparks to come along, and Garry finally agrees to let him come. Sparks has his own demands; Garry can’t look at him or talk to him. Nancy and Mr. Sparks go on the Magic Hair Dryer, while Pete and Grant go on Garry’s Haunted Bedroom. They also enjoy the ‘celebrity’ appearances of Garry and Schumakers, which are people in giant lookalike heads. Nancy then wants to check out the Nancy’s Dream House attraction, featuring a Nancy look-alike (Michelle Nicastro) who sings like a Disney princess about how much she worships Garry, and then how we all need to get along and love one another. Garry leaves with a much better opinion of Shandlingland, and he and Mr. Sparks take a spin on the Magic Hair Dryer. 2/21/22
• 027. The Soccer Show – 1/22/1988
  • Garry comes out and addresses the audience with his new whistle, which he will be using as the new coach for Grant’s soccer team. He uses the whistle to help with the whistling section of the show’s theme song. Garry travels through the wooded area off the side of his house set, and onto location of an actual soccer field. He puts the kids through their drills, but it becomes clear that there is a competition between Grant’s father Pete and Floyd’s (Scott Sherk) father (Harry Murphy). They argue in the stands, which spreads to the other parents, and eventually leads to a riot on the field. Garry is disillusioned by what happened, but when Grant comes over and asks Garry to draw him a bath, he complies. Soon all of Grant’s teammates show up to complain about the parents’ fight at the practice. Garry brings them into the bathroom, and tells them that they need to play the game for themselves, and if they feel like they’re playing for their fathers, then they should just quit. They then vote unanimously to quit. This upsets Garry even more, so after they’re gone, he too draws himself a bath, and has his librarian Mrs. Henderson bring him a book. The soccer fathers then show up at his door and surround him in the bathtub to complain that he caused their sons to quit. Garry has Mrs. Henderson show them the Psychology section of his library, and tells them that it is their fault that their sons quit, and not his. After Garry poses nude for his European audiences, he returns to the soccer field, where the boys are all playing again and the parents are praising each other’s children in addition to their own. Someone kicks the soccer ball onto his apartment set, and Garry addresses the audience about how world peace could be achieved in his bathroom. Kurt Fuller and Danny Mora are angry fathers. Blake Soper, Jose Aguilar, and Tony Torres are soccer players. 6/27/22
• 028. Our Town – 1/29/1988
  • Garry enters onto a dark stage and introduces the new episode Our Town, which will feature him taking a Sunday afternoon stroll around Sherman Oaks to see what his friends are up to. He will be able to see the people, but will not be allowed to interact with them. First he swings by Nancy, who is on the phone talking about her new boyfriend Dominic. He looks in on Leonard, who owns the Clapper, and is trying to find his cat Gunther. He heads over to the Schumakers, but on the way, he stops by the newsstand where Eddie (Wynn Irwin) is working and chatting with Officer Henderson (Michael McManus). The two gossip, and Eddie mentions that Leonard has found his cat, and Officer Henderson mentions that Grant has a crush on an older woman…Nancy. When he arrives at the Schumakers, he finds Pete putting together a model airplane and Jackie nursing the baby. Grant seems distracted and tells his parents that he is going to the park to clear his head. Both Pete and Jackie are worried about him, but Garry can’t tell them the real reason he seems so distracted. He decides to go watch his mother pull taffy, but the audience is distracted by Nancy, who has just received flowers from an anonymous suitor who signed it “the heat is on, Me.” Dominic is curious about the flowers and starts to act jealously, causing the two of them to bicker. Garry decides to break the rule about not getting involved, and he enters and tells them that Grant is Nancy’s mystery suitor. This alleviates the fight, but Nancy now feels she should go talk to Grant in the park. She starts to talk about how she’s known him since he was a baby, and goes on to mention his crush on her. Grant denies having a crush on her, or sending the flowers. He is then joined by his actual girlfriend, a slightly older classmate also named Nancy (Melanie Gaffin). Nancy is then furious at Garry for making her look like a fool. Furthermore, the young Nancy now suspects Grant of flirting with the older Nancy, so she breaks up with him. Pete and Jackie are angry at Garry for making them think something is wrong with Grant. Leonard also is mad at Garry for giving someone else the credit for the flowers. He had sent them to her to make up for taking so long to fix her furnace, and wanted to let her know that the heat was now on. As the neighbors all close in on him, he is able to escape back into the darkness. He decides to go walk another town, so he heads over to the New York set in the studio. 6/27/22
• 029. Save the Planet – 2/5/1988
  • Garry announces to the audience that his old college professor Paul Bosgang (Kurtwood Smith), who also taught Pete and Nancy, was going to stop by and they were going to have a mini reunion. He then has The Turtles (featuring Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan aka Flo and Eddie) sing the show’s theme song, which the blend with Happy Together. Pete, Nancy, and Grant all come over, and then Professor Bosgang show up and they reminisce about their days as hippies in college. He also tells them that he is going to have a pictorial article published in LIFE Magazine, which will feature a photo of Gary’s naked mother on Abbie Hoffman’s shoulders. Garry feels funny about that, and then he goes into a trippy dream sequence where the Turtles perform Elenore and Garry’s mother go-go dances in a cage. He then goes to see Paul at his hotel and tells him his reservations about his mother being published in a nude photo. Paul tells him he doesn’t want to damage his friendship with Garry but tells him LIFE will likely not publish the article without the photo. He agrees not to publish it if that is Garry’s wish but asks him to think long and hard about it. Garry goes to his father’s grave to ask him what he thinks, and he hears the voice of his father telling him to protect the Shandling reputation by making sure the photo is not published. When he gets home, his mother has come over to clean and has found the photo. She tells him she remembers that Abbie had given her a hard time about wearing synthetic fibers, so she stripped down to nothing. She says she’d do it all again, because the cause was more important than any single person. With that in mind, Garry gives his blessing to have the photo published. The Turtles sing Happy Together. Michael McManus is the other man asking Garry’s father for advice. 10/18/22
• 030. The Grant Shuffle – 2/12/22
  • Garry announces that they will be revealing the winner of the Name the Schumaker contest and new baby’s name. He brings out contest winner Donna Taylor (herself) from Wilmington, Ohio. She reveals that the name is Blue Suede Schumaker (Joe Wendt). Jackie doesn’t care for the name and wants Donna to come up with a new name. Leonard continuously flirts with Donna. She comes up with the name Saddle Schumaker, but Jackie doesn’t like that either. Meanwhile, Grant is upset because Blue Suede is getting all of the attention. He tells a joke, which momentarily gets him some attention, and then tells everyone that he wants to try to perform at open mic night at Mr. Peck’s (Danny Dayton) comedy club. His parents don’t care for the idea, but Garry offers to help him with it so they finally agree. On the night of the show, Mr. Peck introduces Grant and he comes out and does a fine job with some good jokes that get him plenty of laughs. In fact, he gets invited back to come back Saturday night. His parents are very proud, and he gets the attention he needs. Jackie even brings in Aunt Sylvia from London. Leonard sleeps with Donna at the Schumacher house, but then he doesn’t call her. At the Saturday night show, another comedian named David Wood (himself) goes on before Grant and tells the exact same jokes that Grant did at his previous shows. Garry goes backstage and Grant admits to him that he stole Wood’s jokes because his folks gave him so much attention because of it. The attention nearly made him want to drop out of school to go into comedy. Garry relays a future to Grant when an older version of himself (Jay Kogen) fails miserably at Trivial Pursuit with his friends (Brad Laughlin, Jim Wise). When they call for Grant after David Wood finishes his act, Garry goes on in his place. He stays on for so long that nearly everyone leaves, and even he resorts to using David Wood’s material. Garry wraps up the story by informing everyone that Leonard is driving Donna back to Ohio, the Schumachers named the baby Blue Suede, and the folks are getting along with Grant and he is getting attention again. 10/18/22
• 031. Go Go Goldblum – 3/4/1988
  • Garry announces to the audience that he is planning on having dinner with the Schumakers, but then Nancy stops by and brings an invitation to a party at Jeff Goldblum‘s (himself) house that was mistakenly delivered to her place. Garry isn’t sure what to do, but Nancy suggests that he simply go to both gatherings. After dinner at the Schumaker, he family wants to look at photos of the baby, Grant wants to show him how he learned the box step, and everyone wants to play the home version of Win, Lose, or Draw. Garry then tells them about the party, so they all tell him to go ahead and go the party, while privately resenting the fact that he has left them for his big Hollywood friends. Once Garry gets to the party, he finds that they too are playing Win, Lose, or Draw, but they have Bert Convy (himself) there. Garry tells Jeff how bad he feels, but says he’ll try to straighten things out with them the next day at Grant’s birthday party. When he tells Jeff what a big fan Grant is, he offers to stop by and meet Grant on his birthday. Garry doesn’t quite understand the game of Win, Lose, or Draw, and instead of drawing something, he writes the word out. The next day while wrapping Grant’s gift, Garry gets a call from Jeff, who tells him that he won’t be able to stop over because his caterer hurt his back and won’t be able to help prepare 150 pounds of Veal Paillard for a luncheon he is throwing. Garry faints when he hears the news, but Nancy suggests that Garry go over and help Jeff prepare the veal, which will leave him time to visit with Grant. As they work on the veal, Garry accidentally locks Jeff and himself in the walk-in freezer. They are in there for a while and by the time they get out, get finished with cooking, and get to the Schumakers’ place, everyone is in bed. They tiptoe up to Grant’s room and wake him up. Grant is thrilled to meet Jeff but upset that they didn’t show up earlier. Pete and Jackie wake up and join them in the bedroom and then invite them to play Win, Lose, or Draw downstairs. Bert Convy and Nancy come over and join them in the game. 2/21/23
• 032. Garry Falls Down a Hole – 3/11/1988
  • Garry does not show up for his opening monologue, so the theme song to the show plays twice. Nancy stops by and becomes concerned, so she runs and gets Leonard. Garry’s mother also comes over since he didn’t show up for lunch. Nancy calls Garry’s dance teacher Benedict (Joe Mays) to find out that he didn’t show up for tap class. They all see Garry’s kite outside, but no one is holding onto it and it is floating away. The backyard condo quad is under construction, as workmen were putting in a fountain and were deported, and it appears that Garry has fallen down a hole. Newswoman Diana Lewis (herself) reports from the scene about the incident, stating that they don’t know if Garry is still alive or not. The news team lowers a camera into a hole in the backyard and wake Garry up. He apologizes for missing the monologue and tap class, while Diana Lewis pokes fun at him for falling down a hole. As they are trying to break through below, they hit a methane gas pipe which causes Garry to pass out. He wakes up in heaven where he meets his Grandma Shandling (Irene Tedrow). A group of folks gather around to review highlights from Garry’s life including his birth, his first crack at stand-up comedy in school as a boy, and the time he lost his virginity to a woman (Yana Nirvana). The life review ends when he tries to save a cat that fell into the same hole that he did. After it is over, everyone walks out. His grandmother tells him how lame it was and tells him to go back home and live until he accomplishes something of note. She tells him that she’ll see him next year, clarifying that she will be coming back as a pony. Back home, the rescue team get him out of the hole and brings him into his condo where he is surrounded by his loved ones. Leonard is most interested in having him sign a waiver that he won’t sue the condo association. Garry agrees, only if Leonard will build a stable for his grandmother’s return as a pony. Byron Morrow is the doctor who delivers him. Angelo Teffe is the rescue worker. 2/21/23
• 033. Mr. Smith Goes to Nam – 3/18/1988
  • During his intro to the audience, Garry says he’s getting closer to fatherhood by buying a set of sea monkeys, which he puts into water while the theme song is playing. His friend, comedienne Gilda Radner (herself) show up at his house to return all of the videotapes of his show that he lent her during her cancer treatments and recovery. She still has a male nurse named Blake Cumbers (Blake Clark) assisting her. Gilda also takes the opportunity to try and get attention from the audience by looking at the camera. Leonard stops by while they are there to check on Garry’s sea monkeys to see if they are in violation of the condo codes. However, after meeting Blake, he darts out of the apartment. That night Garry hears a ruckus outside, and it is Leonard, who thinks he is being chased by the Viet Cong. He also wakes up Nancy, and she and Garry are able to calm Leonard down. He tells about his time in the Vietnam war and how tensions were very high just before the Tet offensive. Through a recreation of the war in Garry’s living room, Leonard shares how he got sent some chocolate truffles from home, and now wanting to share them, he sneaks off to eat them on his own. From afar Leonard witnesses the men in his troop getting rounded up by the Viet Cong, but he fails to act to save them and feels guilty. Seeing Blake brought all of these memories back, because Blake was a member of his unit. Garry and Nancy talk Leonard into going to talk to Blake, and Nancy offers for both of them to go with him, even though Garry doesn’t really want to. They go over to Gilda’s house, but she worries that Garry is forcing more tapes on her. Leonard then reveals who he is to Blake, who is thrilled to see him and embraces him. However, when Leonard confesses that it was his fault that the guys got captured and imprisoned for months, Blake starts to blame Leonard. This time the scene re-creations happens in Gilda’s living room, and the real Leonard pleads with the young version of himself (David Greenlee) to take action. He grabs the gun from himself and fires on the Viet Cong, destroying much of Gilda’s room and shooting Garry in the arm. Garry then reminds Leonard that regulations are not to fire on the enemy when friendly troops would be in harm’s way. Leonard is thus exonerated from his guilty feelings. Gilda clears everyone out and rants about the mess, and then gets hit in the head by coconuts falling from the trees. She is almost completely out of it after being hit, but still tries to capture the attention of the audience in the studio and at home. They all play a game of Candyland. 7/25/23

SEASON 3

• 034. Goin’ Places – 10/21/1988
  • The show opens with Garry working alongside Nancy at the Goin’ Places Travel Agency, a job he was forced to take during the Summer’s writer’s strike. Although he is in his last week now that the show has started, he has made quite a reputation for himself having been named Employee of the Month for three out the last four months, broke up only by an employee named Saletta (Kate Mulligan). Nancy has a new boyfriend named Ian McFyfer (Ian Buchanan) who keeps coming into the office, drinking coffee without donating to the coffee fund, and distracting Nancy. Garry is called into his boss Mr. Cravely’s (Richard Fancy), who tells Garry that he is thinking about letting Nancy go from her job due to her slipping performance. Garry, who has already been accused of being a brown-noser, tells Mr. Cravely that he will speak to Nancy. Garry then witnesses Nancy making flight arrangements for Pete’s parents’ (Amzie Strickland, Marty Zagon) flight into town for the baby’s first birthday, as Ian jokes with her as she’s working. Garry returns home and watches himself on TV while he waits for Nancy to come over so he can relay Craven’s complaints. She brings Ian with her, so Garry puts him in front of the TV to watch himself on the show. Nancy does not take the news from Garry well and storms out of his house. The next day at work, Nancy gives Garry the silent treatment, but everything is put on hold when Pete and Jackie show up to tell Nancy that Pete’s parents weren’t booked correctly and are now stranded in Charlotte, North Carolina. Garry recalls that he has booked the Lakers on a flight but had to book player Kurt Rambis (himself) separately because he’s now with the Charlotte Hornets. Garry has booked him three seats since he’s so tall, so he books the extra seats for Pete’s folks. Due to Ma Schumaker spitting out her gum and it getting sucked up by engine, the plane is grounded. Garry rebooks them on a Federal Express plane. Ma and Rambis trade glasses on the FedEx flight, and he is amazed by how much better he can see. He becomes obsessed with reading things all the way home. Garry starts to melt down as he faces one challenge after the other. Saletta won’t help him, but Nancy comes through and books them on a Greyhound bus. They all finally show up at the agency and are greeted by the Schumakers. Rambis sticks around to book some passages for his team, as he obsessively reads the brochures. Cravely is impressed with Nancy’s work but tells Garry that he is a disgrace. Garry goes home and watches his show on TV, analyzing the names in the closing credits as they roll. 7/25/23
• 035. Pete’s Got a Secret – 10/28/1988
  • Garry and the audience are up early so that Garry can meet Pete for breakfast, and they can discuss their upcoming fishing trip. However, when Garry arrives at one of the shoe stores that Pete is stocking, Garry witnesses Pete being ultra-rude to the store manager (Michael Ensign). He also tells Garry that he doesn’t have time for breakfast, so they decide to have lunch at noon at The Treliss. Pete shows up over an hour late, so the waiter (David Muir) gives free roles to the audience. When Garry points out how late he is once he arrives, Pete gets defensive and rude to Garry. As Garry prods him, Pete admits that his problem revolves around his job, and he also tells Garry that he has gotten everything he ever wanted out of his career and never had to lift a finger. When Pete starts badmouthing the audience, the audience starts pelting him with their free roles. Later, back at Garry’s house, Nancy’s boyfriend Ian tries to keep Garry’s mind off his fight with Pete by talking to him about giving Nancy a stickpin. Garry talks to Nancy about how to find out Pete’s problem and decides to use the ‘dream hat’, which may or may not be legal. That night Garry takes the dream hat over to Pete’s and hooks him up to it. He sees that Pete is dreaming about the TV show Perry Mason. He also dreams about Garry dancing in Hawaii. Garry deduces that Pete is thinking about being a lawyer, and suggests that he can still follow his dream if he wants to. Pete apologizes to Garry and asks him to apologize to the audience. Pete agrees to address the audience directly, and although nearly fails at first, he winds up giving the a terrific summation that works well, leading Pete to believe he could easily become a lawyer. Along with Jackie’s support, Pete decides he is going to make a go of it. Garry walks back to his own set, doing a brief Hawaiian dance along the way for the Showtime audience that doesn’t have commercials. Garry says that Pete will be a lawyer during the following week’s show since he was on The Paper Chase for three years and those credits will transfer. Garry makes more coffee in the barrel for the audience. Chester Jackson is himself as the show’s cameraman. 11/26/23
• 036. What’s Happening to Me? – 11/4/1988
  • With Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley (himself) in the audience, Garry tries to class up the show by doing it as an operetta, beginning with a classical take on the theme song by piano player Jerome (Gordon Goodwin). Meanwhile, Garry has a trio of singing plumbers (John George Campbell, Mitch Gordon, Mitch Moore) who act as background commentators. Jackie enters Garry’s place and sings a song about her concern about Grant and his changing personality. He frequently goes to his room after dinner and locks his door and never comes out. Pete, on the other hand, is proud that Grant is going through puberty and thinks constantly about a girl named Madeline (Holly Fields). Grant gets paired with her in Biology class by their teacher Mr. Karron (Richard Karron) when another girl doesn’t come to school. Although Grant desperately wants to be her partner, he starts to feel funny when she starts making cracks about how he can help her ‘advance’ in Biology of the human anatomy. Throughout his time alone, he often sings a refrain of What’s Happening to Me?, not knowing why his body is changing. Back at Garry’s place, the adults try to remember that age in their own lives, and they talk about their first time having sex. Garry doesn’t want to do the singing, so he keeps having to ask Jerome to stop playing the piano. Jackie asks Garry to go and talk to Grant about puberty, but when he arrives, Grant has already left to meet up with Madeline. Mayor Bradley has to point out which way Grant went. Garry locates Grant and Madeline at a farm on Maple Street, where Madeline is still trying to seduce Grant. Their other classmates – all cardboard cutouts – are there as well. Garry sends the singing plumbers back to his house to finish the job, then takes Grant aside, where he is finally coaxed to sing his advice to Grant. It boils down to Grant not doing what he doesn’t want to do even if his friends are pressuring him. Garry breaks out into a brief dance. Grant returns to Madeline and tells her that they should wait until they are a little bit older. The parents and the plumbers show up along Garry and Nancy and they all break into a square dance. Leonard also shows up with his violin. Mayor Bradley declares the next day Grant Schumaker Day and cancels school. 11/26/23
• 037. Live Election Show – 11/11/1988
  • Garry supposedly hosts live national election coverage of George Bush and Michael Dukakis, during which he will announce the returns as they happen. He sarcastically claims that he’s doing a live show because he needs more stress in his life. He shows the audience his setup, which includes a live monitor of C-SPAN, on which John Kerry is speaking, and a DVRM – Direct Viewer Response Meter – which will tabulate who the audience at home is voting for. Currently, this device is giving Dukakis 50% of the vote and Bush 48%. Garry then brings in Soul Train host Don Cornelius (himself) to announce the states’ returns as they come in. The Schumakers come over and explain that for the last three elections, Grant has picked the correct winner of the election by giving him bowls of creamed corn, each with a candidate’s name on it, and whichever one he eats winds up winning. This time he eats the bowl with Dukakis’s name on it. The results from California and Oregon come in and put the Dukakis in the lead. Leonard stops by and asks Garry which condo newsletter he should print between the one announcing Bush as the winner and the one announcing Dukakis as the winner. Garry does one more check of the DVRM and sees that Dukakis’ lead has increased by two percentage points, so he goes ahead and calls the election in Dukakis’s favor. Leonard and Don both feel free to do their Barbara Bush fat jokes since Bush lost the election. Nancy and Ian stop by to see if Garry wants to join them for a drink, and Garry feels that his work is done, so he goes into his room to change into his drinking pants. Mr. Stravely (formerly Mr. Cravely) stops by to yell at Garry for his approach to announcing the winner, since it is clearly Bush who won the election. He tells Garry to stay in his room and think about it. Garry passes out and dreams that Barbara Bush (Rick Zumwalt) comes after him, lifts him (stuntman Keith Campbell) over her head and spins him, before throwing him out of the window. Out in the living room, Don Cornelius is having a dance party ala Soul Train. As Dukakis is giving his concession speech on TV, Garry apologizes to Mrs. Bush, but also says he can’t believe he is wrong and and hopes he can get through to Dukakis to stop him from conceding. Michelle Stevenson is dancer Mary. Juliette Hagerman is dancer Elizabeth. John Harlan is the announcer. 4/3/24
• 038. The Natural – 12/2/1988
  • Garry narrates a flashback of his younger self becoming enamored with the game of ping-pong. During these years, he is watched over by Charlene the Goddess of Ping Pong (Christine Kellogg), who leads him to carve his own paddle from a fallen cherry tree. In 1970, Garry defeats the greatest ping pong player in the world, but he is lured on a picnic by a mysterious French woman (Lydie Denier) dressed in black, who pulls out a gun and shoots Garry in the wrist. Eighteen years later in the current day, Garry is hosting his show and trying out some new jokes when Leonard and Nancy stop by to recruit him for the Happy Pilgrim Estates condo ping pong team. They are going up against the dreaded Trugman Towers. Garry considers his answer, but ultimately declines. Leonard tells him that he only gave him the right of first refusal since it was his show, but he thinks Pete, who has put a ping pong table in his basement, will be just as good. Jackie notices the scar on Garry’s wrist, but Garry will not tell her what it is from. Garry is then beckoned to the kitchen cupboards where he finds his old paddle. He takes the paddle over to the Schumakers’ place and practices with Grant, ultimately hitting the ball so hard that it smashes Jackie’s new antique clock. This impresses Grant so much that he now wants to make his own paddle too. Over at the tournament, Happy Pilgrim Kim Moon (Chi Ngo) faces his brother Lee Moon, who is on the Trugman Towers team. When Kim loses, Leonard calls Pete in, but he is disqualified before he even starts because, as the announcer announces in front of everyone, he has failed his drug test. Pete claims this is because he has been taking steroids to help him study for the bar exam. Garry then shows up unexpectedly to take Leonard’s place. Although he gets off to a slow start, he finally gets a point, and blows a hole through Moon’s paddle. The score is neck and neck as Garry’s wrist starts to bleed. Garry then gets a crucial point but his paddle snaps in half. Grant presents him with a new paddle that he made, and the game continues. Garry reaches match point when he spots Charlene in the audience. He then hits the ball so hard that it ricochets off of Moon’s paddle into the lights, causing them to rain down sparks like fireworks. 4/3/24

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