July 07, 2004

Garry Shandling to Host Primetime Emmys

Garry Shandling is set to host the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air live September 19 on the ABC Television Network. Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Primetime Entertainment, made the announcement jointly with Dick Askin, chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In addition, it was also announced that Don Mischer will return for his eighth year as executive producer.

This will be Shandling’s second time hosting the Emmy Awards. He previously hosted in 2000, when the awards ceremony last aired on ABC. He has also hosted the Grammy Awards three times.

"This is perfect for me, since I just recuperated from the last time," Shandling said. Regarding re-teaming with Mischer, he said: "I love working with Don Mischer, and I can hardly wait to get that real sense of existence you can only get from being on live television four straight hours."

"I am really looking forward to working with Garry again, as his comedic style and his perspective on television bring a unique point of view to the show," said Mischer. "When he hosted the Emmys in 2000, the show received its highest rating in 14 years and was also a major hit with the critics all across the country."

Shandling began his show business career in as a writer for Sandford and Son and Welcome Back Kotter. Within a short time he was writing television pilots, then he realized he wanted to try stand-up comedy. By 1981 he made his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, which changed the focus of his career. He went on to guest host the Tonight Show many times.

Shandling made his first cable comedy special for Showtime in 1984, and created his first television series, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, in 1986 for the same cable network. The unconventional series was noted for breaking the "fourth wall" by having Shandling speak directly to the camera. It’s Garry Shandling’s Show ran for four years, eventually airing on Showtime and FOX simultaneously. Critically acclaimed, the show was nominated for several Emmys and won many Cable Ace Awards.

In 1990 Shandling did his first HBO special, Stand-up. In 1992 he created the Larry Sanders Show for HBO, which ran until 1998 and received a record-breaking 78 Emmy nominations. Shandling won the Emmy for Best Writing in a Comedy Series in the final season of the show.

Shandling is currently at work lending his voice to Dreamwork’s upcoming animated feature, Over the Hedge.

This summer Don Mischer will produce the Democratic National Convention in Boston, MA. His impressive track record includes executive-producing and producing celebrated specials such as The Kennedy Center Honors, Baryshnikov by Tharp, The 100th Anniversary of Carnegie Hall, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, which were the highest rated in Olympic history. Among Mischer’s other credits are such standout events as The Tony Awards for which he won two Emmys, ABC’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, Lifetime’s Achievement Awards: Women Changing the World, Barbra Streisand’s Millennium Concert at the MGM Grand and Michael Jackson’s Super Bowl XXVII half time show.

As president of Don Mischer Productions, Mischer has been honored with 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, a record nine Director’s Guild Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, three NAACP Image Awards, a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting and Europe’s prestigious Golden Rose of Montreaux.

Nominations for the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced July 15 at 5:39 a.m., PT, by Edie Falco (The Sopranos), Tony Shalhoub (Monk) and Dick Askin from the Academy’s Leonard Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, California.

Press Release - PDF

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