Why you should be excited HBOGo just added 'The Larry Sanders Show'

When Garry Shandling unexpectedly died earlier this year, I scrambled to find and rewatch some of my favorite episodes of The Larry Sanders Show. But it was nowhere to be found on any of the streaming services I subscribe to. I can rest easy now. HBO will add the landmark comedy to its streaming service Friday.

Larry Sanders took place behind the scenes of late-night talk show, but it elevated the workplace comedy to something more than an Everyman protagonist, a crazy boss, and kooky coworkers. Sanders was a good television host, but off-camera, he was a neurotic narcissist who cared little for his employees' happiness or well-being, ushering in some of the unlikable leads that characterize current comedy. Sanders wasn't the only indelible character. "Hey Now" Hank Kingsley, played exquisitely by Jeffrey Tambor, was not just a bumbling sidekick. He was monumentally incompetent. In a first-season episode, he requested a television on the set so he could watch the show he was supposed to be actively participating in - but with a darker, cynical undercurrent that Ed McMahon might not be able to muster.

The show also dissected celebrity and public persona in a way that allowed stars to play off themselves - David Duchovny is a particular standout - that was both funny and insightful about the differences between what we see offscreen and what we see on it.

Larry Sanders felt different not just in its comedy but also in its basic building blocks: It was serialized, there was no laugh track, and it used a single camera instead of the traditional multicamera sitcom setup. These elements of comedy are normal today, but Larry Sanders was really the first to do it.

So much of the type of comedy that exists today, and the sitcoms that we love, have been informed by Larry Sanders. The best thing about the show is not what you can see of it in what's currently on TV, but that it still holds up, still as good as in its heyday.

Where to stream it: HBOGo.

Like this? Binge these: 30 Rock played with TV and celebrity in similar ways (Netflix), The Office played with the realism of office interactions and ridiculous bosses (British and American, Netflix), lovers of Jeffrey Tambor can tune into Arrested Development (Netflix) and Transparent (Amazon, which premieres its third season Friday).