Humor & Life Quote by Garry Shandling

Tenacity and perfectionism are a comedian's polite way of confessing to obsession. When Garry Shandling says he is "pretty tenacious as a perfectionist", he's not bragging about work ethic so much as naming the engine behind his particular kind of comedy: the refusal to let a moment land as merely funny when it could land as true.

Shandling's persona was built on the visible struggle to "get it right" in public. On The Larry Sanders Show, the whole joke is that the machinery of entertainment is exposed, and the people inside it are forever adjusting their masks. That makes "perfectionist" a loaded word. It's not about polishing a punchline until it's shiny; it's about controlling the exact frequency of embarrassment, jealousy, and neediness so the audience can recognize themselves without recoiling. Tenacity becomes emotional calibration.

The line also carries a quiet defensive subtext. Perfectionism is often a socially acceptable cover for fear: fear of being ordinary, fear of being caught trying, fear of the silence after a joke misses. Shandling knew that "getting something right" in comedy isn't a technical endpoint. It's a moving target shaped by timing, room temperature, ego, and the audience's appetite for discomfort. His tenacity is the discipline required to chase that target anyway.

In a culture that romanticizes effortless genius, Shandling frames craft as compulsion. The joke, as always with him, is that the compulsion might be the most honest part.