A number of Garry Shandling's close friends paid final tribute to the late comedian on Sunday, gathering at his home for a pickup basketball game. Judd Apatow shared a photo from the last game "to say goodbye" to Shandling who passed away on March 24 at age 66.
Nearly 40 people gathered to play or to watch the pickup game that had become a weekly tradition for Shandling. Guests included Apatow, Jeffery Tambor, Bill Maher, Kathy Griffin, Sarah Silverman, Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Breckin Meyer, Kevin Nealon and more.
"One last game of basketball at Garry's house to say good," Apatow captioned the photo.
One last game of basketball at Garry's house to say goodbye.
A photo posted by Judd Apatow (@juddapatow) on Mar 27, 2016 at 10:49pm PDT
The "Trainwreck" director worked with Shandling on his HBO series, "The Larry Sanders Show," in the 1990s. In the days following his friend's death, Apatow shared a number of photos of him and Shandling along with their other celebrity friends including Tambor, Warren Beatty, Bruce Springsteen, Ellen DeGeneres and more.
Alex Richanbach, a writer-director-producer for Funny Or Die, also shared a story about his first time out to Shandling's house for the weekly basketball game. He considered the comedian a friend and a teacher who he considered family.
"The greatest gift Funny Or Die ever gave me was an introduction to my hero, Garry Shandling. A few years ago I mentioned that I had heard Garry Shandling had a secret Sunday afternoon basketball game. I quickly found out that some of our founders played in that game. Which was incredible to me, because I couldn't believe that people actually got to be friends with Garry Shandling. I had idolized him since I was a kid and the mere idea of meeting Garry Shandling, let alone being his friend, was something I couldn't fathom," Richanbach wrote.
He continued, "Before I knew it, Chris Henchy introduced me to Garry and I was invited to go up to Garry's house to spend an afternoon with him. I'll never forget walking through his house to his kitchen. I was walking behind him and he kept turning around and telling me to relax. I kept assuring him that I was fine, and he just kept nodding and telling me to relax. Then at one point he stopped and said, "You're welcome here." Garry had a way of putting people at ease and letting them know that he was on their side. His heart and his home were always open and his friends were always welcome."
Silverman also paid tribute to Shandling, sharing a couple photos of her playing basketball against him from previous pickup games. "Yesterday we lost our most brilliant comic mind & I lost the most generous loving mentor & friend. Who will I guard?" she wrote in an Instagram post on Friday.
Yesterday we lost our most brilliant comic mind & I lost the most generous loving mentor & friend. Who will I guard? A photo posted by @sarahkatesilverman on Mar 25, 2016 at 12:14pm PDT
In another post she wrote, "I'm 1 of many comics that can say it- he made us feel special til we believed it. My teacher my friend my Garry."
I'm 1 of many comics that can say it- he made us feel special til we believed it. My teacher my friend my Garry A photo posted by @sarahkatesilverman on Mar 28, 2016 at 7:00am PDT
