Story within a story The Irish television series "Father Ted" features a television show, "Father Ben", which has characters and storylines almost identical to that of Father Ted. The television shows "30 Rock", "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", "Sonny with a Chance", and "Kappa Mikey" feature a sketch show within the TV show. An extended plotline on the semi-autobiographical sitcom "Seinfeld" dealt with the main characters developing a sitcom about their lives. The gag was reprised on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", another semi-autobiographical show by and about "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David, when the long-anticipated "Seinfeld" reunion was staged entirely inside the new show. The
The Larry Sanders Show Brett Butler, Ellen DeGeneres, and Drew Carey. Garry Shandling took a slightly different path with the cable network sitcoms "The Larry Sanders Show" and its forerunner "It's Garry Shandling's Show". In "It's Garry Shandling's Show", Shandling makes use of the George Burns technique of directly addressing the audience. He speaks to the studio and home audiences as well as the other actors, often in quick succession. In both shows celebrity guests appear as themselves and Shandling essentially plays himself: a star of a television show and stand-up comedian with a distinctive "comic persona and rhythm". Shandling said, in an interview