The Larry Sanders Show in its use of celebrity guests, its lack of laugh track, and its comedy of embarrassment by "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "The Office" and "Arrested Development". Shandling's performance is a precursor to Larry David's in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Ricky Gervais ("The Office", "Extras") as David Brent. Gervais said in "Variety" that he was heavily influenced by the show and that "It taught me that flawed characters can be compulsive viewing — seeing them squirm and get their comeuppance." Armando Iannucci said that his political satire "The Thick of It" strove to mix comedy and authenticity in a similar manner to
The Hank McCune Show that it contained a show within a show. Former radio comedian McCune portrayed a television variety show host named after himself, and each week the character managed to blunder his way into a variety of comic predicaments. The supporting cast included Larry Keating, Charles Maxwell, Frank Nelson, and Florence Bates. The Hank McCune Show The Hank McCune Show was an American television situation comedy. Filmed without a studio audience, the series is notable for being the first television program to incorporate a laugh track. The series began as a local Los Angeles program in 1949. NBC placed it on its