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Garry Shandling-Mr. Pellicano’s version of theater of the absurd — his relentless and pointless cross-examination of his former employee, Tarita Virtue — was mercifully interrupted this morning for some star-studded testimony by comedian Garry Shandling. Mr. Shandling, dressed in a dark suit and crisp white shirt and looking quite dapper, gave the jury an up close glimpse at one of Mr. Pellicano’s alleged wiretapping victims. During his testimony, he seemed genuinely distressed that during his lawsuit with former manager, Brad Grey, his phones had been wiretapped, his character publicly assassinated and his reputation in town tarnished.

When Mr. Shandling was asked to state his occupation by prosecutor Kevin Lally, Mr. Shandling joked wryly, “That’s a bad sign. I’m a comedian.” The Judge then admonished him that he wasn’t a comedian today and Mr. Shandling responded by articulately, calmly and movingly telling the jury about how he’d been allegedly victimized by Mr. Pellicano and by his clients, Mr. Grey and Mr. Grey’s lawyer, Bertram Fields. He claimed then when he dared to accuse his long-time manager, Brad Grey, of stealing from him, Mr. Grey reacted by breaking off their eighteen-year relationship, hiring attorney Bert Fields and telling him that all further communication should be conducted through Mr. Fields. It was clear from his testimony that Mr. Shandling was devastated by the revelation that his longtime friend and manager, Grey, who’d he’d hired when Mr. Grey was just 21, had been stealing from him, making side deals and basically, screwing him over.

Mr. Shandling testified that even before he filed his lawsuit, he got a late night call from Mr. Grey in which the former manager, now head of Paramount Studios, “threatened me that if I kept looking into my own business, he’d make my life miserable.” Eventually, Mr. Shandling said that he hired counsel out of Washington and filed suit against Mr. Grey for breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. Mr. Shandling told the court that he’d found out that Mr. Grey had been being paid as a producer of their show The Larry Sanders Show, and also taking commissions from Mr. Shandling’s fees for his writing and acting services. Mr. Shandling referred to Mr. Grey’s behavior as “illegal triple dipping” — being paid three times for the same services.

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