I first saw this story a couple weeks ago when Jeff Garlin gave an interview with Vanity Fair about the issue and claimed that he wasn’t fired and that his antics on set were just him being “silly.”
Upon further reading, it looks like he was really abusive to a lot of people and kept using the word “vagina” inappropriately, swearing at stand ins and crew, and handing out unwanted embraces. I have to say, I’m really disappointed in Garlin. I thought he was a funny comedic actor and I appreciated that he was a Chicago guy who kept grinding away and getting bigger parts until he was hired for Curb Your Enthusiasm and ultimately The Goldbergs.
I like The Goldbergs and I used to watch it a lot but I do admit that I find the formula wearing a bit thin. Reports say that the show used a stand in for the character’s final appearances and will use blue screen effects to add Garlin’s face (also that they had been using a stand in a lot for Garlin and he was only onset once a week). Keep your eyes out for CGI Murray Goldberg in upcoming episodes.
I used to listen regularly to a podcast called Doug Loves Movies (still do sometimes but not nearly as often since I no longer commute to work, and the episodes haven’t been as fun since the pandemic with no more live audience, just call-in guests).
It consisted of comedian Doug Benson and 3 or 4 guests who were typically other comedians or actors, and they’d play games based on movie trivia.
Garlin was an occasional guest, and every time he was on he would be loud, obnoxious, and constantly interrupting Doug. Every episode he was on was a train wreck. Thing is, if he was actually funny about it, it might have been tolerable, but he was just annoying as hell. It got to the point where if I saw he was a guest in the podcast notes for a new episode I would skip it.
I have no trouble imaging him being verbally abusive to other cast members and saying inappropriate things without even thinking he was doing anything wrong.
As it is, I think the show is probably in its last season with the main character about to go off to college. And as a light sitcom, I doubt they’ll have the father character die in show, so most likely he just won’t be mentioned in the future.
(BTW, for anyone still watching the show, did you see the recent episode in which the crisis was that Adam’s girlfriend Brea was planning to go to a different school and they’d be far apart? Except he’s going to NYU and she plans to attend Brown and that’s not that far apart, especially given both are on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor. I checked and I think the train trip is only three or four hours.)
I’ve been looking for a reason to quit The Goldbergs. The show has last steam this season and the last, and they’ve gotten rid of my favorite bit (the part where a real person from Adam Goldberg’s past turns up in the show, and at the end there’s a “Dedicated To:” reel featuring archival video footage. Also, Adam seems to be stuck in perpetual puberty.
This business about Carlin is the final nail in the coffin. Going to my TV to stop the series recording now.
It’s such a good show, the acting is so great. It’s a real shame that Garlin was treating people this way. Kudos to the execs for pulling him.
The show has definitely run its course. You can’t do a show about growing up forever.
Re: NYU to Brown…6-8 hours of travel time sure seems like a lot for busy students who would have to coordinate their schedules. Consider these kids have met for lunch every day for their whole relationship, and had spontaneous movie nights…that’s a big shift.
Heck I live an hour away from my boyfriend and it feels like a slog sometimes.
We saw Schooled first and then started watching Goldbergs, which happened to be running every night, so we quickly caught up and then watched both for a while. After Schooled got canceled we watched Goldbergs for a little longer, but realized we didn’t like any of the main characters and switched it off.
I feel sorry for the other actors and crew who had to put up with Garlin’s behavior. I wonder why it’s coming to light now?
This is so disappointing to hear. I think he’s great as Murray and, as I often do with unlikable characters, I had convinced myself that it’s just the character, and surely Mr. Garlin is not an ass IRL. WRONG! I’m also sorry for the people that had to put up with it. One giant asshat can ruin the whole working environment.
Personally, I wouldn’t care about childish, filthy talk, but the unkindness and disrespect is a ticket to fuck right off.
I get the joke here, but I think it’s worth mentioning that these accusations are not in the same universe as the Weinstein stuff. Garlin sounds like an asshole and a bully, not a sexual predator. The way #metoo has conflated all these issues is a problem.
What we seem to be seeing, at the beginning and end of the clip, is a stand-in with Garlin’s bizarrely grinning face digitally superimposed. In between, we see the back and side of the stand-in—the face carefully kept out of frame—while Garlin’s voice has been clumsily dubbed in.
I happened to tune in to the wedding ep and I thought it was really disappointing. We’ve watched how many seasons of her making a big freaking deal over every event or celebration and that’s the wedding she throws for her only daughter? IIRC, Murray doesn’t show up except for the brief (weird) shots mentioned and the whole time his absence was so conspicuous that it would have been better to scrap the episode and have them get married offscreen with Beverly showing up on the honeymoon or something.