At last, the complete series of The Larry Sanders Show is available in the UK on DVD – all 89 episodes, although no extras, interestingly. With its highly influential naturalistic, laugh track-free style and clever handling of celebrity guests including Elvis Costello, Sharon Stone and Jim Carrey, this US sitcom about a neurotic talkshow host was a precursor to The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, during its run from 1992 to 1998, it was treated with maddening indifference by the BBC. Whereas Channel 4 practically built their schedule around Friends, it required active dedication to hunt down The Larry Sanders Show, and stoicism when it was bumped during a snooker tournament. A pity, as in terms of calibre and consistency it's probably the greatest sitcom of all time.

By 1992, Garry Shandling had done the occasional stint as an actual talkshow host himself, his pudgy, unthreatening smile and laid-back demeanour oozing bland, showbiz ease. His fictional alter ego Larry Sanders wasn't edgy like Letterman but in the Johnny Carson tradition. The extracts we see of the show, are brightly lit, with Larry projecting a deceptively bumbling, genial air, in his element. He is, to quote producer Artie, "like some goddamn mythological creature – half man, half desk." His sidekick Hank "Hey, now!" Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor) is a comforting addition to the sofa, subservient and cheerfully playing the dimwitted foil.

However, once we're away from the stage, the footage cuts from bright video to grainy film, and a detailed, intelligent expose of life behind the showbiz curtain is revealed – the harassed mass of staff, agents, writers, PAs, PRs, producers, and meddling execs and marketing people. Janeane Garofalo got her start in the show as Paula, the booker and 90s grunge kid who can barely conceal her contempt for her job of appeasing whiney celebs and booking novelty guests like the "parrot lady". Bob Odenkirk, who today stars as the almost likably appalling lawyer in Breaking Bad, played the obnoxious Stevie, Larry's agent, who boasts of going way back with him, "almost half a decade".

But the show's greatest strength is in the interplay of its three main stars. Artie, (Rip Torn) is combative and built along Prescott lines, fiercely protective of the show, charming but menacing when necessary, working and greeting guests with an expert, silver tongue, acting as a buffer between Larry and the network, massaging and manipulating fragile egos – though you sense he's always on the verge of being physically sick at the shit he's forced to eat.

There's Larry himself, who unravels when out of the spotlight. He's a mass of neuroses, especially about the size of his ass, and addicted to painkillers and sycophantic reassurance. His rictus smile often looks like it's about to crumble into a roiling sea of negative emotions, and he's not above using his position as star of the show to put others in their place. It's said Shandling himself bears some of these characteristics, as those who saw his awkward, televised encounter with Ricky Gervais a few years ago might agree.

Finally, Hank Kingsley, who as a showbiz creation remains unparalleled, even by Alan Partridge. Like Larry, he's the opposite of his self-deprecating onstage character – a lech, a kiss-up, kick down creep, a shameless, irascible boor, an unhip buffoon, but monstrously insecure, aware deep down that he's third-rate. Kingsley is a sobbing, seething, flabby, flailing tour de force of body language. He's bullied by both Larry and Artie but ultimately there's an enduring bond of loyalty between the three of them, and to the show. It's not much of a show. But The Larry Sanders Show is a hell of a show.

• The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series is out now