Comedy for a Cause -- Added Bonus!
Posted on 10/23/2020 @ 08:00 AM
In addition to Miami’s own Dave Barry, CAJE is lucky to also have “comedians’ comedian” Alan Zweibel (Saturday Night Live, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, 700 Sundays) appearing with Dave and offering his own laughs at the event.
Though Zweibel’s name isn’t well known outside of comedy circles, he has worked with a who’s-who of stars, including Milton Berle and Larry David. A Jewish boy from Long Island, Zweibel started out in 1972 working in a deli in Queens and writing gags for Borscht Belt comics at $7 each.
Industriousness, luck, and a binder stuffed with 1,100 jokes got him on staff for Saturday Night Live’s inaugural season in 1975. He knocked out quips for “Weekend Update” and bonded with Gilda Radner, writing many memorable sketches, including the Samurai for John Belushi, and helped to create the characters of Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella, both portrayed by Gilda Radner. As an in-joke, Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, a name and hometown often associated with the Roseannadanna character, was Zweibel's real life brother-in-law who did live in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Zweibel's close friendship and collaboration with Gilda Radner extended beyond their tenure at Saturday Night Live – as her last television appearance was on an episode of It's Garry Shandling's Show which Zweibel co-created and produced. After Radner's death from ovarian cancer, Zweibel wrote a bestselling book about their relationship titled Bunny Bunny: Gilda Radner – a Sort of Love Story, which he later adapted into an off-Broadway play.
In addition to Bunny Bunny, Zweibel's other books include The Other Shulman – a novel that won the 2006 Thurber Prize for American Humor- and Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier. In 2019, he wrote A Field Guide to the Jewish People with Dave Barry and Adam Mansbach. His popular children's book, Our Tree Named Steve, was a Scholastic Book Club selection that has been translated into eleven languages, and his young adult novel, North, was made into a movie directed by Rob Reiner.
Zweibel has won multiple Emmy, Writers Guild of America, and TV Critics awards for his work in television, which also includes Curb Your Enthusiasm and an episode of Monk.
