★ 03/09/2020
This zippy memoir by comedians’ comedian Zweibel (The Other Shulman) offers laughs on nearly every page. 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. (For Rodney Dangerfield: “My mother wouldn’t breastfeed me. She said she liked me as a friend.”) 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, a work relationship that, to his annoyance, became lopsided (he would write sketches at his desk, while she would call in from such places as Studio 54 for notes). Zweibel’s itinerant collaborator existence encompassed helping create It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and turning material from Billy Crystal’s childhood into the hit show 700 Sundays. On the more serious side, Zweibel delivers a heartfelt depiction of Shandling’s vast talent and often overlooked sense of humanity. Comics and comedy fans alike will delight in this hilarious and self-deprecating memoir. (Apr.)
"Any comedy fan will thrill to see the contemporary art's invention through the eyes of consummate funny man Alan Zweibel. He takes you behind the velvet rope and makes you weep for all those artists who made us laugh. Screamingly funny—also very moving. A classic."
"Laugh Lines reminds me of the many long, leisurely lunches I've had with Alan –– filled with laughter, great stories and humanity. He's a completely delicious original!"
Alan Zweibel is legendary among us comedians. He is the man who delivers comedy with an emotional clout that makes him respected and revered.
I love this book! And it’s not just because Alan says nice things about me. Well, maybe it is.
Alan Zweibel will tell you everything you need to know about comedy writing. Actually, he might tell you too much, but it’s hilarious and worth it. Alan has candid and heartwarming stories about all of the greats, but in some ways, he buries the lead. He’s one of them.
I have read the complete works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, and Melville. Trust me, Alan Zweibel is MUCH funnier.
Alan Zweibel is the original man behind the man! I don’t have enough fingers to count how many people would not be where they are without Alan Zweibel. (I only have four fingers, but still . . .)
It’s medicine we can all use right now.
Alan Zweibel is an architect of 20th century comedy
A brilliant book by a brilliant man. I can’t wait to reread it with the TV off.
In Laugh Lines, Zweibel looks back, affectionately and informatively, at a career that began when he was a young deli worker grinding out jokes for old-school borscht belt comedians in his spare time, and that, after his “S.N.L.” years, included rewarding collaborations with, among others, Garry Shandling, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Larry David and Dave Barry. … Fascinating.
I interviewed Alan for my high school radio station when I was sixteen and have been hungry for comedy and life insights from him ever since! Finally, I have the Zweibel bible!
Readers will find plenty of new, behind-the-scenes details and celebrity anecdotes. This is a truly fun romp.
In Laugh Lines, Zweibel looks back, affectionately and informatively, at a career that began when he was a young deli worker grinding out jokes for old-school borscht belt comedians in his spare time, and that, after his “S.N.L.” years, included rewarding collaborations with, among others, Garry Shandling, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Larry David and Dave Barry. … Fascinating.”—New York Times
“I interviewed Alan for my high school radio station when I was sixteen and have been hungry for comedy and life insights from him ever since! Finally, I have the Zweibel bible!”—Judd Apatow
“Alan Zweibel will tell you everything you need to know about comedy writing. Actually, he might tell you too much, but it’s hilarious and worth it. Alan has candid and heartwarming stories about all of the greats, but in some ways, he buries the lead. He’s one of them.”—Mike Birbiglia
“Alan Zweibel is legendary among us comedians. He is the man who delivers comedy with an emotional clout that makes him respected and revered.” —Steve Martin
“I love this book! And it’s not just because Alan says nice things about me. Well, maybe it is.”—Larry David
“I have read the complete works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, and Melville. Trust me, Alan Zweibel is MUCH funnier.”—Dave Barry
“A brilliant book by a brilliant man. I can’t wait to reread it with the TV off.”—Martin Short
“Alan Zweibel is the original man behind the man! I don’t have enough fingers to count how many people would not be where they are without Alan Zweibel. (I only have four fingers, but still . . .)” —Sarah Silverman
"Any comedy fan will thrill to see the contemporary art's invention through the eyes of consummate funny man Alan Zweibel. He takes you behind the velvet rope and makes you weep for all those artists who made us laugh. Screamingly funny—also very moving. A classic."—Mary Karr
"Laugh Lines reminds me of the many long, leisurely lunches I've had with Alan –– filled with laughter, great stories and humanity. He's a completely delicious original!" —Susie Essman
“An amiable, big-lug, heart-of-gold sort of book . . . A pleasant, amusing tale of a life in jokes, suitable for budding comedians and students of the form.”—Kirkus Reviews
“This zippy memoir by comedians’ comedian Zweibel offers laughs on nearly every page . . . hilarious and self-deprecating.”—Publishers Weekly
“Readers will find plenty of new, behind-the-scenes details and celebrity anecdotes. This is a truly fun romp.”—Booklist
“It’s medicine we can all use right now.”—People
“Alan Zweibel is an architect of 20th century comedy”—Vulture
03/01/2020
Zweibel was lucky enough to have been hired by Lorne Michaels to work on the first season of Saturday Night Live, where he wrote for five groundbreaking years. But in this lively memoir, Zweibel stresses that a writer's life is governed by more than luck—passion and persistence through sometimes hilariously spectacular failures are vital, as are endless rewrites. The author recounts his humble beginnings writing set ups and punch lines for aging Borscht Belt comics at seven dollars a joke. He went on to earn four Emmys and a CableACE Award for his television work; a Tony Award for the play 700 Sundays, which he cowrote and produced with longtime friend Billy Crystal; and a Thurber Prize for his novel The Other Shulman. Though Zweibel punctuates his narrative with humor, he holds nothing back when reflecting on dark times in his life and career, among them the death of his soulmate comedian Gilda Radner and the unexpected passing of collaborator Gary Shandling. VERDICT This funny, wise, and touching memoir will resonate with fans of comedy and anyone seeking an intimately told life story.—Jeffrey Hastings, Howell Carnegie Dist. Lib, Howell, MI
2020-02-05
A memoir from an award-winning comedy writer whose collaborators and projects have often garnered a higher profile than him.
Zweibel—who has won multiple Emmy and Writers Guild of America awards, along with a Thurber Prize for his novel, The Other Shulman—has plenty of material to dish about, but his memoir is refreshingly light on dirt and scandal. As his lifelong friend Billy Crystal writes in the foreword, “If life were a forties movie, Alan would be called ‘a big lug.’ He is a large man with a sensitive persona and a heart of gold.” This is an amiable, big-lug, heart-of-gold sort of book, whether Zweibel is recounting the formative years of Saturday Night Live, where he seemingly got along with everyone; or detailing his bitter split with Garry Shandling, with whom he’d partnered on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and with whom he later reconciled. The author’s writing partner at SNL was Gilda Radner, and his book about their relationship gave him his highest-profile publishing success. The deaths of Radner and Shandling bring the narrative into emotional depths that contrast with the rest of the breezy account. Zweibel chronicles how he got his start by selling jokes to the Catskills generation of comedians, at a price that “had soared to ten dollars a joke.” But the 1960s and ’70s experienced a generational sea change, and the author wanted to write and tell the jokes that these older comedians couldn’t. So he took to the stage himself, mainly to advance his writing career, where the man who would introduce him to Lorne Michaels and change his life told him he “was one of the worst comics he’d ever seen.” The career that followed ranges from early exposure to Larry David and Andy Kaufman to recent Broadway collaborations with Crystal and Martin Short.
A pleasant, amusing tale of a life in jokes, suitable for budding comedians and students of the form.
