With his tender, funny memoir of four decades in the business, Alan Zweibel traces the history of American comedy.
Alan Zweibel started his comedy career selling jokes for seven dollars apiece to the last of the Borscht Belt standups. Then one night, despite bombing on stage, he caught the attention of Lorne Michaels and became one of the first writers at
Saturday Night Live
, where he penned classic material for Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and all of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players. From
SNL
, he went on to have a hand in a series of landmark shows—from
It’s Garry Shandling’s Show
to
Curb Your Enthusiasm
.
Throughout
Laugh Lines
, Zweibel weaves together his own stories and interviews with his friends and contemporaries, including Richard Lewis, Eric Idle, Bob Saget, Mike Birbiglia, Sarah Silverman, Judd Apatow, Dave Barry, Carl Reiner, and more. The book also features a charming foreword from his friend of forty-five years, Billy Crystal, with whom he cowrote and coproduced the film
Here Today
starring Crystal and Tiffany Haddish.
is a warmhearted cultural memoir of American comedy.