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<p>« What the Heck Happened to You, Ned Holness?! | Main| The Facetime | Andrew W.K. By: Becky Ciletti » Friday Feb 16 2007  Alan Zweibel's "The History of Me" @ The PIT - 2.15.7</p>
<p>Friday, February 16, 2007 at 7:52AM By: Keith Huang</p>
<p>Alan Zweibel's foray into comedy and show business came by default. In the beginning, the nice Jewish boy from Long Island meant to be a lawyer, but repeated attempts at lifting his LSAT scores only brought failure, largely due to his "vegetable mentality," he says. But it was through failure that Zweibel ultimately found the opportunity to pursue his dream of becoming a professional comedy writer.</p>
<p>On Thursday night at The People's Improv Theater, Zweibel (pronounced zwigh-BELL) workshopped his one-man show, "The History of Me." Zweibel, who has been writing comedy since the '70s, is perhaps best known for the five years he spent writing for the original cast of Saturday Night Live, though other credits include "It's Garry Shandling's Show" and numerous well-known screenplays, books and television scripts.</p>
<p>But even as he approaches 60, Zweibel, who has won five Emmies, six Ace Awards and two Writers Guild of America Awards, is still challenging himself: "I'm a comedy writer," he begins the show. "I'm not used to being out in front of an audience like this."</p>
<p>In the discreet elegance of oral tradition, "The History of Me" finds Zweibel sharing his private stash of anecdotes that have been cut like diamonds after countless years of tellings for friends and family. As expected, Zweibel talks about his salad days at SNL.</p>
<p>"The most fun I ever had was when I was working at the beginning of that show," he says. "We put on the fourth-grade play every week. It was a communal thing." Throughout, Zweibel drops the big names of comedy -- Lorne Michaels, Freddy Roman, Buck Henry, Belushi, Akroyd, Crystal -- but he does it without braggadocio. These comedy statesmen are merely reference points in his personal timeline of American comedy.</p>
<p>Above them all, though, Zweibel lauds Gilda Radner, his mensch, muse, first friend and comedic collaborator at SNL (together they would create the legendary "Roseanne Roseannadanna" and "Emily Litella"). In fact, for "History of Me," Zweibel assumedly winnowed down his Radner commentary since he's already written a book, "Bunny Bunny: Gilda Radner -- A Sort of Love Story," from which he also adapted a successful play.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, in one touching story, Zweibel describes visiting Radner during the early stages of her ovarian cancer. "In her house there were pictures of all of our kids -- Harold Ramis's kids, Marty Short's kids, my kids, everyone's kids," he says. "She just wanted to be reminded of hope and optimism. And she became this incredible symbol that you can lead a quality of life even though you have this affliction."</p>
<p>With these stories, Zweibel the comedy writer knows that attention to, and respect for detail is often the simple catalyst for human emotion. And Zweibel has been around audiences long enough to know there's a fine line between keeping people engaged with stories of the "old days" and becoming self-indulgent. But with each turn in his show, Zweibel pointedly reveals a simple truth about his career and life. And as any comedy maven knows, truth is the atomic substance from which the best comedy is derived. Zweibel will showcase "The History of Me" at the upcoming HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen, Colorado.</p>
<p>-- Keith Huang is a regular contributor to The Apiary and Gelf Magazine.</p>
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