Alan Zweibel Movies and Career Information

Alan Zweibel (born May 20, 1950) is an American producer and writer who has worked on such productions as Saturday Night Live, PBS' Great Performances, and It's Garry Shandling's Show. Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, Zweibel grew up in the New York City suburbs of Wantagh and Woodmere on Long Island. He graduated from George W. Hewlett High School in 1968 and The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York in 1972. Upon graduation from college, Zweibel started writing for stand-up comedians who paid him seven dollars a joke. He later compiled over 1,100 of them into a portfolio which he showed to producer Lorne Michaels who then hired Zweibel to be one of the original writers of a new show called Saturday Night Live. During his five years at SNL (1975–1980), Zweibel wrote many memorable sketches including the Samurai for John Belushi, and helped to create the characters of Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella, both played by Gilda Radner. In fact, on Weekend Update, Radner read letters supposedly from Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey who in real life was Zweibel's brother-in-law and did live in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Zweibel’s close friendship and