Inspired to become a comedy writer by watching Dick Van Dyke play one on TV in the early 1960s, this self-described "huge Jew from Long Island" became an accomplished jokesmith, TV writer, producer, and series creator. He started out selling one-liners to stand-up comics, honed his writing skills on "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975-80), and became a driving force on "It's Garry Shandling's Show" (Showtime, Fox, 1986-90). Zweibel is also a novelist, lyricist, and playwright. At age 24, he was still slinging sliced meat as a Queens deli clerk and living with his mother when hired as an "apprentice" writer by producer-writer Lorne Michaels for the fledgling "Saturday Night Live". This was a Writers Guild concession that allowed Michaels to round out the "SNL" writing staff with several neophytes who were paid well below the normal Guild minimum. Zweibel turned out to be an excellent investment.
Though not known as a creator of comic characters, Zweibel quickly became the primary writer of some of "SNL"'s most beloved recurring bits. For example, the pre-"SNL" John Belushi developed a samurai character based on Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" (1961) and "Sanjuro" (1962), Tom Schiller had the idea of placing him in various mundane professions, and Zweibel began scripting the series beginning with the second installment, "Samurai Deli". He went on to pen such gems as "Samurai Tailor", "Samurai Divorce Court", and "Samurai Psychiatrist". Similarly performer Gilda Radner and writer Tom Davis created the popular and sweetly befuddled Emily Litella, Rosie Shuster scripted her first "Weekend Update" appearance, and Zweibel took over for the (long) duration. His fruitful collaboration with Radner produced another viewer favorite: the vulgar frizzy-haired correspondent Roseanne Roseannadanna. As one of the two main writers on the "Weekend Update" segments, Zweibel also wrote for Garrett Morris' popular Chico Escuela character.
After making his feature debut as a writer for "Gilda Live" (1980), Radner's charming performance film, Zweibel left "SNL" after five seasons. He joined much of the old "SNL" behind-the-scenes staff to work on Michaels' ill-fated variety series "The New Show" (NBC, 1984). Zweibel later joined forces with quirky comic Shandling to create, produce, and write "It's Garry Shandling's Show". This superior showcase was a postmodern twist on traditional sitcoms about entertainers such as "The Jack Benny Show" and "Burns and Allen". Shandling, playing himself, often broke the "fourth wall" to address the studio audience and had boldly artificial adventures sometimes involving other celebrities also playing themselves. A hit on cable, the series enjoyed a vigorous second life on Fox. During this period, Zweibel also co-wrote the successful comedy version of the classic TV cop series "Dragnet" (1987) starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks. As a TV creator, his next project was the limited sitcom "The Boys" which featured a collection of great old character actors in a failing men's club.
Zweibel continued to work as a creator-producer-writer in TV comedy in the 90s. He refereed "Good Sports" (CBS, 1991), a winning romantic comedy series about mismatched co-anchors (Ryan O'Neal, Farrah Fawcett) on an all-sports cable station and implored that we "Please Watch the John Lovitz Special" (Fox, 1992), a live pilot for an unsold series featuring the "SNL" alumnus. Zweibel then adapted his fanciful novel "North" for a big screen project. This surreal kiddie revolt comedy featured Elijah Wood as a child who becomes a free agent when his parents underappreciate him. Though boasting some stellar talent in front of and behind the camera, "North" (1994) went south at the box office and met with critical derision. This also marked Zweibel's feature producing debut.