Throwback Thursday: Comedy Writer Alan Zweibel Tells a Funny Story About Simon and Garfunkel

Alan Zweibel is a funny guy. He's been writing comedy since graduating from college, when he 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 5 years at Saturday Night Live (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 portrayed by Gilda Radner. As an in-joke, Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey, a name and hometown often associated with the Roseannadanna character, was Zweibel's real life brother-in-law and did live in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Today's post comes from a book that he wrote -- The Other Shulman – a novel that won the 2006 Thurber Prize for American Humor. 

In an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Zweibel read a funny excerpt from the book in which the Shulman character, on the verge of failing a college poetry class,  plagiarizes the lyrics from Simon and Garfunkel's mega-hit, The Boxer, and reads it as poetry in a class taught by an ancient, clueless professor. 

After watching the video, we felt an urge to watch Simon and Garfunkel singing The Boxer. You'll find it, from their 1981 concert in Central Park, just below the Zweibel video.

Enjoy! 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



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Comedian Robert Klein in Funny Routine About Ordering a Kosher Meal on an Airline

Last year the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research hosted an exhibition and panel discussion at the Center for Jewish History titled Professional Jokers: Jewish Jesters from the Golden Age of American Comedy.

The panel discussion on Jews and comedy featured comedian Robert Klein, comedy writer Alan Zweibel, Old Jewish Comedians artist Drew Friedman, The Comedians author Kliph Nesteroff, Jewish popular culture scholar Dr. Eddy Portnoy, and comedian Gilbert Gottfried. The panel was  moderated by comedy writer Frank Santopadre.

We found the complete panel discussion, running for an hour and 40 minutes, on YouTube. It was very funny, as you might expect. Also, as you might expect, the discussion covered a wide range of the panelists' recollections of their experiences with some of the great comedians of our time, some of which venture into territory that is clearly not family-friendly.

Because we try to post only clean comedy we're sharing a short excerpt from the program in which Robert Klein does a funny routine about the experience of ordering a kosher meal on an airplane. YouTube usage rules don't let us cut pieces from a video, but we're starting the video at the beginning of Klein's routine and ending it at the end. 

If you don't shy away from really funny adult Jewish humor, you can easily find the whole program on YouTube.

Enjoy! 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.