It was a moment he knew was coming.
Two men, one umbrella, one rainy New York day.
Robert Weide, executive producer and primary director of the HBO hit comedy series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” was involved in one of those uncomfortable moments that has made the show one of the most talked-about comedies on TV. In town with “Curb” star and “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David, Weide found himself on the other end of David’s legendary stare.
As Weide describes it, “We were at a hotel, and it started to rain. I left my umbrella in the room. We were downstairs getting into a cab, and [Larry] got an umbrella from the door guy. When we arrived at our destination, and got out of the cab, I knew exactly what was going to happen.
“He was going to be the one with the umbrella, and the question would arise, ‘Is it too gay for two men to share an umbrella and walk down the street together?'” Weide explained. The event was jotted down in a little notebook David carries at all times to log ideas for future episodes. Fans may even see an episode centered around the struggle of two men to share one little umbrella.
This kind of story development should come as no surprise to fans of David, though. After all, he was the basis for the character of George Costanza on “Seinfeld.” In an episode titled “The Pitch,” Costanza and Jerry Seinfeld brought a show about “nothing” to NBC. It was this same kind of pitch that first brought Larry David to Robert Weide.
Weide, at the time, was the vice president of development for Rollins and Joffe (Woody Allen’s film company) and encountered a script titled “Prognosis Negative,” written by the virtually unknown David.
For Weide, it was just too good to overlook. Although the title of the film would work its way into an episode of “Seinfeld” (in which Jerry panned the film), the real screenplay is remembered differently by Weide.
“The script that he brought into us remains to this day one of the funniest scripts I’ve read. It’s typical Larry David. The basic plotline is, a George Costanza-type guy in his late 20s or early 30s was unable to commit to relationships and would break up with one girlfriend after another. Then he discovered an old girlfriend of his, whom he quite liked: a) is terminally ill, and b) she doesn’t know it. His character thinks this is the perfect relationship because he can commit to her, and in a few months it will be over and no one will be the wiser,” Weide remembered.
Ultimately, the prognosis turned out to be a mistake, and the terminally misdiagnosed girlfriend ends up fine. The main character’s intentions are uncovered, and he has a lot of explaining to do.
It’s that same kind of twisted humor that has found a home on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Whether battling the neighbors or accusing HBO execs of stealing shrimp, “Curb” continually treads new comedic waters.
The show began as a one-off comedy special directed by Weide entitled “Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm.” The “mockumentary” was supposed to trace David’s return to stand-up comedy after the break-out success of “Seinfeld.”
In 2000, the series version of “Curb” premiered and was instantly embraced by a legion of fans that had thirsted for the raw humor of a “Seinfeld”- type program on cable television. In July, the show received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, and Weide was nominated as Outstanding Director of a Comedy Series.
The Emmy Awards will be broadcast September 22nd.
“After being rejected from USC’s film school for the third time, Bob Weide figured he was destined to become a filmmaker,” reads the acclaimed director’s biography. It’s that kind of wry, sarcastic humor that has made him a confidant of David and the primary director on “Curb.”
According to Weide, “I never set out to have any sort of career in series television. I could have gone that route and started as a freelance television writer and then gone on staff and try to become an executive producer, but I was just never interested in any of that.”
“This started as a lark, with Larry asking me to direct the special. My duties on that sort of leaped beyond straight directing and into areas of producing, again because there was no script,” he explained.
Weide’s work is not limited to his comedic series work with David. His 1998 documentary, “Lenny Bruce: Swear To Tell The Truth,” was a 12-year obsession that was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary. In 1999, Weide captured an Emmy award for the film’s editing and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Nonfiction Special. Earlier in his career, Weide won an Emmy for his 1986 PBS documentary on W.C. Fields. Weide has still found time to begin film biographies on comedian/activist Dick Gregory and author Kurt Vonnegut. He directed and produced a film adaptation of the Vonnegut classic “Mother Night.”
The widely publicized fact that “Curb” operates largely without a script perplexes fans of standard series television. But simply because the show lacks a script doesn’t make it any less work for the cast and crew.
“There’s an upside and a downside. The upside is that you’re not up till three in the morning breaking scripts, because we don’t have script deadlines, the most awful part of working on a typical sitcom.
“On ‘Curb,’ Larry will write the story outline, and then, he and I will talk on the phone during our hiatus period. By the time we shoot, we’ve got all 10 story outlines for the season,” Weide explained.
Having gained David’s trust, Weide is a frequent contributor and occasional actor on the show.
“Sometimes I’ll contribute entire b-stories; other times we’ll talk it through and tweak it together, so that’s an upside. We’re not always fighting script deadlines while we’re shooting the show,” Weide said.
The downside for Weide is meeting the shooting deadlines of a given episode.
“You’ve got everything set up, you’ve got the crew standing there, ready to shoot, and it’s just like, ‘OK, let’s see if this works,’ and the same thing that makes it a little terrifying also makes it exciting and challenging and makes me thrilled to work on it,” he said.
Weide has proven to be a versatile director, up for the challenge of whatever project may present itself at any given time. In the right place at the right time, he formed an alliance with one of TV’s most notorious “characters,” and together they solidified their place in the comedy history books.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is set to begin another season of uncomfortable laughs this Sunday, Sept. 15, following the season premiere of “The Sopranos.”
