In 1982, at the age of 22, he produced THE MARX BROTHERS IN A NUTSHELL, a documentary tribute to his first love(s) which became one of the highest-rated programs in PBS history. Two years later, he produced and directed "The Great Standups: Sixty Years of Laughter" for HBO. In 1986 he received the national prime-time Emmy Award for "W.C. Fields Straight Up," honored as the year's Outstanding Informational Special.
In 1989, Weide produced, wrote and directed "Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition," which aired on PBS' "American Masters" series. From 1990-94 he served as Vice President of Development for Rollins & Joffe Productions (producers of Woody Allen's films) where he executive-produced Larry Gelbart's critically acclaimed political satire, "Mastergate" (1992) for the Showtime Network and Rick Reynolds' one-man confessional, "Only The Truth Is Funny" (1993). He has also produced the HBO specials "But Seriously, Folks" (1986) and "The Lost Minutes of Billy Crystal" (1987).
1996 saw the release of Weide's first feature film as writer/producer, MOTHER NIGHT, based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut. The film starred Nick Nolte, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Sheryl Lee, and Kirsten Dunst. Weide recently adapted Lois Lowry's Newbery Award-winning novel, The Giver for actor Jeff Bridges. He is far along in the writing of a screen adaptation of another Vonnegut novel, The Sirens of Titan.
In 1998, Weide completed a twelve year labor-of-love, his acclaimed documentary LENNY BRUCE: SWEAR TO TELL THE TRUTH. His efforts were rewarded with an Academy Award® nomination for Best Feature Documentary, followed in '99 with an Emmy® award for the film's editing and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special. Still involved in documentaries, he is part-way through film bios on comedian/ activist Dick Gregory and "Kurt Vonnegut: American Made" (scheduled for release in 2009).
In 1999, HBO premiered Weide's comedy special, "Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm," a partly real, partly embellished "mock-umentary" chronicling the return to stand-up by Larry David, co-creator of "Seinfeld." Weide is now the Director and Co-Executive Producer of the series based on this special. The series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," premiered on HBO in the Fall of 2000 to rave reviews and has become HBO's latest comedy hit. The AFI named "Curb" the 2001 Comedy Series of the Year. In 2002 the show received an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Comedy Series, and Weide was nominated as Outstanding Director of a Comedy Series. "Curb" also received the Golden Globe Award in 2003 as Best Television Comedy Series.
In the Fall of 2001, during hiatus from his second season of "Curb," Weide made a foray into live theater, directing Kurt Vonnegut's play, Happy Birthday, Wanda June for a scheduled seven week run at the Elephant Theater in Hollywood. It played to unanimously good reviews and was nominated for two L.A. Weekly Awards: Best Play Revival and Best Comedy Ensemble.
Weide directed HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE, based on Toby Young's memoir and starring Megan Fox, Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Bridges and Gillian Anderson, which is scheduled to be released in 2008.
Nominated for Achievement in Documentary Features 1998: LENNY BRUCE: SWEAR TO TELL THE TRUTH - Producer
1 nomination