Robert B. Weide

W.C. Fields: Straight Up (1986)

Weide co-wrote W. C. Fields: Straight Up (1986) with Joseph Adamson and Ronald J. Fields. Adamson directed it and Dudley Moore narrated. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Weide said, "“The film is 94 minutes long. We had access to all of his feature films, and clips from 1915 on. We have newsreel footage, outtakes, and material never seen before. We also have interviews with people who knew and/or worked with Fields, or have special knowledge of him, including Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Will Fowler, Madge Kennedy, who played in the 1923 stage production of ‘Poppy’ and co-starred in the movie, Leonard Maltin, Ronald J. Fields, propman Harry Caplan and an audio interview with the grown-up Baby Leroy."[3]

Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition (1989)

Weide's next project focused on the career of Mort Sahl.[4] The project was part of the American Masters documentary series, which originally ran on PBS in 1989.[5]

Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998)

In 1998, Weide directed the documentary Swear to Tell the Truth, which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Robert De Niro narrated it and it featured interviews with Bruce's ex-wife Honey, mother Sally Marr and former TV host Steve Allen, who had Bruce on his show a few times. The film debuted on HBO.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Weide was the principal director and an executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm for the show's first five years.[6] He was the recipient of repeated Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the show, and won an Emmy in 2003 for his work as director during its third season. His ending credit on the show became part of a popular meme.[7][8][9]

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2014)

Weide's first feature film as director, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, was released in October 2008, to generally unfavorable reviews,[10] though it topped the United Kingdom's box office during its opening weekend.[11]

Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)

Weide then directed Woody Allen: A Documentary, a two-part film for the American Masters series that aired in 2011.[12] The film takes a look at Allen's nearly seven-decade career as a director and comedian. It features interviews with Allen, Diane Keaton, Scarlett Johansson, Martin Scorsese, Chris Rock, Owen Wilson, Larry David, Penelope Cruz, and Leonard Maltin. The New Yorker critic Richard Brody wrote, "It’s a close look at how Allen’s career was shaped, from his Brooklyn youth to his precocious launch as a comedy writer, his rise to local fame as a standup comedian and to national celebrity on television, his move from screenwriter to director of the 'early, funny' films to internationally lionized auteur to pariah and, gradually, back again."[13]

Weide was the director and main writer for Mr. Sloane, a 2014 British comedy series.