Culture & Cocktails Kicks Off 20th Season

(Photo Credit: Premier Photo)
L-R: Bill Boggs, Alan Zweibel, Dave Lawrence

(Press Release) (Lake Worth Beach, FL – January 14, 2025) Dave Lawrence, President & CEO of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County welcomed 100+ friends and fans to the first of three fun and fascinating conversations during the 20th and final season of the popular series CULTURE & COCKTAILS At The Ben in downtown West Palm Beach. The topic on January 6 was:

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LAUGH LINES
From Gilda Radner & Billy Crystal to Dave Barry & Larry David
A Chat with Emmy & Tony Award® Winning Comedy Writer
ALAN ZWEIBEL
2025 is the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live and the legendary Alan Zweibel was one of the show’s original writers. The winner of five Emmy Awards, his creative output includes It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (which he co-created and produced), The Late Show with David Letterman, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. A frequent guest on all the late-night talk shows, Zweibel’s theatrical contributions include his collaboration with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award winning play 700 Sundays, Martin Short’s Broadway hit Fame Becomes Me, and six off-Broadway plays including Bunny Bunny – Gilda Radner: A Sort of Romantic Comedy, which he adapted from his best-selling book. Zweibel has written 11 books including his cultural memoir titled Laugh Lines – My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier; the 2006 Thurber Prize winning novel The Other Shulman; the popular children’s book Our Tree Named Steve, a parody of the Haggadah — For This We Left Egypt? which he wrote with Dave Barry and Adam Mansbach, and Lunatics co-written with Dave Barry. In addition, he has appeared in episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Law & Order and can be seen in the documentary The Last Laugh about humor and the Holocaust; Judd Apatow’s Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling (HBO), Gilbert about the life of Gilbert Gottfried, and the Emmy nominated CNN documentary he executive produced titled Love, Gilda.
 
Zweibel was interviewed by Bill Boggs, satirical novelist as author of the acclaimed Spike The Wonder Dog series, four-time Emmy Award-winning TV talk show host and producer, a professional speaker, and author of four acclaimed books. His shows ran on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, ESPN, The Food Network, The Travel Channel, and Showtime, and hundreds of his interviews can be found at BillBoggsTV on YouTube.
 
The remaining CULTURE & COCKTAILS conversations in 2025 include:
 
February 24
DIVINE DRAMATIC DIVAS
Dishing with Andrew Kato and Three Celebrated Actors:
Elizabeth Dimon, Angie Radosh, and Karen Stephens
 
April 14
THE ULTIMATE MUSICAL FINALE
With Rob Russell, Avery Sommers & Special Surprise Guests
 
The Ben is located at 251 N. Narcissus Avenue in West Palm Beach. Free valet parking will be provided for each of the Monday evening CULTURE & COCKTAILS conversations, running from 5 to 7 pm.
 
The 20th Anniversary Season of CULTURE & COCKTAILS is generously sponsored so far by The Roe Green Foundation, Roe Green, Founder; Donald M. Ephraim Family Foundation; Scott Teich, Senior Vice President, Teich Wealth Management of Raymond James; The Gardens Mall; Lesser Landy Smith & Siegel, PLLC; Seacoast Bank; Palm Beach Media Group; Palm Beach Daily News; Legends Radio; and PR-BS, a Boca-based public relations firm. Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available.
 
Please Note:
Admission to each CULTURE & COCKTAILS At The Ben is $125 per person, and $165 for VIP Seating. To purchase tickets, please call 561.471.2901 or visit https://www.palmbeachculture.com/council-events/council-special-events/culture-cocktails/.
 
All proceeds from CULTURE & COCKTAILS go to support the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County’s mission to nurture, promote, and support a healthy, diverse, and inclusive cultural sector.
 
Topics and speakers are subject to change depending upon the availability of scheduled participants.