David S. Weiss is an American comedy writer. He has written for

Dennis Miller Live ''Dennis Miller Live'' was a weekly talk show on HBO, hosted by comedian Dennis Miller. The show ran 215 episodes from 1994 to 2002, and received five Emmy awards and 11 Emmy nominations. It was also nominated six times for the Writers Guild of A ...

, CNBC's "Dennis Miller",

The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn ''The Late Late Show'' is an American late-night television talk and variety comedy show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, who was followed by Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and current host James Corden. The show ...

, and Penn & Teller: Bullshit!. In 2005, he ran unsuccessfully for the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

board of directors. From March 2007, he was

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

sidekick on

The Dennis Miller Show ''The Dennis Miller Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Dennis Miller. The show launched in January 1992 and was hosted by the former ''Saturday Night Live'' Weekend Update anchor as an attempt b ...

, where he was referred to as "Salman," or "Sal". Miller assigned Weiss the moniker early in their time working together, due to his purported resemblance to Sir

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...

. He was also referred to as " Count Dracu-sal" and an eerie organ music cue (

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music written, according to its oldest extant sources, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). The piece opens with a toccata section, followed by a fugue that ends in a coda. Schol ...

) was played whenever he made funny and/or cryptic remarks that reflected his penchant for

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

. Miller also frequently referred to "Sal" as his "go-to Jew", when he needed some inside information on Jewish culture and customs. Weiss is a banjo player. On February 17, 2009, after not missing a radio show for the first two years, Dennis Miller nicknamed the dark-humored comic the "Cal Ripken of Hate". During the February 22nd, 2010 show, it was announced on air Weiss would be leaving the show February 26 to pursue other opportunities. He is married to television writer and story editor Joan Binder Weiss.

External links

* American television writers American male television writers Living people Primetime Emmy Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-tv-bio-stub