“If I die, bill the funeral to NBC. ” This line from Laughter on the 23rd Floor, by Neil Simon, is one of the many comical lines in this play.This play is about what goes on in the workplace of comedy writers for a comedian on NBC. I like this book, as it made me laugh a lot. However, this book should not be required for Maine South Junior to read. It lacks a suitable plot, a meaningful theme, teenagers cannot relate to it and it doesn’t challenge the reader enough.

What makes a play good? Most people would say it is the plot. According to Aaron Shep, the basic necessities of a interesting plot are: conflict begins, things go right, things go wrong, final victory (or defeat), and wrap-up. A good play has an exciting, major conflict that the main character runs into. Some prime examples would be a death in the family, or a broken leg to a basketball star. The only conflict the characters face in Laughter on the 23rd Floor is very minor. Max, the comedian, is told he has to fire one of his writers because NBC has to cut the budget. However, one of his writers is leaving for work in Hollywood, so he doesn’t even have to make a hard decision. Therefore, he isn’t conquering any task too big for him like a main character should have to do in a play. I wouldn’t even see this as a play. It is more like a conversation or a comedy skit. Several writers sit in a room for two days and make fun of each other and tell jokes all day. I can see it being used as a Saturday Night Live skit; it would be strikingly fitting. Journal Arts Writer, Channing Gray agrees with me, proposing, “There is not much in the way of an overarching plot to this show, just a chance sit around and listen to some very funny people play off one another, and to, sadly, see an early and great television institution wither” (Gray) I think that adding a more major conflict to the story would do it justice. For example, if the comedian died and one of the writers had to take his place, it would add length and an interesting conflict to motivate the reader to keep reading. When I got passed the conflict and realized the book was almost over, I was shocked, confused, and upset. There was a good, long lead up to it, and then it was so minor and boring that I was disappointed. When the most important part of a play fails, the rest is history.

A suitable plot isn't the only thing lacking in this play. In order to have a play read by Maine South Juniors, it is essential that the play has a meaningful theme. In Laughter on the 23rd Floor, the theme isn’t meaningful. A meaningful theme should make a difference. In order for a theme to make a difference, it needs to teach the audience a lesson. The lesson taught should help the reader sometime in his/her life. For example, an effective theme would teach me not to lie, cheat, or steal. Cliche? Yes, but it gets the point across. I couldn’t tell you what the theme to this play is. It’s hard to tell if there is one. If that is the case, it’s a major problem. The plays Maine South Junior read throughout high school should teach us something about life. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, we learn that love is stronger than hate, and people will do anything to express their love for one another. That is a lesson learned that will help us in life. The theme that I think Simon is trying to get across to the audience is to not jump to conclusions. It’s not an exciting theme but a theme nonetheless. When Max told the workers he needed to fire someone, the whole room panicked and everyone mentioned who the thought it would be. In the end, someone had to leave anyway so it worked out, but if Max fired someone immediately, there would’ve been a problem. The budget problems were never solved either. “ I would’ve followed Max to the ends of the earth… But the earth went off air on June first… And we all went our separate ways”(Simon II). The character didn’t overcome anything. In one case, it was solved for him, and in the other, he fails. How does that teach us anything?

It is vital for Maine South Juniors to be able to relate to the play and having them read a play about somebody losing their full-time job due to budget cuts would be foolish considering nobody at Maine South has one making it irrelevant. Nobody in our grade can relate to this book in any way. In Romeo and Juliet and Othello, characters face problems with love, a topic that high schoolers can somewhat relate to, but still experience a little. Teenagers know little to nothing about having a full time job. We complain whenever our parents ask us to clean up around the house or mow the lawn. Most of us don’t even know what we wanna do when we are older. This play is about older people who are already committed to an occupation. Also this play makes a lot of references to political figures who were popular back then. How should any high schooler know who they are? Most don’t even know political figure who are currently in office.

The reason plays are taught in a classroom is because they are challenging to read, especially as a teenager. Othello and Romeo and Juliet were the hardest pieces of literature I have ever read. They were hard to follow, mostly because of their language. However, Laughter on the 23rd Floor isn’t challenging to read. Unlike Shakespeare, Simon uses language that we still use today. Also, his word choice isn’t at a high school level. There are little to no vocabulary words in this play that I have not seen before, including swear words. There are a lot of swear words in this book. “be prepared to hear the F-word plenty of times” (Higgins). I read right through this book, without having to stop and reread or analyze it like other books we’ve read. There aren’t a lot of characters you need to remember and they are all with each other all the time. Also, the setting never changes, it is always in a conference room. If I were to recommend this play to a grade level, it would be 5th graders.

If Maine South teachers tried to teach Laughter on the 23rd Floor, by Neil Simon, to students, it would fail. I will admit, this book made me laugh a lot. Joe Siegel states “Laughter is filled with non-stop gags and one-liners as the writers try to one-up each other and lay claim to the show’s funniest writer” (Siegel). However, it lacks a suitable plot, a meaningful theme, teenagers cannot relate to it and doesn’t challenge the reader enough. Those are valid reasons for why this book shouldn’t be required to read for Maine South Juniors. I would be surprised to see this on the syllabus for Juniors at Maine South. If it is, students will not learn anything