The Sunshine Boys

The Sunshine Boys is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972 on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television. Plot The play's protagonists are Al Lewis and Willie Clark. Lewis and Clark were once a successful vaudevillian comedy duo known as the Sunshine Boys. During the later years of their 43-year run, animosity between the partners grew to the point where they ceased to speak with each other. Eleven years prior to the events of the play, Al retired from show business, leaving Willie struggling to keep his career afloat. Willie, now an old man struggling with memory loss, reluctantly accepts an offer from his nephew Ben, a talent agent, to reunite with Al for a CBS special on the history of comedy. Willie and Al meet in Willie's apartment to rehearse their classic doctor and tax collector sketch. The reunion gets off to a bad start, with the two getting into heated arguments over various aspects of the performance. However, thanks to the urging of Al's daughter, the two decide to go through with the performance. Willie and Al's dress rehearsal at CBS' studio is derailed by Al's aggressive habit of poking Willie's chest with his index finger and spitting at him every time he says a word that has a "T" in it. One of the running gags in “The Sunshine Boys” involves Willie's resentment over having been constantly poked in the chest by his partner's all‐too‐emphatic forefinger in the course of their countless routines on stage. Willie cries, “I had a black and blue hole in my chest. He gave me the finger for 43 years!” As Al walks off the stage in regret, Willie has a heart attack as a result of his agitated state.