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.

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.

One of the running gags[1] 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.

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.

The undercurrent of backstage hostility between "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by the team of Gallagher and Shean, who were successful professionally but argumentative personally.

Clive Barnes, The New York Times chief theatre critic, reviewed the original Broadway production on December 21, 1972, stating: "The Sunshine Boys is probably Mr. Simon's best play yet.

Director Alan Arkin recalled[12] in an interview with The New York Times, "Now they work as collaboratively as did Smith and Dale, the legendary team on which “The Sunshine Boys” is partly based."

New York Post Theatre Critic Richard Watts Jr. observed[13] "Jack Albertson and Sam Levene offer the best team acting since Gielgud and Richardson in Home".

In a 2013 review of the Hirsch/Devito cast at the Ahmanson Theatre, Myron Meisel observed: It’s been more than 40 years since The Sunshine Boys first graced Broadway (with the still unimprovable Jack Albertson and Sam Levene), nearly as long in the tooth as the "Smith and Dale" sketch “Dr.

Simon fashioned a new, improved update on the routine for his fictional team of Lewis & Clark (Hirsch & DeVito), and his knowledgeable ear for what was then vintage and is now antique humor allows him to bring these anachronistic stylings into a then-contemporary comic setting without compromising the integrity of their original zingy ballsiness.