Writing a weekly TV show for a famous comic is anything but easy.Writing a weekly TV show for a famous comic is anything but easy.Writing a weekly TV show for a famous comic is anything but easy.
- Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe following characters are based on the following real-life people as follows: Lucas Brickman on Neil Simon; Max Prince on Sid Caesar; Kenny Franks on Larry Gelbart; Val Slotsky on Mel Tolkin; Brian Doyle on Tony Webster; Milt Fields on Sheldon Keller; Carol Wyman on Lucille Kallen; Ira Stone on Mel Brooks; and Harry Prince on Sid Caesar's brother Dave Caesar. There is no character based on Woody Allen.
- GoofsIra's last name is Chuvney in the film, Stone in the credits.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2001)
Featured review
Neil Simon's play "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" centered on the relationship between a 1950s television comic (based on Sid Caesar and his staff of writers, who worked out of the 23rd floor of a midtown building in Manhattan. This group would talk, confide, fight, and go for each others' throats if the situation - however absurd - warranted it. Underneath the zaniness, hostility or any dilemna, however, was a shared love and talent for creating sketch comedy. And it was this talent that bonded writers and comic together and, when all smoke cleared, made them realize that they did in fact care for what they did, and for each other. Max Prince (the Sid Caesar model), and his writers. The writers and Max Prince. He needed them, they needed him. Together they needed comedy. This play was indeed a fine ensemble. Every character is defined. None are short-changed in depth. Would have been a novel approach for the film. Understandably, a film version of a stage script needs some change and adaptation so as to not be a confined, filmed play. When this transition goes so far afield, however, changing the intention and focus of the original piece, there seems to be no point in adapting it to film at all. The film "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" plays like a sequel to an original that was never made (like maybe the play?) The film focuses on Max Prince's relationships with virtually everyone (including his dead parents in a cemetary scene), EXCEPT the writers. Characters who were not even in the play become the main supporting cast, while the writers are left as incidental characters. Considering those who are playing the writers - Victor Garber, Mark Linn-Baker, Saul Rubinek, Dan Castellaneta, among others - a fine pool of talent is genuinely squandered, with nothing to do except occassionally react to and comment on the changing state of The Max Prince show. As a result, when Max makes the heartfelt statement that his writers mean everything to him, the point is lost, because there has been little interaction with them A more fitting title for this film would be "The Travels and Travails of Max Prince". Why this instead of "Laughter on the 23rd Floor"? Because Max hardly spends any TIME on the 23rd floor!
- mercutio-8
- Apr 2, 2002
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Laughter on the twenty-third floor
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Laughter on the 23rd Floor (2001) officially released in India in English?
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