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would eventually bring to the Rep. Trice floated plenty of suitable options, but Reinhold set a clear bar for the scripts early on.

“I remember saying, ‘I don’t want to do anything thought-provoking,’ and we both laughed,” Reinhold said. “He would send me stuff, and it was funny, but then it could get heavy or too existential. In the end, we just wanted to bring laughter. I think laughter is just as profound as anything a playwright has to say.”

Trice and Reinhold looked for a while before deciding on “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” which Reinhold saw on Broadway during its original run in 1993. “The audience floated out on endorphins,” he recalled.

“I don’t know why I didn’t bring this play up sooner, because I love it so much,” he said. “I think I had to be told that I could do it.”

“Your Show of Shows,” the live TV show on which the play is based, brought together “one of the greatest collaborations of American comedy talent ever,” Reinhold explained. Each character in “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” is based on one of these talents, from Neil Simon and his brother, Danny, to Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.

In addition to the already frantic energy infusing the writers’

I think acting is rearranging the furniture of your personality. You’ve got to take something in the background of yourself and move it to the forefront.

room each week, the play captures a particularly fraught moment, both for the show itself and its historical context.

“At this point in the show, NBC is after them to literally dumb it down,” Reinhold said. “It’s a little too urbane, and they wanted the show to be everything to everybody. At the same time, they’re a hit. The critics love them. As the play opens, they find out that they’ve been cut down to one hour. My character, Max, is under a terrible amount of pressure to hold the show up and satisfy NBC at the same time.”

“Sid was the quickest, the most satirical and the most sophisticated,” he continued. “You had to hold him back. He wanted to be more political, but it was during the McCarthy hearings. This was a very dark, tense time for the creative community.”

The writers are a dysfunctional family, making “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” both a striking family portrait and a study in tenacity. These immense talents at the dawn of their careers bond over the intensity of the work, their frustration with corporate interests and the tension of possibly losing their jobs. Caesar/Prince, as the star of the show, is under the greatest strain of all.

“They would write the show Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, you would block it and figure out where everybody would go. Friday would be the technical with the cameras. Saturday, there’d be a rehearsal, and then they’d do the live show for 60 million people,” Reinhold said. “On Sunday, Sid would sit in the shower and drink.”

On top of his research and fondness for the production, Reinhold also brings a level of real-life experience thanks to his hosting “Saturday Night Live.” Though it only ran for four seasons, “Your Show of Shows” paved the way for “SNL.” As a host, Reinhold had a front-row seat to the panic-inducing pace at which everyone worked.

“You’re throwing the show together while sitting on the front of a speeding locomotive and trying to make it as good as it can be,” he said. “It’s incredibly well-run and organized, but it’s also like a car wreck: you just go through it, and you’re glad to be alive when it’s over.”

When it comes to his performance as Max Prince, Reinhold hopes to stay true to the playwright’s original vision. He quoted Neil Simon, saying, “My comedy is grounded in humanity.” It’s easy to get laughs, thanks to Simon’s writing. What some productions fail to take advantage of, Reinhold said, is the humanity underpinning Simon’s comedy.

“Comedy doesn’t lie. It’s either funny or it’s not,” Reinhold said. “The thing I’m excited about, just as much as bringing laughter, is there’s a whole level of real anxiety and poignancy in the struggle to keep going when the stakes are so high.”

Reinhold, Trice and Edelson are excited to highlight the relatability that infuses Simon’s comedy, and in so doing, to fully realize Simon’s intention. Reinhold added, “It’s always there. If you look for it, it’s there. Many productions miss the opportunity to have the comedy derive from very human situations. Coming at it that way makes the humor twice as rich.”

“It’s not just the jokes; it’s a family in trouble,” he continued. “That’s a universal idea that everyone can relate to. It’s our job – with a great playwright especially – to do what he wanted. He deserves it.”

The most challenging aspect of the role as Reinhold sees it will be emulating the rhythms of Sid Caesar through Max Prince. He

speaks with a deep understanding of the humanity and emotional instability of the character, but Reinhold usually plays a reactor rather than a catalyst. That’s a stark contrast to the “freight train” personality of Caesar/Prince.

“I think acting is rearranging the furniture of your personality. Depending on the role, you’ve got to take something in the background of yourself and move it to the forefront,” he said. “Even though he is more aggressive and assertive, he’s not foreign to me. I get to use that part of myself I haven’t used in my film work.”

The show is “a love letter to comedy,” he said. “We’ve all been through so much. That’s what’s underneath us wanting to do this now. This may sound highfalutin’, but I believe there’s divinity in laughter. It’s a great equalizer when people laugh together. I’m hoping people who have never seen a play before will come, because they know they’re going to laugh and have a great experience with live theater.”