Have you people read this script yet?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B50l484pDaMobXI2Wk5CX0NMbkU/view

A bit dark, but classic Seinfeld.

It's definitely very dark. But as an exercise in comedy writing (this guy is not an actual Seinfeld writer) it's really well done and captures their voices really well.

The last scene of act 1 when George is in bed with the widow is my favorite. Really funny.

"Which is why I can't imagine... I can only know"

Still reading through it but...

Talking about seeing the dust in her teeth.

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Jerry:It was all I could see! It was coming at me like a 747!

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Yeesh.

Still, seems pretty funny. Dark, but funny.

yeah, some of Jerry's storyline are a bit much. But George and Kramer's go just far enough I think

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The last scene of act 1 when George is in bed with the widow is my favorite. Really funny.

"Which is why I can't imagine... I can only know"

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This scene and line got me laughing so hard. That is a perfect George line. This was very well done.

Excellent!

Not to sound like a monster but I m glad we can finally start treating this as a historic event and not some untouchable sacred thing that must not be viewed in any light other than holy reverence

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Not to sound like a monster but I m glad we can finally start treating this as a historic event and not some untouchable sacred thing that must not be viewed in any light other than holy reverence

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Maybe we can treat it as a historical event AND treat it with reverence?

I miss this show so GD much.

Seems pretty trashy. I bet a comedy about Pearl Harbor would be a huge hit. Why would anyone want to laugh about 9/11 or make light of it in any way?

I actually thought this script got the characters down perfectly. They're all so narcissistic that even an event like 9/11 doesn't shake the show about nothing. A very interesting read after the fact.

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Seems pretty trashy. I bet a comedy about Pearl Harbor would be a huge hit. Why would anyone want to laugh about 9/11 or make light of it in any way?

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ummmm yeah...."lighten up francis" seems apropos here.

It's not making light of what happened. It's actually barely related in that they live in NY and the aftermath in effect, and how petty and narcissistic and self centered these characters are and would be in that scenario.

As for comedies in the face of tragedy....

Many people heralded SNL for exactly that following 9/11....we had to get back to some sense of normalcy. Comedy is a part of that. Likewise the comedy late night shows took off a week or s from their standup routines and punchlines but soon returned.

Pearl Harbor...ok while not a direct reference well the movie "1941" was a pretty directly related spoof of the post Pearl Harbor panic that ensued. And damn funny.

I've seen so far mostly positive responses to this in the media - it's mostly about those characters and their shallowness.

Like I said, this was done as a sort of writing exercise: can I get the voices of those characters right, and try to find their humor in the face of something that is inherently devoid of humor? For me, I wasn't laughing AT 9/11, I was enjoying the technical feat of such a seemingly impossible premise.

I still yell "Hollywood! Hollywood" and time I see a chick skinny dipping

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Like I said, this was done as a sort of writing exercise: can I get the voices of those characters right, and try to find their humor in the face of something that is inherently devoid of humor? For me, I wasn't laughing AT 9/11, I was enjoying the technical feat of such a seemingly impossible premise.

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Same here. That was very well done.

I just finished reading it. Incredibly well done and genuinely funny. It felt exactly like a late season Seinfeld. I could picture every scene and every line. It was perfect. Every single character and line and nuance. Just perfect.

I'm not going to say "shame on them" or anything, but I didn't think it was that funny. I stopped reading about a quarter of the way through. I can laugh at one or two tasteless jokes, but after a while I realized that I don't really feel like laughing about 9/11.

Kramer: "I thought he was going to write his Congressman!"

Wonder if this board would still find the humor in it if this was about Bonfire?

Count me in the group that thinks there are some things that are off limits. Especially when we are only 15 years removed from the event and very much involved in a war against the forces that caused it.

Nothing is off limits.

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Nothing is off limits.

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Yeah that's a standard line trotted out by comedians in an attempt to justify their beyond the pale jokes. Usually accompanied by a healthy undertone of self appointed defender of the 1st Amendment rhetoric.

I disagree. There are limits to good taste and decorum. The murder 3,000 innocent people isn't funny in any shape form or fashion.
Sure it's their right, but that doesn't make it "okay".

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in time, Nothing is off limits.

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Added an important bit for you.

If there was a sitcom about the most vile posters on Texags and if they made an episode show casing how despicable they are by using the bonfire tragedy as a backdrop... I would probably watch it and laugh if it was written well.

Because I realize using a historic event as a backdrop in no means diminishes is the importance or significance or cultural sensitivity of that event.

If they made an episode of making fun of the incident that's another issue

I feel like I need to be clear I would not see a comedy about 9/11 or a comedy about the bonfire tragedy but I would see a comedy set in the days after if a very skilled and talented writer could do it effectively.

I thought the script was funny because of the ludicrousness of it. Those characters, known primarily for their unabashed narcissism and set against the back brackdrop of 9/11. The absurdity and impropriety of their actions is what makes it funny. It's not laughing at 9/11. It's laughing at how poorly those characters are acting with respect to 9/11.

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I feel like I need to be clear I would not see a comedy about 9/11 or a comedy about the bonfire tragedy but I would see a comedy set in the days after if a very skilled and talented writer could do it effectively.

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I, and I think others, understand the distinction. Still, I just can't "go there". I go to page 5 or 6 whenever Kramer reveals that he loaned box cutters to Mohammad Atta before I shut it down. Just can't.

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I feel like I need to be clear I would not see a comedy about 9/11 or a comedy about the bonfire tragedy but I would see a comedy set in the days after if a very skilled and talented writer could do it effectively.

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I, and I think others, understand the distinction. Still, I just can't "go there". I go to page 5 or 6 whenever Kramer reveals that he loaned box cutters to Mohammad Atta before I shut it down. Just can't.

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yep. there was no "haha" there for me. at all.

Is this an episode? Or a script for a future episode?

9/11 was mentioned on Curb your enthusiasm.. a person talks about how someone died on 9/11, but Larry finds out the person was uptown, and just died from getting hit by a bike messenger. The next time this person says it to someone, Larry is there, and he does his classic '...uh.. well, he didnt' really die FROM 9/11, he just died on 9/11.. you're misrepresenting how he died' and they get in an uproar..

It was a spec script from a comedy writer not affiliated with the show. It was like a writing exercise.

I read it. Sure it was dark, and sure some of it was not in good taste, but I certainly could picture each of those characters and hear their voices, and damn some of that was funny. This writer did capture the essence of these characters very well, I think.

Now would I have wanted to actually see that made? Probably not. Too soon. The reference to 1941 related to Pearl Harbor is somewhat appropriate, but consider that the movie 1941 came out nearly 40 years after Pearl Harbor. The movie was hilarious, but I doubt it would have even been considered to be filmed had that script come out in, say, 1955.

I got as far as page 7. The words coming out of Elaine's mouth were bad enough- her character was self absorbed, but nowhere near evil- but I bailed out at the reference to the box cutter. In the movie 1941 the attack on Pearl Harbor loomed over every aspect of the story, but as best I remember there were no direct references such as this or that person was killed or injured. Also, you have to remember that in the year 1941 the world was much larger and Hawaii was a world away. Probably 95% of the people on this board grew up in a world where Hawaii had always been a state; it's statehood was declared by Eisenhower just a few days before the beginning of my eighth grade year.

Elaine avoiding the breakup dinner because of 9/11. That was hilarious.

Laughed loudly at Jerry's comment about donating George's brain.