The Odd Couple

by Neil Simon

Comedy / 6m, 2f / Int. This classic comedy opens as a group of the guys assembled for cards in the apartment of divorced Oscar Madison. And if the mess is any indication, it's no wonder that his wife left him. Late to arrive is Felix Unger who has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious, depressed and none too tense, Felix seems suicidal, but as the action unfolds Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean-freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together with hilarious results as The Odd Couple is born. "His skill is not only great but constantly growing...There is scarcely a moment that is not hilarious." - The New York Times "Fresh, richly hilarious and remarkably original. Wildly, irresistibly, incredibly and continuously funny." - New York Daily News

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Classics, Humor, Fiction, Comedy

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 plays and he received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer. He was one of the most reliable hitmakers in Broadway history, as well as one of the most performed playwrights in the world. Though primarily a comic writer, some of his plays, particularly the Eugene Trilogy and The Sunshine Boys, reflect on the twentieth century Jewish-American experience.

Reviews

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado me he reído que es lo que cuenta, además he ido recordando la película que vi, hace ya....
Muy buenos dialogos entre los protagonistas, totalmente antagónicos.
Trata de 2 hombres ambos divorciados al menos uno ya lo está y el otro va camino, en el que uno acoje al otro en su piso, que lo tenía todo destartalado, sin limpiar y sin apenas comida y cuando lo acoge el otro empieza a preocuparse por su limpieza y orden y ha hacer las comidas en su casa, hasta que el otro no aguanta más y lo echa de su casa. Y ya no cuento más, jajaja.
7/10
# 17. El libro con la portada más fea de tu lista de pendientes de goodreads. Reto literario lecturas pendientes 2021

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το κλασικό αυτό θεατρικό έργο, που αποτελεί τη βάση για την ομότιτλη ταινία του 1968, με πρωταγωνιστές τους Jack Lemmon και Walter Matthau, είναι μόλις το πρώτο κωμικό έργο που διαβάζω, μιας και όλα τα υπόλοιπα θεατρικά ήταν είτε αλληγορίες είτε δράματα. Ε, όσο να'ναι, ήθελα να διαβάσω κάτι για να μου φτιάξει το κέφι και το συγκεκριμένο θεατρικό έργο το κατάφερε, και με το παραπάνω. Ο τίτλος -"Το αταίριαστο ζευγάρι"- δεν θα μπορούσε να μην είναι πιο... ταιριαστός, μιας και πρωταγωνιστούν δυο τύποι, πρόσφατα χωρισμένοι από τις γυναίκες τους, που το έφερε η μοίρα να συγκατοικήσουν μαζί στο σπίτι του ενός. Ο ένας είναι εκνευριστικά τακτικός και προσεκτικός, ενώ ο άλλος είναι αφόρητα ακατάστατος και αμελής. Όταν δυο τέτοιοι άνθρωποι μένουν στον ίδιο χώρο, οι τσακωμοί πάνε και έρχονται. Το σενάριο είναι απλό και έχει σκοπό να προσφέρει γέλιο και αναγνωστική απόλαυση με τους έξυπνους διαλόγους και την όλη ατμόσφαιρα. Προσωπικά γέλασα κάμποσες φορές. Πολύ ευχαρίστως θα έβλεπα μια θεατρική παράσταση βασισμένη σ'αυτό το έργο, με την προϋπόθεση βέβαια η σκηνοθεσία να είναι καλή και οι ηθοποιοί προσεκτικά επιλεγμένοι. Πάντως έχω την ομότιτλη ταινία και σκοπεύω να τη δω λίαν συντόμως. Κάτι μου λέει ότι μπορεί να την ευχαριστηθώ περισσότερο και από το βιβλίο!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember liking the 1968 movie with Jack Lemmon (Felix) & Walter Mathau (Oscar) a lot & used to watch the 1970 TV show (Tony Randall as Felix, Jack Klugman as Oscar) whenever I could. I liked it even better than the movie & it made me watch anything Jack Klugman did after that. When I saw this play by LA Theater Works, I was excited, but it was a bit of a let down. It was funny, but felt dated & overdone somehow. Still, it was easy to picture in my mind & follow the characters. Great point & only 1.5 hours long. Definitely worth listening to.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last week I was nosing around on Kanopy and ran across the 1968 film of The Odd Couple with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. I had seen the play performed onstage many years ago, and I had watched some of the episodes from the 1970s spin-off television series. But somehow I had never watched the movie. So I fixed that problem tout de suite, and it was delightful to see these two brilliant actors in their first comic pairing.

Of course, then I wanted to read the play and see what had been altered for the movie. But my library only had audio versions of live performances, so I listened to the one from LA Theatre Works with Nathan Lane as Oscar Madison (superb performance) and David Paymer as Felix Unger.

Turns out the movie is almost exactly like the play, with nearly word for word dialogue and scenes. There were a few scenes added to the movie to flesh out the story with things that couldn't be done on stage, but otherwise, even Hollywood knew better than to try to improve on the genius of Neil Simon.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read a story (Diversity Challenge) published in the year that I was born.

What a great audiobook. Nathan Lane was Oscar Madison, he was hilarious.

[TraceyL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great play. I listened to the LA Theatre Works production starring Nathan Lane. He was the perfect Oscar. This really put a smile on my face.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Odd Couple is one of those plays whose basic plot is such a part of our culture that we all think we know the story even if we haven't seen it -- especially if we've not seen or read or heard Neil Simon's original version. There are movies, there are multiple television series based on the play -- some of which take the name and some that simply take the premise -- there is a female version for the stage, and there is even a Saturday morning cartoon from the '70s. The Odd Couple can fairly be called ubiquitous.

Something that you might not know is that it is also excellent.

Neil Simon was prolific, and he wrote many, many wonderful pieces, but The Odd Couple is his best. If you ever get a chance to see the original play performed you must take that opportunity. You will rarely see such a witty, well-written, nearly timeless, and thoroughly tight hour and a half of theatre. It is funny but never schmaltzy. It is insightful but never precious. It dramatic when it needs to be, sad when it needs to be and infuriating when it needs to be. And with all this complexity there is not a wasted word or moment or scene. It is exactly what it needs to be.

In fact, I am going to say that The Odd Couple is one of the best American plays ever written. And it just may be the best American comedy to ever hit the stage.

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. Seriously, I laughed until I was thrown out of the living room. This Neil Simon is the funny Neil Simon.

[Javier Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's too bad Neil Simon didn't write a third version where the two odd couples (both the male and female) go on a double date. I'm not sure which would have been the funniest way to pair them. Maybe they could have swapped partners after the first date. No matter how he would have coupled them, I'm sure Neil Simon would have come up with plenty of funny material.

[irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

en alguns punts té gràcia, tot i que els personatges són una mica insofribles i gran part de l'obra m'ha deixat indiferent. també crec que si l'hagués vist representada m'hauria fet més gràcia

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a funny play! The story is pretty much exactly what you'd expect given the synopsis, but it's done so well. I laughed so much while listening to this and would love to see it live. I highly recommend the audiobook--the case was perfect.

[Elizabeth Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first act was easily the funniest. The following two felt like the same flavor of every other Neil Simon I’ve ever read. He has a brand and it works for him. This one shone above the others I’ve read so far with the suicidal comedy, though.
(PG rating)

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest, I decided to read The Odd Couple not because it was super appealing to me but because it's become such a cultural staple that I wanted to read the original play directly myself. Honestly though, I'm so glad I read it because it ended up actually being a ton of fun.

Not everything in it is perfect. Some of it has aged a bit questionably in the nearly sixty years since it first premiered, but a lot of it holds up remarkably well, at least as a period piece. Some of the humour may not be to everyone's taste (there's a lot of suicide jokes in the opening scene, which landed well for me as someone who has been suicidal, but I get that suicide humour doesn't work or is upsetting for some readers so your mileage may vary), but a lot of it landed well for me. I definitely found myself surprised at how many bits of the dialogue had me laughing out loud. The ending is a little trite, but it suits the story.

I listened to the LA Theatre Works production starring Nathan Lane and David Paymer, who both delivered excellent performances. I suspect my enjoyment of this play was heavily based on their performances which brought the story to life and made much of the dialogue just work.

Overall I really enjoyed this one, definitely more than I expected to. I don't think it's for everyone, but I do think it's worth the read for anyone who is interested. I'll have to check out one or two more plays from Simon after this.

[Liko · Rating 5 out of 5]

წაკითხვაც სახალისო იყო და ყურებაც <3
პიესებს სულ სხვანაირი მუხტი აქვთ ^_^
male version-ს სხვა დროს წავიკითხავ დდდ

[Berna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I giggled while listening to this play, it was a really funny play.

[Andrea Janov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read this after years of watching the Odd Couple tv show, I couldn't help but put Tony Randall and Jack Klugman in these roles in my head. But even with that influence, this play stood out as something unique, something different than the tv show. This male friendship, the disillusionment of that friendship, and the reconnection is something that Simon revisits, though feels special and intimate between Oscar and Felix.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

As is so often the case, I enjoyed the book or in this case audio presentation of the play even more than I did the movie production. Nathan Lane was the perfect Oscar Madison.

[Ilinca Flacau · Rating 4 out of 5]

watched it on the plane ride — witty, succinct and satisfying

[Nina Moretto · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was in a production of this and it was fun

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comedic and fun, this play has great moments of levity and the characters are excellently defined through their dialogue. One of the first plays I've ever read and convinced me to read a lot more of them.

[K Sukaina Husain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was indeed a funny play and like most plays I think I might enjoy it more performed. I do want to read the original version of the play (male version) to see how the characters interacted there.
Neil Simon has created very real, very common characters that we do interact with on a regular basis.
I had a friend in college who said she didn't want to be roomate with any of her friends incldiing myself as she felt that proximity would ruin friendships - an idea which becomes a reality in Neil Simons' play.

A nice quick read.

[Edward Cheer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been a long one coming. Of all of Neil Simon's plays, no matter which ones I've scouted out and read with mild enjoyment, the one play by him that critics everywhere seem to enjoy the most has always lingered behind my shoulder. Since I've been going through the highest recommendations I've received from friends and critics and I've waited to read this play for a long time and... yeah. Yeah, I really like it.

The Odd Couple is about Oscar, a slob who's living on his own since his divorce years ago, and Felix, a neat freak who has just gone through his divorce. After calming Felix down from nearly killing himself, Oscar lets him stay in his apartment. And the two don't get along well, needless to say, and it leads to many antics and ridiculous gags.

I love the amount of control Neil Simon exerts with his characters in this play. We only stay in this apartment, but it goes through change as the character's do. It is a comedy, yes, but there are clear arcs that both Felix and Oscar go through, and the apartment's state is evident of that. Their friends Vinny and Roy are a tad underdeveloped. They just play poker. But I absolutely loved Murray. His deadpan lines has me laughing my a** off. Typically, Simon has over-the-top and zany characters bouncing off of each other for humor, but Murray is a starkly different character from Simon's portfolio. Another humorous detail is how Oscar and Felix bicker as if they're a married couple. All in all, this comedy is actually charming and the idea really works.

Through smart writing, clever attention to detail, and of course plenty of wit and charm, Simon created one of his finest comedies. I'm certainly not surprised why this comedy is so beloved by many, and I'm giving The Odd Couple a very high recommendation.

[Gaurav Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Neil Simon Drew Big Laughs, Then Came a Cultural Shift.' Ran an article in The New York Times, perfectly encapsulating what he did with this play. Times were different when this play debuted to rapturous hilarity, as history notes so well. The humour of The Odd Couple is, well, odd. While there are some classic straight-from-text jokes in the play, much of the humour depends on insinuation. Insinuation which might be construed as offensive in our times. Even back in the day, one can imagine the suppression of laughs at the innocuous portrayal of 'The Odd Couple.' Now, one could say that there is nothing funny about the play, or rather that there shouldn't be something funny about two men living together.
Apart from the expired humour, the play also explores the dynamics of relationships, like the boundaries of friendship, the difference between a life partner and a close friend in the era of casual homophobia.
The play is a nice cup of 1960s America.

[Rachel C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A play about how a friendship can be as intimate and infuriating as a marriage.

(Note 1: I definitely have a real estate fetish. All I kept thinking was, "Damn, how did Oscar score an eight-room apartment in New York City?!")

(Note 2: Gwendolyn and Cecily - that's a tip of the hat to Oscar Wilde, yes?)

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and brilliant, this play is among my favorites by Neil Simon. I never tire of it.
A memorable scene for me is the linguini episode. I played Oscar in my high school public speaking class.
🔥I highly recommend reading The Odd Couple for the brilliant and witty telling of two divorced men who couldn’t live together but remained great friends.

[Carolyn Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason when I read Felix's lines I saw them played by Timothy Omundson. And now all of a sudden seeing that is everything I've ever wanted haha. A very funny play, classic for a reason. Made me giggle reading it which isn't something that's happened a lot, lately.

[Paige Weltzin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The play, The Odd Couple by Neil Simon, is a play that I would wholeheartedly recommend readers to take a look at. I very much enjoyed the play and could not put it down. It kept my attention until the final line. I have not read many plays that I actually enjoy, but this is one that succeeded in entertaining me throughout its entirety. It is enjoyable to read through once, but it is also enjoyable to think deeper about the meaning of the play. I think that is the perfect book for a reader that is looking for lots of humor, complex characters, and deep themes, lessons, and symbols.
Neil Simon is terrific at slipping in witty comical statements from characters within the play, such as, Oscar, Felix, and Speed. He also applies slapstick comedy throughout the play, using overdramatized chases and fights. He has a way of applying humor to places where humor is least expected. He also uses black comedy throughout the play. This type of comedy can be seen when Felix states, “She’s really heartbroken, isn’t she? … I want to kill myself and she’s picking colors”(Simon 39). There are many comments that seem risky, but if you are one for dark humor then this play is for you.
Neil Simon is also amazing at creating complex and interesting characters that emphasize certain characteristics. All the boys that join in on poker night every week have a specific characteristic that they project. For example, Speed, whos name gives insight into the type of person he is, is short-tempered. This can be seen when he tells Vinnie, “You look at you watch once more and you get peanuts in your face”(Simon 12). Murray is another character that emphasises a specific human characteristic. He is a police officer and expectantly he is very mature. He tries to reason with the boys before they make harsh decisions.
There are many themes, lessons, and symbols embedded into the text of the play. This causes deep thinking to uncover which helps make this play enjoyable to me. I like when a story teaches the readers something because it gives more meaning to the text. It also provides the reader with a lesson that could be vital to them. The symbols and the themes come together to teach the lesson and the many pieces of the story finally can be pieced together. I enjoy this because I get a sense of accomplishment when I am able to see the bigger picture of a story.
The humor, the characters, and the bigger picture of the play are all reasons why I sincerely enjoyed this play. I couldn’t stop laughing because of Neil Simon's humos. I related to some of the characters, therefore making the story more relatable and understandable. I enjoyed the deep themes, symbols, and lessons that made me think to see the bigger picture Simon was trying to create. All these elements create a great book that I highly recommend to readers that enjoy similar things.

[Troy Tradup · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Odd Couple has been a stage play, a movie, a TV series, a different stage play written for a female cast, and another TV series (at least). It's the story of two long-time friends, Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, a divorced man and an about-to-be-divorced man who become roommates (fairly briefly in the play, longer in the TV series) which starts them down the path of discovering exactly why they are both so hard to live with.

Felix is a neurotic, finicky, nervous type:

"I can't do it. I can't relax. I sleep in one position all night. Frances says when I die on my tombstone it's going to say, "Here stands Felix Unger."

And Oscar is your basic overgrown boy slob:

"You think you're impossible to live with? Blanche used to say, "What time do you want dinner?" And I'd say, "I don't know. I'm not hungry." Then at three o'clock in the morning I'd wake her up and say, "Now!" I've been one of the highest-paid sportswriters in the East for the past fourteen years, and we saved eight and half dollars — in pennies! I'm never home, I gamble, I burn cigar holes in the furniture, drink like a fish, and lie to her every chance I get. ... And I still can't understand why she left me. That's how impossible I am!"

It doesn't take long before the unlikely roommates are at each other's throats:

Felix says: "What is it, the cooking? The cleaning? The crying?"

To which Oscar answers: "I'll tell you exactly what it is. It's the cooking, cleaning, and crying. ... I can't take it any more, Felix. ... Everything you do irritates me. And when you're not here, the things I know you're gonna do when you come in irritate me. You leave me little notes on my pillow. ... "We're all out of corn flakes. F.U." It took me three hours to figure out that F.U. was Felix Unger."

That's kind of a risqué joke for 1966, if you think about it. And the fact that Simon had two grown male friends able to say "I love you" to one another and form a sort of pseudo marriage without even a hint of that era's logical easy gay jokes, I guess that was kind of risqué as well — revolutionary, almost.

The stakes are very low in a play like The Odd Couple. Simon let the stakes be a bit higher in later plays like his autobiographical Eugene trilogy — Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound — but this one and many of his early hits are really just meant to make the audience laugh. And audiences have done a hell of a lot of that for many, many years.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

5

“OSCAR. How can I afford a wife when I can’t afford a broom?

ROY. Then don’t play poker.

OSCAR. (Puts down drink, rushes to ROY and they struggle over the bag of potato chips, which rips showering everyone, who ALL begin to yell at one another) Then don’t come to my house and eat my potato chips!

MURRAY. What are you yelling about? We’re playing a friendly game.

SPEED. Who’s playing? We’ve been sitting here talking since eight o’clock.

VINNIE. Since seven. That’s why I said I was going to quit at twelve.

SPEED. How’d you like a stale banana right in the mouth?

MURRAY. (The Peacemaker) All right, all right, let’s calm down… Take it easy… I’m a cop, you know. I could arrest the whole lousy game.”

The Odd Couple is a classic play which follows a group of friends: Oscar, Murray, Vinnie, Speed, Roy and Felix. It mostly follows their very chaotic poker nights and what they entail. The games happen in Oscar’s house, a man who divorced eight months ago and his life has been a mess since. The play’s plot starts when we are given the news that Felix is also divorcing his wife so he moves in with Oscar.

“OSCAR. (With a pointing finger) I’m warning you. You want to live here. I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to hear you and I don’t want to smell your cooking. Now get this spaghetti off my poker table.

FELIX. Ha! Haha!

OSCAR. What the hell’s so funny?

FELIX. It’s not spaghetti. It’s linguini!

(OSCAR picks up the plate of linguini, crosses to the doorway, and hurls it into the kitchen).”

(…)

“OSCAR. (Off) Leave it alone!… You touch one strand of that linguini… and I’m gonna punch you right in your sinuses.

FELIX. (Dashes out of kitchen with OSCAR in pursuit. Stops and tries to calm OSCAR down) Oscar… I’d like you to take a couple of phenobarbital.”

This is without a doubt the funniest play i’ve ever read. The jokes are timeless even if filled with dark humor. It plays with themes such as suicide, infidelity and low self esteem.

Seeing these two guys trying to live together is to put simply: a chaotic mess.

A timeless classic for sure

[Martin Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first and most important thing I have to say about The Odd Couple is something you probably already know: this is a very funny play. The first act, in particular, is a breezy, happy hour of rapid-fire one-liners and well-wrought gags, rooted in familiar and richly human terrain; Neil Simon at his very, very best. If the second half is somewhat less satisfying, well, that's got a lot to do with how life and fashions have changed in the nearly 60 years since this play was written. It doesn't keep the play as a whole from being pleasantly entertaining.

The Odd Couple is about, of course, best pals Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar. Oscar's a slovenly sportswriter, Felix is a buttoned-up neatnik; both have been thrown out of marriages of reasonably longstanding by (unseen) wives, for reasons that will become apparent as the play progresses. Oscar's been divorced for a while, and now occupies an eight-room apartment on Riverside Drive by himself. When Felix is late for the Friday night poker game that he's never missed in years, Oscar and their other buddies--Murray the Cop, Roy the Accountant, Vinnie the Hen-pecked Husband, and Speed the Curmudgeon--all begin to worry; and when Felix's wife Frances calls looking for him, announcing that they've broken up and that Felix said he was going to kill himself, well, everybody gets more than a little panicky.

Felix turns up, of course, right on cue at this very moment, obviously perturbed but putting on as brave a face as someone as hypochondriacal and self-absorbed as he is can under these circumstances. Oscar, fiercely loyal, suggests that Felix move in with him, and a great comic idea--and comedy--is born. As the long-running TV sitcom based on this play succinctly put it: "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"