Philip Wylie's Generation of Vipers (1942) offers a jaundiced view of the American values, institutions, and traditions, including what he calls "momism," the hypocritical American mother, and sexual mores.

Terance McNally' s And Things That Go Bump in the Night (1964) is a play that, like Oh Dad, has absurd, nightmarish elements and deals with a dysfunctional family.

Edward Albee's plays The American Dream (1961)and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962) are contemporaries of Oh Dad and invite comparison with Kopit's play in respect to both theme and technique.

Arthur Adamov's absurdist plays Les Retrou-vailles ("The Recovered," 1952) and Comme Nous Avons Ete ("As We Were," 1953), like Kopit' s Oh Dad, examine the theme of destructive parental control.