Gardner's play I'm Not Rappaport (1985) won the 1986 Tony Award for best play. It tells the story of how a grumpy Jewish socialist helps his almost-blind African American friend save his job as an apartment superintendent. Most of the dialogue takes place on a park bench, as the elderly men debate how they should spend their remaining years.

The Odd Couple (1965), one of the funniest plays by Gardner's contemporary Neil Simon, features two New York City men, the fastidious Felix Unger and the slob Oscar Madison, who become roommates. As the two struggle with their conflicting temperaments, they also struggle to deal with their failed marriages and their inability to live up to middle-class values.

Catch-22 (1961), by Joseph Heller, is a novel about Captain Yossarian, a member of a bomber squadron in World War II who is desperate to get home...