“Your Shows of Shows” starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca was a popular and influential variety show in the early days of television, but its writers’ room had an even bigger impact on the future of comedy

The writing staff for that show included Carl Reiner, who created “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” which influenced countless domestic and workplace situation comedies that followed; Mel Brooks and Woody Allen, arguably the two most influential film comedy directors of the 1970s; and a young aspiring playwright named Neil Simon, possibly the most produced playwright of the last 60 years.

Simon drew upon his experience in that writers’ room for “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” which opens Friday at Trumbull New Theatre.

Brett Bunker is too young to have watched “Your Show of Shows” in the ’50s, but he’s been a fan of the play since he read it more than 20 years ago.

“I assistant directed a show my second year in college, another Neil Simon show, ‘Rumors,’ and I got a collection of his plays from a friend at the time after directing that show,” Bunker said. “There were two plays in that collection that I read, and this one of them was ‘Laughter on the 23rd Floor.’ I fell in love with the character interactions and the concept of the family around all this. It was amazing to see the connections between the characters and how much they really cared for each other.”

Characters inspired by those famous comedians fill the play, including Lucas, who Simon based on himself, and the character narrates the action for the audience. Many of the cast members even are younger than Bunker, and the director said he’s been sending clips of vintage sketches and other comedy bits from that era to familiarize them with the rhythm and style of the humor.

“I told them, ‘You can do an homage, but I don’t want a flat-out impression of somebody,” Bunker said. “Go back and look at some of the stuff they wrote, look at interviews they did talking about their time in the room. It was vicious. Everyone’s fighting to get a joke on the show, but at the end of the day, they all loved each other. And that’s the attitude I was kind of trying to recreate in this show.

“It’s not that much different than today. If you really look at it, every family has an issue at some point where, especially during election season, families have differing political opinions, get in fights, but at the end of the day, they still love each other.”

Bunker said it’s been fun watching some of those old clips with his 12-year-old son, seeing him laugh hysterically and knowing that the humor transcends generations.

The cast features: Sienna (Drusba) Jerryson, Chase Miles, Mark Bye, John Brien, Jerry Kruse, David Doherty, Casey Murphy, Molly Kravalho and Dominick Spisak.

Bunker is no stranger to directing comedy. He did TNT’s 2022 production of “The Play That Goes Wrong.” However, that show was more of a farce with an emphasis on physical comedy and bits that required technical precision to get a laugh. Simon’s play has some physical humor, but most of the comedy comes from the banter among the characters, most of whom were master comedians. That banter also is filled with the kind of language they couldn’t get away with on television in the 1950s.

“The timing of everything has to be impeccable, and the line delivery has to be spot on,” Bunker said. “I spent a lot more time than usual coaching them on line delivery and saying, ‘Hey, try it a little bit different. Try saying it like this’ … Characters go from angry to cheery and then back to being angry within a heartbeat.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Laughter on the 23rd Floor”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday through Sept. 21 and 3 p.m. Sept. 15 and 22

WHERE: Trumbull New Theatre, 5883 Youngstown Warren Road, Niles

HOW MUCH: $20 adults and $18 students. trumbullnewtheatre.tix.com and 330-652-1103.