>> a comedy writer? why? you really want to be like me, like val, like ira, like any of us? >> more than anything else in the world! >> helen, you know us. we're disgusting. >> reporter: many of simon's plays were part autobiography. his 1961 broadway debut "come blow your horn" was based on simon's relationship with his older brother danny. simon later remembered how worried he was when that first play opened. >> if that play failed, then i go to hollywood and write some sitcom for the rest of my life. >> reporter: "come blow your horn" did not fail. it ran 677 performances and later became a...