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with a friend of mine at The Tonight Show. Here is the history --
The Festivus idea came to the show through writer Dan O'Keefe. His father, Daniel O'Keefe, had discovered the Festivus holiday in a book that outlined obscure (mostly European) holidays published in 1966; the book described many of the features later included in the Seinfeld episode. The father was inspired in part by the Samuel Beckett play Krapp's Last Tape, whose protagonist tapes himself speaking at different times in his life. The original Airing of Grievances was spoken into a tape recorder, and the O'Keefe family retains some of the tapes. (The father's career as a Reader's Digest editor meant internal politics of that organization are prominently featured; external grievances were permitted.) The O'Keefe tradition did not have a set date (the original holiday took place in the "Past" day before the presentation of presents which fostered altruism in the community when supplies were diminished, and the "Future" which represented the hope of the coming year - the original date was usually on December 23), but would take place in response to family tension, "any time from December to May" (Salkin). The phrase "a Festivus for the rest of us" also derived from an O'Keefe family event, the death of the elder O'Keefe's mother. This is not dissimilar from an Irish wake. The holiday made it onto Seinfeld after the writing team was amused by O'Keefe's retelling.
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