The Human Comedy is a 1983 musical with a book and lyrics by William Dumaresq and music by Galt MacDermot. William Saroyan's tale originated as a screenplay he had been hired to write and direct for MGM. When the studio objected to its length and an uncompromising Saroyan was pulled from the project, he rewrote the story as a 1943 novel with the same title that was published shortly prior to the film's release.