Festivus questions? A ‘Seinfeld’ scriptwriter whose dad invented the holiday has answers

As the story goes, Dan O’Keefe was reluctant to talk about the origins of Festivus, much less give it exposure on one of history’s most popular television sitcoms.

Festivus is Dec. 23. But it wouldn’t have happened if a couple of Seinfeld episode writers hadn’t coaxed O’Keefe into sharing the story of a faux holiday that his father invented. This year, Festivus celebrated another anniversary — the 25th anniversary of its first appearance on Seinfeld.

“I’m always flattered when someone is interested in my dad’s weird holiday,” O’Keefe said via phone “Not only did I not think it up, it was not my idea to put it on TV.

“It was the people at Seinfeld who found out about it and thought it was weird enough to merit being in the episode.

“I actually fought that; but hey, I’m happy to take credit.”

It’s worth taking credit. Festivus has become a steady pop-culture fixture that has withstood the test of time — or at least staying relevant because of syndicated Seinfeld reruns.

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O’Keefe’s father, Daniel O’Keefe Sr., who was an editor at Readers Digest, came up with the holiday in 1966. It marked the occasion of Daniel’s first date with soon-to-be fiancée Deborah. The family celebrated Festivus for years. Their version, however, did not include the undecorated aluminum pole. It did feature the family tape-recording what was bothering each of them about another family member.

Reluctant at first, the younger O’Keefe relented and incorporated Festivus into the Seinfeld episode, The Strike, which aired in 1997.

In 2005, the younger O’Keefe, 48, wrote The Real Festivus about his family’s celebration.

O’Keefe, who has also been a writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Drew Carey Show, HBO’s Silicon Valley, The League and Veep. Search Festivus on Google and the results render the related articles and a Festivus pole on the left of the page.

Having your family’s odd holiday celebration brought to life nationwide has been odd for O’Keefe to witness over the years.

“I’ve been invited to them by people who didn’t know I was connected to it,” he said.

From a cab in Manhattan, O’Keefe talked about his life with Festivus and its creator.

Writer Dan O’Keefe attends the 2016 Television Academy hosts reception for Emmy-Nominated producers at Montage Beverly Hills at Beverly Hills, Calif.(Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images)

What’s your reaction when you see your dad’s idea brought to life nationwide?

I’m always surprised every time there is a mention of it somewhere because it’s weird and unique to my family. Despite the fact it was on TV, it was very strange.

What’s your reaction when you see the Festivus episode?

It’s funny, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the episode. It’s on TV, so I get a little bit of a residual check for that. I was hoping it would hold up because some stories work better than others. I’m not avoiding it. When you work on TV, oddly enough, you don’t have time to watch TV. I’ll get around to checking it out at some point. I hear it’s good.

What did your father think of the episode?

He was alive when it aired. At first, he was extremely skeptical and hostile about it. He thought I betrayed this weird family secret — which I had. But then people responded positively to it. And, he got extremely smug about it and decided that it retroactively justified every decision he’d ever made in his life. He was proud of it. He became, over time, extremely proud of it — which he should. It was his idea.

Was your father anything like Frank Costanza?

My dad frequently saw himself as either Archie Bunker or Frank Costanza.

How long will we be celebrating Festivus?

It will last as long as it lasts. Then, it will be a pop cultural footnote of the late 1990s. I’m guessing that, at some point, people will get tired of celebrating it. But it seems to have grafted itself onto people who are actually fans of the Seinfeld show, which it was a tiny part of, and not remotely one of the better episodes of.