The renunciation of sex has provided comedic material for playwrights from Aristophanes in Lysistrata to Shakespeare in Love's Labour's Lost. And while Jeffrey is an important addition to the long tradition of western romantic comedy, Rudnick's most significant contribution is to the emergent tradition of what is called "AIDS theatre." Jeffrey became the first successful American romantic comedy in response to the epidemic, reflecting the development from the early efforts of playwrights to comprehend the shocking event of AIDS through serious and often sentimental drama to their later endeavors to accommodate the daily reality of AIDS through experimental and often satiric theatre. Thirteen years of living with what he describes as the unimaginable catastrophe of AIDS inspired Rudnick to blend "the highest farce with the most devastating tragedy" in Jeffrey.

The chaos and grotesqueness of living in the midst of dying is mirrored in the episodic and absurdist form of the play. And the characters, though openly gay and unabashedly sexual, are disarming rather than threatening; the protagonist's midwestern sweetness and simplicity is both appealing and apolitical. There is cynicism in Jeffrey, but there is also catharsis. Fully aware that dazzling wit and uncontrollable hilarity can poignantly express and effectively release emotional pain, Rudnick writes: "Only money, rage, and science can conquer AIDS, but only laughter can make the nightmare bearable." (p. xi)