McNally was playwright-in-residence at Yale University, and while there, wrote a play titled "The Tubs", which was slang for the "baths". The play was presented at Yale Repertory Theatre in 1974. It was chosen to be produced on Broadway, but the title was changed because a play with a similar title ("Tubstrip" by Jerry Douglas) was playing in New York City. The "Tubs" title was also a nod to one of the jokes of the play, "an infatuation for overstuffed men by 'chubby chasers.'"