For a retiree, Marty Nadler is working pretty hard these days. He has written 10 short stories and a one-act play over the last year, and he is currently putting the finishing touches on a new stand-up comedy act which will debut on the Vineyard on Sunday.

Mr. Nadler spoke to the Gazette from an arena in Sacramento, where he is working on a movie with Jerry O’Connell and Elisabeth Rohm, about a hot shot professional basketball player whose career takes a nose dive. He is working as a script doctor, making on-the-fly changes to the dialogue when necessary.

Is it a comedy?

“I hope so,” said Mr. Nadler.

Mr. Nadler is known for his writing credits on a series of hit television shows, including The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Chico and the Man.

He has spent parts of 52 years on Martha’s Vineyard, including a stint living on the Island full time to raise his son Charlie, who is also in the comedy end of the entertainment business.

“I’m retired, but if someone I like calls me, I’ll go to work a little bit,” Mr. Nadler said. “I didn’t like getting up at 4:45 this morning. I like my retirement time of not setting the alarm.”

Mr. Nadler holds some strong opinions on the state of show business. He agreed television has changed dramatically over the past decade. Some of it, he says, is good, some of it, not so much.

“The business turned too corporate,” he said. “I was working for a studio, which will remain nameless, and in 1992 they said to me we don’t care if the show is funny, we don’t care about anything but the budget. I told this producer, I have a problem because I’m in show business and your in business show, and I don’t do business show. I do show business. And then I left. Show business is magical, you get good writing, you get the right cast and it clicks. But there’s no formula to it. If you think there’s a formula to it like making a bottle of Coca-Cola, that’s not show business, that’s not art.”

But he said the explosion of scripted programs on cable and movie channels has been a good thing.

“What helped it there’s so many channels now, and so much competition that needs content, a lot of good stuff gets made now because there are places for it,” Mr. Nadler said. “When we did Happy Days, we had 50 million viewers. You know what they would do to get 50 million viewers [today]? There were a lot less channels back then, so we had a lot more viewers.”

Mr. Nadler once performed a stand-up comedy show regularly on the Island, but has not performed here since 2011 when he converted his snow-bird status to permanent residency in Florida.

“I gave up my place on the Vineyard,” Mr. Nadler said. “I miss being there a lot, but truly, not in the winter. There is a guy on the Vineyard who once told me old and cold don’t go together. Living on the Vineyard is a piece of cake until New Year’s Day. After New Year’s Day the government should send helicopters to get everyone off for their mental health.”

Mr. Nadler has written a new stand-up routine, which he will do for the first time on June 24, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center. The performance, beginning at 7:30 p.m., is a benefit for the Hebrew Center.

“I decided to write again,” Mr. Nadler said. “I’ll do my regular stand-up stuff. I’ll do a couple of Vineyard stories, what it is to live in this world and the crazy things that I observed. It’s not going to be G-rated, it’s a little R-rated. I’m not going to do Richard Pryor, it’s not outrageous.”

One thing is sure, Mr. Nadler rates his return to Martha’s Vineyard as a great chance to renew some memories of a place he loves.

“I’m very happy and anxious to get back to the Island,” Mr. Nadler said. “I came as a college kid, 20 years old. That first summer was the best summer of my life. I never looked back. The Vineyard holds a special place in my heart.”