Visit to a Small Planet was originally written as a television script; its success in this medium convinced Vidal that it could be reworked for the stage. The play premiered on Broadway in 1957 to critical and commercial success. Brooks Atkinson, writing for the New York Times, wrote that, "as a writer of comedy, Gore Vidal is foolish and funny.'' Atkinson called the play ' 'uproarious." He also noted the fact that, although Vidal had to make his television script longer for the stage, "the padding does not show," for Vidal "makes us look ridiculous in a low comedy carnival that has its own insane logic and never runs out of ideas." Atkinson concluded his review by remarking that Visit to a Small Planet is "a topsy-turvy lark that has a lot of humorous vitality. The tone is low; the entertainment highly enjoyable."

After its New York success, the play was made into a film starring Jerry Lewis as Kreton, the alien visitor. However, acclaim for the film was not sung as loudly as before. Writing for the New York Times, Howard Thompson stated that while he viewed the play as "fairly contrived stuff, cleverly turned on one obvious, running gag," the film version falls below the play for several reasons. The first is Lewis himself, who offers only ' 'business as usual, the Lewis way." Complaining that Lewis lacked the talent to fill Kreton's role, Thompson writes that, "Mr. Vidal's brightest idea of all—that the visitor is a highly civilized bird, curious about us bumbling earthlings—is cut right down to Lewis size." A second reason for the film's failure is that General Powers, "the target of the playwright's devastating cracks about Pentagon static," has been removed entirely from the film.

The film's lack of success, however, did not hurt Vidal's reputation (the fact that he did not write the screenplay also helped him escape critical censure). In fact, praise of his wit has been something to which the versatile writer has grown accustomed throughout his career. Called ' 'a scathing critic of every aspect of American life," (according to Magill's Survey of American Literature) and a writer whose work is described in The Cambridge Handbook of American Literature as both "tart" and "penetrating," Vidal has enjoyed a great amount of success and time in the literary spotlight. He is routinely praised for his "outspokenness in satirizing social mores and institutions," whether this satire arises in his plays, novels or essays. While not categorized as a major American playwright, Vidal is certainly regarded as a major American literary figure who, for forty years, has produced a body of work that is noted for its sheer volume, breadth of topics and genres it covers, and the lively critical discussions that it has engendered. While Visit to a Small Planet never received the acclaim or amount of criticism that his historical novels or essays on American history have, it nonetheless stands as a representative example of Vidal's satirical mind and desire to uncover the attitudes and assumptions of Americans.