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''National Lampoon'' was an American Humor Magazine that began in 1970 as an offshoot of the '' Harvard Lampoon ''. It reached its height of popularity in the 1970s , but has had a far-reaching effect on American humor, spawning Films , Radio , Live Theatre and Television Comedy shows. Though the magazine itself ceased publication in 1998, ''National Lampoon'' still survives as a licensed brand name that is used to identify various films, TV shows and other projects. HISTORY ''National Lampoon'' was started by Harvard graduates and ''Harvard Lampoon'' alumni Douglas Kenney , Henry Beard , and Robert Hoffman in 1969. They licensed the "Lampoon" name for a monthly national publication. The magazine's first issue was dated April, 1970. After a shaky start, the magazine quickly grew in popularity during the 1970s, when it regularly skewered Pop Culture , the Counterculture and Politics with Recklessness and gleeful bad taste. Notable cover images include:
Like the ''Harvard Lampoon'', individual issues were devoted to a particular theme such as "The Future", "Back to School", "Death", "Self-Indulgence," or "Blight". The magazine also took a cue from '' Mad '' by regularly reprinting its material in a series of collections. The magazine produced and fostered some notable writing and comic talents, including (but not limited to) Kenney, Chris Miller , P. J. O'Rourke , Michael O'Donoghue , Sean Kelly , Tony Hendra and John Hughes . Many important cartoonists and illustrators appeared in the magazine's pages, including Neal Adams , Vaughn Bode , M.K. Brown , Shary Flenniken , Edward Gorey , Jeff Jones , Bruce McCall , Rick Meyerowitz , Joe Orlando , Arnold Roth , Ed Subitzky and Gahan Wilson . Hendra's 1987 book on 1950s-1970s humor, '' Going Too Far '', contains much information about the magazine's early days. '', 1984]] The magazine also spun off an '' (2003). 1997's '' Vegas Vacation '' was not released under the National Lampoon imprimatur. Four of Saturday Night Live 's first eight Not Ready For Primetime Players — John Belushi , Chevy Chase , Gilda Radner and Bill Murray — first gained attention as part of the Lampoon's stage and/or radio shows. A snide parody of Les Crane 's 1971 hit " Desiderata " was recorded and released as " Deteriorata ," and stayed on the lower reaches of the Billboard Magazine charts for a month in late 1972. The gallumphing theme to '' Animal House '' rose slightly higher and charted slightly longer in December 1978. Several comedy LPs were released throughout the 1970s. In the 1990s, a CD boxed set of recordings from ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' was released by Rhino Records . print ad mocking Ted Kennedy 's Chappaquiddick Incident .]] CIRCULATION PEAK The Lampoon's commercial heyday was roughly 1973-75, with its national circulation peaking at 1,000,096 copies sold of a single October 1974 issue. The Lampoon's 1974 monthly average was 830,000. Former Lampoon editor Tony Hendra 's book ''Going Too Far'' includes a series of precise circulation figures. While the magazine was considered by many to be at its creative zenith during this time, it should also be noted that the publishing industry's newsstand sales were excellent during this period. The Lampoon's circulation height coincided with sales peaks for various other magazines such as ''Mad'', ''Playboy'', and ''TV Guide''. 1975 TO THE END OF THE MAGAZINE Most fans consider the glory days to have ended in 1975, when the three founders took advantage of a $7.5 million dollar buyout in their contracts. Also, some of the magazine's contributors left to join the NBC comedy show '' Saturday Night Live '' (''SNL'') around the same time, notably O'Donoghue and Anne Beatts . Even so, the magazine still made money and continued to be produced on a monthly schedule throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, although the magazine was on an increasingly shaky financial footing from the mid-1980s on. Beginning in November 1986, the magazine was published only every other month. In 1989, the magazine was acquired in a hostile takeover by a business partnership headed by actor Tim Matheson , who had initially gained fame by portraying 'Otter' in the 1978 film ''National Lampoon's Animal House ''. During Matheson's tenure he instituted a policy banning frontal nudity in the magazine; frequent full-frontal female nudity had previously been a staple of National Lampoon's style of humor. Facing mounting debts, Matheson sold National Lampoon magazine to J2 Communications in 1991 in order to avoid bankruptcy. J2 was previously known for marketing Tim Conway 's " Dorf " videos. Throughout the 1990s, the number of issues per year declined precipitously. After an attempt to return to monthly publication throughout most of 1991 (nine issues were produced that year), only two issues were released in 1992. This was followed by one issue in 1993, five in 1994, and three in 1995. For the last three years of its existence, the magazine was published only annually.http://lampoon.rwinters.com/Lampoon1992-1998.htm J2 Communications was contractually obliged to publish at least one new issue per year in order to retain the rights to the Lampoon name. The magazine's final print publication was November 1998, after which the contract was renegotiated. In a sharp reversal, J2 was then prohibited from publishing issues. Though the magazine is no longer in print, its comedic influence on a previous generation of writers and performers was seismic. As co-founder Henry Beard described the experience years later, "There was this big door that said, 'Thou shalt not.' We touched it, and it fell off its hinges." NATIONAL LAMPOON INC. TODAY Since the cessation of the National Lampoon magazine's publication, National Lampoon Inc. continues to, in the words of its prospectus, "develop, produce, provide creative services and distribute National Lampoon branded comedic content through a broad range of media platforms." Since 2002, the company has overhauled its corporate infrastructure several times; the "National Lampoon World Headquarters" is currently located in West Hollywood , California . National Lampoon Press National Lampoon still releases humor books and material under the umbrella of ''National Lampoon Press.'' These range from short story collections, republished omnibuses of old National Lampoon magazine articles, movie companion books, to parody self-help guides. National Lampoon Radio Affiliated with Clear Channel Communications , " National Lampoon Comedy Radio " was added to XM Satellite Radio in October 2006 . National Lampoon.com and the Web The company's website, NationalLampoon.com , has been awarded "Best of the Web" from the for best exemplifying American Satire in the weeks following the 9-11 Attacks . The website emphasizes original video content, both in-house and freelance, to be spread to Viral Video hosting sites such as Youtube and Funny Or Die . Also, ''The National Lampoon Humor Network'' is an affiliation of almost fifty comedy websites; collectively, they drew approximately 5 million monthly viewers in May 2007 . Andrew Adam Newman. National Lampoon Stakes Revival on Making Own Films , ''New York Times'', June 25, 2007. National Lampoon on Television Originally formed in 2002, the ''National Lampoon Network'' was revived in 2006 as a two-hour block of weekly television programming that is broadcast to various colleges and universities. The Official National Lampoon Networks Website National Lampoon and Feature Films In .'' National Lampoon on the Stage The company plans to revive its live Sketch Comedy Variety Show , ''National Lampoon's Lemmings'', for a nationwide theatrical tour set to commence in Fall 2007 . http://www.nationallampoon.com/lemmings/ Official Website for National Lampoon's Lemmings 2007 ''NATIONAL LAMPOON'' MOVIES #'' Disco Beaver From Outer Space (1978) (TV) #'' National Lampoon's Animal House '' (1978) #'' National Lampoon's Class Reunion '' (1982) #'' National Lampoon's Vacation '' (1983) #'' National Lampoon Goes To The Movies '' (1983) #'' National Lampoon’s Joy Of Sex '' (1984) #'' National Lampoon's European Vacation '' (1985) #'' National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation '' (1989) #'' National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon '' (1993) #'' National Lampoon's Last Resort (1994) #'' National Lampoon's Deadly Sins '' (1995) #'' National Lampoon's Senior Trip '' (1995) #'' National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation '' (1997) #''Golf Punks'' (1998) #''Men in White'' (1998) (TV) #'' Van Wilder '' (2002) #'' Repli-Kate '' (2002) #'' Blackball '' (2003) #'' National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2003) #'' Dorm Daze '' (2003) #'' National Lampoon's Barely Legal '' (2003) #''Thanksgiving Family Reunion'' (2003) #'''' (2003) #'' Going The Distance '' (2004) #'' Adam & Eve '' (2005) #''Strip Poker'' (2005) #''Teed Off'' (2005) #''Pucked'' (2006) #'' National Lampoon's Pledge This! '' (2006) #''Last Guy On Earth'' (2006) #'''' (2006) #'' Pledge This! '' (2006) #'' Dorm Daze 2 '' (2006) #'''' (2007) #'' Teed Off Too '' (2007) #'' National Lampoon's Bag Boy '' (2008) #'''' (2008) #'' National Lampoon's Homo Erectus '' (2008) The Robert Altman film '' O.C. And Stiggs '' was based on two characters which made several appearances in ''National Lampoon'', including an issue-long story from October 1982 called the "Utterly Monstrous, Mind-Roasting Summer of O. C. and Stiggs." The film was completed in 1984 , but not released until 1987 in a small number of theaters, without the National Lampoon name. Following the success of ''Animal House,'' MAD Magazine lent its name to a 1981 comedy titled '' Up The Academy ''. But unlike the earlier film, which was co-produced by the magazine's publisher Matty Simmons and co-written by the Lampoon's Doug Kenney and Chris Miller, ''Up The Academy'' was strictly a licensing maneuver with no creative input from MAD's staff or contributors. The movie's poor quality and lack of box office success led MAD to abandon its interest in any future film ventures. When the film appeared on cable, all references to Mad magazine were removed from the film, including a statue of Alfred E. Neuman as the school's founder. OTHER MEDIA National Lampoon's Class of '86 This show was performed at the Village Gate in 1986, aired on cable in the 80's, and is now available on VHS. It was a sketch-based satire of 1980's culture, told against a frame story of Galahad and Dewdrop, two hippies who took LSD in 1969 and woke up in 1986. The sketches lampooned Yuppie culture, health food, the Reagan Administration , airplane hijackings, and psychotherapy. National Lampoon's Strip Poker Released on pay-per-view in 2005 after being filmed at the Hedonism II nudist resort in Negril, Jamaica. The one-hour episodes featured various Playboy, WWE, and pin-up models competing in strip poker match-ups. The company has announced plans to film more. National Lampoon's Knucklehead Video A video-sharing and social networking site featuring viral video content of extreme sports bloopers, "drunken debauchery" and the self-explanatory 'show us your butts'. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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