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Your Last updated: August 26, 2010 01:11 PM. Original material (excluding quoted material) © 1997-2004 Mark Simonson. Mark's Very Large National Lampoon Site is not affiliated with National Lampoon or National Lampoon Inc. Click here for the real thing. Powered by |
November 2003 Archive |
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November 25, 2003
64. According to Matty Simmons' "not-so-thorough" account of the National Lampoon magazine, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David was once a contributer. Also, I read from a bio that Jack Handey started Deep Thoughts at the Lampoon. Do you or anybody out there know which NL issues includes either of the two?
"Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handey, appeared in NL in at least three issues: April, October, and November 1984. There was a complete staff change after that. I don't know if it ever appeared again. He also wrote a few other pieces for the magazine around the same time.
According to Michael Simmons, who was a NatLamp editor in the mid to late '80s, Larry David did write one story for the magazine. (More info in the Comments link, below.)
Posted November 25, 2003, 03:56 PM in Answers. | Comments (10)
November 18, 2003
63. In about 1975 I caught a NL Touring show at Ottawa's National Arts Centre as a lad of 15. I'm pretty sure it was before the beginning of SNL, and it had Belushi, Radner (they did an visciously physical sketch of "Rhoda Tyler Moore" as an effervescent blind Rhoda with Belushi as a torturous boyfriend), and possibly Chevy Chase... Also, there was a musical sketch about Patty Hearst ("It's my fault, I'm a female fag"). Can you confirm who the castmembers were for this show? This has always haunted me.
According to Michael Simmons, who was involved in the show, it never played in Ottowa. Click on the Comments link below for more info.
Posted November 18, 2003, 09:04 PM in Answers. | Comments (7)
November 17, 2003
Bob Edwards interviews Richard Belzer on NPR's Morning Edition regarding The National Lampoon Radio Hour both past and present. Audio of the interview will be added to the NPR page later today.
Posted November 17, 2003, 07:56 AM in News.
November 11, 2003
62. I have been searching for a cartoon I saw but have been unable to find in any of my issues. The scene is of a typical office setting, 2 guys at in front and behind a desk, company name is "____ Children's Book Publishers." The caption is "We're letting you go Jones, Your work's not worth doo-doo." Ring any bells?
It sounds kind of familiar, but one panel cartoons are the tough. Either I remember them or I don't, and this one I don't. If anybody else remembers this one, click on the Comments button and let us know.
Posted November 11, 2003, 07:30 PM in Answers. | Comments (0)
61. Can you tell me what issues of National Lampoon contained 1) a hilarious chinese restaurant menu parody and 2) a comic book parody featuring Sherlock Holmes?
The Chinese restaurant menu appeared in the December 1978 (Food & Festivity) issue in an article featuring parodies of various kinds of restaurants. The other one would be "The Strange Case of the Queen's Pupils" by Michel Choquette & Charles O'Hegarty's from the July 1971 (Pornography) issue. (Thanks to William for the Sherlock Holmes parody answer.) More info and discussion in the Comments link below.
Posted November 11, 2003, 07:19 PM in Answers. | Comments (13)
November 10, 2003
60. I thought that in the high school parody issue the magazine did an interview with "Tony Redunzo-makeout artist". Do you know if that parody was indeed done in that issue?
Jay comes through again: It was part of "Third Base, The Dating Newspaper" from the April 1972 (25th Anniversary) issue. It also appeared in the National Lampoon Best of #3 (1973) and, according to Jay, will be included in the forthcoming anthology "National Lampoon's Big Book of Love" in February 2004.
Posted November 10, 2003, 04:51 PM in Answers. | Comments (4)
59. I am trying to find the centerfold of an issue that as published sometime between May and December 1982. It featured a Strawberry Shortcake and a Smurf. At this point, I would be happy to know which issue it was in. Any ideas?
It was "Smurfery Rhymes" by Sean Kelly and Rick Meyerowitz in the September 1982 (Hot Sex) issue.
Posted November 10, 2003, 04:43 PM in Answers. | Comments (6)
November 6, 2003
Chicken Gutz! One of my favorites of National Lampoon's Funny Pages section was Randall Enos' Chicken Gutz strip. It turns out Enos, who happens to be a well-known, successful illustrator, has a website, and Chicken Gutz (and his smart-ass pet bird) are featured prominently in animated form. Be sure to check out the "porn" section.
Posted November 6, 2003, 09:40 PM in News.
November 5, 2003
58. I remember a cartoon from '76, ' 77, ' 78 ?? which showed 3 ways to put on a sales presentation. One was to be clean cut and professional, one was to come in acting like a clown, and one was to give BJs under the table. What issue was that in?
It was the December 1975 (Money) issue. The article was called "The National Lampoon Guide to Effective Salesmanship" by Tony Hendra and Gerald Sussman, illustrations uncredited. (Thanks to Jay.)
Posted November 5, 2003, 10:17 PM in Answers. | Comments (7)
57. Do you recall every seeing anything in Lampoon with the title something like "Obscuration of the Subhermesic Lemia" This was a phony medical article that had all of these bogus medical terms to show how ridiculous medicalese could be. Someone showed me this awhile back and I haven't been able to find it or the correct title.
It's from the May 1975 (Medicine) issue, part of a medical journal parody called "COMA". More details in the Comments link. (Thanks again to Carol!)
Posted November 5, 2003, 10:04 PM in Answers. | Comments (4)
56. At the end of the brilliant film Animal House the main characters are shown as occupying various positions of responsibility several years after their debacle at Faber College, e.g. Bluto ends up a senator, Otter a doctor, Pinto the editor of National Lampoon. Is this a clever spoof, or is the film based on true stories, so that there really is/was a Senator Blutarsky, etc?
Are you kidding? It's all a fiction, though it's based loosely on the college and/or high school experiences of the three writers, Harold Ramis, Chris Miller, and Doug Kenney--particularly the last two.
The character "Pinto" is based on two different earlier characters which appeared in National Lampoon: First, his "real" name in the movie--Larry Kroger--is also the name of the "owner" of the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody, the creation of Doug Kenney and P.J. O'Rourke. Larry Kroger (in the yearbook parody) is clearly Kenney's alter ego, and Kenney did, of course, become an editor of National Lampoon. (Initially, the movie was to be set in the high school of the yearbook parody, until they decided to incorporate Miller's material--see below.) Kenney's "First Lay Comics" (from the February 1974 issue) and "First High Comics" (from the January 1975 issue) were also adapted for scenes in the film.
Larry Kroger's nickname in the movie, "Pinto," was originally the nickname of the protagonist in several short stories by Chris Miller, "The Night of the Seven Fires" (from the October 1974 issue) and "Pinto's First Lay" (from the September 1975 issue). (There was also a third story: "Good Sports" in the December 1989 issue.) These stories were based on his frat-house days at Dartmouth College, and the "Pinto" character, always referred to only by nickname, is presumably Miller's younger self.
Kenney's "Kroger" and Miller's "Pinto" are melded into one character in Animal House, freely adapting the two writers' works into one story. Some of the other characters also came from the yearbook parody (e.g., Faun Rosenberg) and Miller's stories (e.g., Otter). Not sure where Blutarsky came from other than Belushi himself.
Both Kenney and Miller had small parts in the film as members of the Delta House fraternity--Kenney played "Stork" (the nerd) and Miller played a suave-looking guy named "Hardbar."
Posted November 5, 2003, 07:43 PM in Answers. | Comments (1)
55. I'd like to find the issue that had a piece called "The Rigging of a Ship". It was early '70s - that much I'm sure of.
That appeared in The National Lampoon Encyclopedia of Humor, 1973.
Posted November 5, 2003, 04:39 PM in Answers. | Comments (2)
54. Do you recall which issue had the "clowing around with tits" photo? Also, the story about dog-fishing?
"Clowning Around with Tits" appeared in the February 1976 (Artists and Models) issue, and "Dogfishing," by Gerald Sussman, appeared in the April 1976 (Sports) issue.
Posted November 5, 2003, 03:55 PM in Answers. | Comments (2)
New, Improved Answers Page. Since I added the Answers page to Mark's Very Large National Lampoon Site in February 1999, I've only added to it twice. Not exactly how I thought it was going to work.
In the mean time, I've received literally hundreds of queries. I've answered most of them privately--either with the information requested, or with the admission that I don't know the answer and a vague promise to keep looking. Frankly, I just can't keep up with all the questions and too many emails have gone unanswered. I just don't have the time. My apologies to anyone who didn't get a reply.
Last weekend, I received a message from a guy named James who had asked me a question a while back that I didn't know the answer to. Well, that was over a year ago and he wondered if I had found it yet. I looked again, and still couldn't find it, so he suggested--as I had promised on the Answers page--that I throw the question out to the readers. A perfectly reasonable idea and something I should have been doing all along.
Inspired by James' (understandable) frustration and my own nagging guilt over promising more than I could possibly deliver, I came up with what I hope will be a better way to handle questions.
On the Answers page, you will now find a Comments link following each question/answer. I will be adding more questions to the page--particularly ones I don't know the answer to. If you know the answer (or disagree with mine), click on the Comments link and take a stab at it. I will monitor the submissions and, when they appear to be correct, I will update the answers.
I will try to regularly add new questions to the page as well as ones I've previously answered (or not) privately. Hopefully, this will work much better than the behind-the-scenes way I've been doing it, replacing it with something that's more public, collaborative, and timely.
Update: It's already working! The question I mentioned above has already been answered correctly.
Posted November 5, 2003, 01:56 PM in News.
53. I'm looking for the Hemingway parody of a Nick Adams story where a guy gets locked inside a sporting goods store at night. I can't recall exactly when it was as I read my brother's hand-me-down issues before I started buying my own. I'd say most likely '79-'84.
"The Sun Also Sets" by Joey Green in the November 1982 issue. (Thanks to Jay.)
Posted November 5, 2003, 01:19 PM in Answers. | Comments (4)