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Magazine (1970-1975)

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November 2005 Archive

November 21, 2005

Belushi Podcast. Jesse Thorn, host and producer of The Sound of Young America radio show, dropped me a line to say that his recent interview with Judith Belushi Pisano and Tanner Colby, authors of the recently released biography of John Belushi (see the previous item below), can be heard over the internet (link). It's nearly an hour long and features John Belushi performances from National Lampoon Radio Hour and Saturday Night Live. (Note: You don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast. It should play right from your web browser when you click on the link.)

Posted November 21, 2005, 09:50 AM in News.

November 11, 2005

Holy Moses! Andy Moses, as seen in a Foto Funny from 1978. Every so often I hear from someone who was affiliated with National Lampoon in one way or another. The most recent is Andy Moses, an erstwhile comic actor who appeared in the stage production of That's Not Funny, That's Sick! Andy is alive and well and living in New York City with his wife and cats. After getting out of the acting business, he became a bartender, a diamond salesman, a chef, and a partner in a comic book store. He still hangs out with some of the old NatLamp players, including the talented Paul Jacobs.

Andy notes that he and Sarah Durkee (another light of the NatLamp stage) wrote and performed CBS Radio's Almost Comedy Hour. It aired in June of 1983 and also featured Louise Gikow as a writer (who also played organ as part of a kiddie show parody). Guest host was Don Novello (a.k.a., Father Guido Sarducci) with guests Franken and Davis, Firesign Theatre, and (surprisingly) Milton Berle, who appeared in a Nick Danger sketch with Firesign Theatre.

Andy also appeared in the magazine several times. In the March 1978 (Crime and Punishment) issue, he appeared in a mug shot in the John Hughes piece "Random, Pointless, Senseless Crimes" as Cousins Molockney, wanted for mailing dog feces. In the December 1978 (Food & Festivity) issue, he is featured in a Foto Funny about a guy who gives a quarter to a bum who turns out to be the Postal Fairy, and gives him a job at the post office for Christmas. He appeared in the February 1979 (Heterosexuality) issue cavorting with other nude people (including Rodger Bumpass and Oui model Margie Beck) in "A Visit to Nero's Pleasure Palace." (He made a few more appearances in the magazine, but I haven't tracked them all down.)

Thanks for the update, Andy!

Posted November 11, 2005, 02:02 PM in News.

November 7, 2005

Big Blue Belushi Book. Rugged Land has just published Belushi: A Biography by Judith Belushi Pisano and Tanner Colby. This is a very big book filled with photos, many never published before, and page after page of reminiscences and anecdotes by the people who knew and worked with John Belushi during his brief but brilliant career. His excesses are not left out, but this book is a tribute, not an exposé. The book is organized chronologically, starting with his childhood in Chicago, through college, Second City, National Lampoon's Lemmings, the Radio Hour, Saturday Night Live, Animal House, the Blues Brothers, and other movies, up to his death in 1982. Most people know him for Saturday Night Live, but he was a central figure in most of National Lampoon's non-magazine ventures, and not only as a performer.

It's rather surprising that it's taken so long for a book like this to be published. Other books have been written about Belushi, but they tend to focus on what went wrong. This one is about what went right and what made him such a unique talent. If you're a fan, there's no question: Ya gotta get it.