From Michael Gross:

“On Jan. 23, 2004 David Kaestle passed away due to cancer.

“David was my oldest and dearest friend and shared the art directing responsibilities for National Lampoon for several years. I am often credited as the design force behind the magazine, but many of the best-known (and best art directed) NatLamp products were the work of David. We alternated doing the magazine and the many special publications being ground out by a brilliant overworked staff. David’s finest work was the High School Yearbook Parody (for which I am often mistakenly credited). He also took over the magazine while I worked on Lemmings. That was our flawlessly intermingled role, functioning at it’s best.

“David and I went on to start a design company with National Lampoon as one of our clients, continuing a tradition of art direction that could be from either one of us…like Siamese design twins.

“David was the finest man I have ever known. His modesty and integrity were unmatched. He did little to promote his own role at NatLamp and I hope this note will bring credit where it is deserved.

“David, you are loved and missed by everyone who ever had the privilege of knowing and working with you.

“With tears, Michael”

Thanks to Michael for sharing this with my readers.

If you’ve got a copy of the National Lampoon Bicentennial Calendar from 1976, you can pull it out and use it again this year. It happens that 1976 and 2004 share the exact same calendar days. (Thanks to Dave Meredith for the tip.)

St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Rick Shefchik got a copy of the re-issued 1964 High School Yearbook Parody for Christmas and wrote a column about it. Nice piece, but he gets the publication date wrong by three years. It was published in 1974, not 1971. Update: The column appears to have been removed, but I’ve added a link to the original page from the Wayback Machine archive.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure will air on NBC Saturday, December 20 at 8 p.m. EST. Written and produced by Matty Simmons, it stars Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn reprising their roles as cousin Eddy and his long-suffering wife Catherine from the earlier “Vacation” films. Also featured are Ed Asner (as Uncle Nick), Fred Willard, Eric Idle, Jake Thomas, and Dana Barron, who played Audrey Griswold in the original films, reprising her role as an adult. This is the first National Lampoon film Simmons has been involved with since the original “Christmas Vacation.”

The New Yorker tells the tale of Steve Brykman, Joe Oesterle, Sean Crespo, and Mason Brown, staff writers for NationalLampoon.com who were laid off in September and subsequently auctioned themselves off on eBay. Update: The original New Yorker piece is gone, so I’ve replaced it with a link to a Wayback Machine archive of the article.

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.

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.

Update: Well, he did have a website. Sometime in 2017 the domain lapsed and randallenos.com now just points to a domain seller. I’ve changed the link (above) to point to a Wayback Machine archive of the site. Note: It’s based on Flash, and Flash is dead (unless you have an old computer that supports it), so you’ll need the Ruffle plug-in installed in your browser in order to view it.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has been released by Warner Home Video for the first time in wide-screen format in a new Special Edition DVD. The new version includes newly added commentary by many of the cast members. The French language track is, interestingly enough, dubbed in Québécois. It’s being sold alone or as part of a DVD four-pack with Vacation (20th Anniversary Edition—see September 16 entry), European Vacation and Vegas Vacation.

Doug Kenney and Chris Miller appeared on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder around 1976 or 1977. If you happen to have a tape of this show, or know where to find one, please contact Josh. He would be very happy to hear from you. Update: It’s available on YouTube as of 2023. February 2025 Update: Apparently, it’s gone. I’ll post an update if it comes back.

Dave Meredith, the guy who tirelessly compiled the NLRH listings for Mark’s Very Large National Lampoon Site over four years ago, has discovered, in his continuing research on the subject, that the order of the episodes listed here were ever so slightly screwed up. They are now correct, to the best of Dave’s knowledge.

Incidentally, if you happen to know where to get hold of original radio station open reel broadcast tapes of the show, drop him a line.

And, don’t forget: XM Satellite Radio is still broadcasting the entire run of the National Lampoon Radio Hour, one episode per week, on their comedy channel no. 150. SIRIUS satellite radio is also broadcasting them on its channel 160.

Update: All satellite radio info is long since obsolete. No idea if any of these services or their successors carry the show.