Jeff Jones, the artist who drew the comic strip Idyl and numerous illustrations in National Lampoon during the early years, passed away today at the age of 67. Info about Jones here.

Mark Leffler interviews Peter Kleinman, art director of National Lampoon from 1974-79 and from 1984-87, on RadioExiles.com. The interview is excellent, and covers a lot of Lampoon history that doesn’t get the attention it deserves on this site.

Ellis Weiner has written a parody of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged—a supposedly suppressed sequel. You can get more info and/or purchase it at Amazon and elsewhere. (Thanks to Mark Leffler for the tip.)

Former NatLamp art director Michael Gross—the guy who gave the magazine its brilliant visual style and attitude—will be presenting a talk Wednesday May 11th at 7:00 p.m. at the Hill Street Cafe / Fish Joint in Oceanside, California. Tickets are $75 per person (seating limited to 35 people). (Click on the picture to see the poster with all the details.)

Former NatLamp CEO Dan Laikin was sentenced last fall for stock fraud. Now, the guy who took his place as CEO, Tim Durham, has been arrested in connection with a $200-million Ponzi scheme. (Thanks to David for the tip!)

Just got a tip that tonight’s episode of The Simpsons will have a brief reference to National Lampoon in it. I don’t want to spoil the joke and say exactly what it is, but it’s in the scene where Lisa is looking through old comedy albums looking for a Cheech & Chong record.

Great interview with Sam Gross on The Comics Journal site. (Via Drawn!)

Founding publisher of National Lampoon, Matty Simmons, is working on a book called Animal House: The Book about the making of the movie. If you have any funny or interesting stories or incidents that happened to you during or after or because of the movie, Matty would like to hear from you. You can send your stories to: mattyahbook@aol.com

Rare Sam Gross lithograph (the “frog’s legs” cartoon) on eBay right now (not cheap, either). Check it out.

The July 1970 (Bad Taste) issue included a cartoon by Peter Bramley that was purportedly “too vulgar to be run as originally intended.” To render it harmless, the cartoon was presented as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Now, over forty years later, Cartoon Carol (of Pox Girls in Australia) has assembled the puzzle, using the latest computer imaging techniques to avoid damaging the precious copy of the magazine in which it appeared. To view the completed puzzle, click (if you dare) on the puzzle piece displayed here. Glad that’s finally cleared up.