112. Zal Yanovsky’s NatLamp Stint

January 4, 2007

Q: As far as I know, Zal Yanovsky, former guitarist of The Lovin’ Spoonful, had a brief stint as one of the actors in an early incarnation of the National Lampoon touring group. It is my suspicion that he joined in 1971. Do you know anything more about his involvement with National Lampoon and specifically Lemmings?

A: Several people have piped up with more information about Zal and his association with National Lampoon and Lemmings. See the Comments link below.

Comments

One of the Lampoon-related books - Tony Hendra's "Going Too Far"? - mentions that Yanovsky was one of the actors who played the Belushi roles in "Lemmings" when it went on the road.

—Hulka

January 24, 2007 1:41 pm

Zal was part of the touring company of Lemmings that went out on a College tour after the year long stint at Art D'Lugoff's Village Gate.

—Harry V.Gina

February 10, 2007 3:17 pm

Zal was on side one of the 1974 NatLamp LP "Missing White House Tapes," portraying Nixon pal Bebe Rebozo. Bebe was selling a greatest-hits record collection that was nothing more than audio clips of various members of the Nixon Administration, including Tricky Dick himself. BTW, side two featured two future members of Saturday Night Live, a guy named Belushi and another named Chase.

—paskunia

March 10, 2007 4:58 pm

Yes,Zal was part of an early tour group that included Paul Jacobs.According to Paul he was quite a prankster. On airplane rides during the tour He would empty a can of Campbell's Vegatable Soup into an airsick bag,pretend to upchuck(loudly I might add),&then ask a stwardess for a spoon & eat it(noisely).I've heard of a few more stunts He would pull & ALL of them were a riot.

—Andrew Moses

April 25, 2007 8:01 pm

You all know how us Aussies love a good 'chunder joke'. Well, I've heard this one attributed to several other funnymen: MAD cartoonist Bill Elder; tedious Antipodean comedian Barry Humphries; and Monty Python's Terry Gilliam in the "Crunchy Frog" skit in their 70's tours. Could this be an urban legend in the making?

—Carol

November 9, 2008 10:14 pm

Have a nice day. From http://www.genstkobr.com

—Ruigiobia

May 20, 2009 4:31 am

Zal Yanovsky owns a bakery, Pan Chancho, and a restaurant and bar, Chez Piggy in Kingston ON. Highly recommend it.

—Tim Judge

January 27, 2011 8:04 pm

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