News about National Lampoon and related topics.
The Caledonian Record, a newspaper based in Vermont, has posted a piece by cartoonist Randall Enos, who apparently does cartoons for them. Enos, you may know, was also a long-time contributor to National Lampoon, and did the long-running Funny Pages comic strip Chicken Gutz. In the piece, Enos tells how he came to work for
Did you ever wonder about the dog that appeared on the all-time most famous cover of the National Lampoon? The one with the blurb, “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog“? Well, the guys at the Lampoon didn’t shoot him, but somebody did. The dog’s name was Mr. Cheeseface. You can find the whole
Robert Grossman, the prolific and talented illustrator and caricaturist, died on March 18, 2018, at the age of 78. He did several covers and other pieces for the National Lampoon over the years, most famously the fold-out cover depicting Richard Nixon as Pinocchio for the August 1972 (The Miracle of Democracy) issue. I actually met
In the October 1974 (Pubescence) issue, the descriptive text about the cover on the Editorial page (page 17) reads: “COVER: The usual fuck-ups. Hendra, Kelly, and McConnachie thought the original model looked too old, so we—continued on page 84″ In every issue I’ve seen (until now), page 84 was a full-page ad. I always assumed this
Reader Cullum Rogers wrote to me recently to let me know about a project he’s been working on for about a year: A website devoted to magazine parodies called, straightforwardly enough, Magazine Parody. It doesn’t get much better or nerdier than this. Magazine parodies have been around for a long time—200 years, according to Rogers. The
How did I not know about this sooner? I knew it was in the works, but I completely missed that the trailer for A Futile and Stupid Gesture hit two weeks ago. Looks like it’s going to be great! Tip ’o the hat to reader Shervin N. for letting me know. More info at Netflix.
Remember that item I just posted yesterday about the article in Vanity Fair chronicling the sad state of National Lampoon over the last two decades or so? Tipster Logan Lee is back with more news, and this time it can’t wait: National Lampoon, Inc. is under new ownership, purchased by PalmStar Media for nearly $12
The May 2017 issue of Vanity Fair featured an article by Benjamin Wallace called “Can Anyone Repair National Lampoon’s Devastated Brand?” (online version here). I was alerted to its existence back when the issue was still on the stands (thanks to reader Logan Lee), but I put off reading it, dreading a depressing read. I wasn’t
In a recent episode of Alec Baldwin’s popular podcast, Here’s The Thing, he interviewed former NatLamp editor Tony Hendra. Link. (Thanks to Craig for alerting me to this.)
Reader Rob informs me that a new large format book, comprising nearly all of Bobby London’s Dirty Duck strips, is coming out in June. I know Dirty Duck from the National Lampoon, but the strip also appeared earlier in Air Pirates Funnies and later in Playboy, and apparently in a few other places. (I wonder if it includes the
