Former NatLamp art director Michael Gross has entered the adult entertainment business. According to Gross, he and David Kaestle (his co-art director at National Lampoon) were working on a magazine proposal that would approach sex in a way Eros magazine did in the ’60s, but with an updated, more in-your-face, 2004 approach. The internet changed all that and instead he has launched an online adult e-zine. “Some would call it porn,” says Gross, “and, yes, I guess it is. But it reflects a love of the subject for me and I think it is smarter than the average adult site (not to mention funnier). After all, I was the one who added much of the sexiest visuals and art (in particular, comics) to the National Lampoon. My first former NatLamp contributor to the site is Randy Enos, and several other NatLamp artists and writers have agreed to come on board as well.” His site is called Mikey and Mandy’s Most Original Porn Emporium (www.mikeyandmandy.com). Enter at your own risk, and don’t even look unless you are over 18. Update: Although the site still exists, it seems to be defunct. Michael died in 2015 so I don’t know who is running it, assuming someone is running it.

Most familiar to National Lampoon fans as the voice of the game show host on Radio Dinner’s “Catch It and You Keep It,” Jackson Beck passed away recently. (Thanks to reader Rich Drees for the tip. Rich has posted a rememberence on his site.)

According to National Lampoon Radio Hour producer Alan Donnes, the entire library of classic NLRH shows will be available via subscription download on Audible.com within two months. After all these years, I will finally have an answer for the hundreds of people who have emailed me over the years looking for “The Mad Vandal” and dozens of other bits from the show.

This looks promising: www.nationallampoonstore.com. Grand opening is August 1. Update: Dead as a doornail.

What’s the story behind the those centerless O’s in the National Lampoon logo? I always thought there was something slightly lewd about them, something to do with breasts perhaps. Prompted by an email query from a reader about this, I went right to the source and asked Michael Gross, the guy who designed it. Michael replied, “No thought intended I assure you. Just plain common type trying to be a logo. The guys before me had used a bad typeface and I just tried to make it more of a logo. Had I started from scratch, it would have been different… and tits never entered into it. Good guess though. Ha.” I feel like somebody just told me there’s no Santa Claus.

Alums of the movie Caddyshack reminisce about the film—and Doug Kenney in particular—in an article that appeared in the April issue of Golf Digest, Cult classic an homage to Doug Kenney. (I don’t know how I missed this. Not that I pay any attention to golf whatsoever. Anyway, thanks to Richard Levinson for the tip.)

Erstwhile National Lampoon contributor Richard Levinson has announced that he and several other others (Bill Martin, who wrote “Elephant Parts,” and Jeff Mandel, who contributed to a few NatLamp LPs) have started a new vanity humor site together. You can see it at www.modernmirth.com. Update: Modern Mirth is long gone, but I’ve redirected the link to the Wayback Machine archive of the site.

The 1972 James Ivory film Savages, written by Michael O’Donoghue and George Trow, is being released this month as part of Criterion’s Merchant-Ivory Collection. More information can be found on the Criterion website. (Hint: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on one of the links for the Merchant-Ivory Collection. When the window pops up, select “Savages” from the “select a film” menu. Note: Flash is required for the Merchant-Ivory Collection section.) Update: The film is apparently no longer available from Criterion, but it’s not hard to find it online for streaming or on disc through places like Amazon, although those available seem to be mostly foreign releases.

The June 2004 issue of Premiere magazine contains an article about the making of Ghostbusters (it’s the 20th anniversary this year). The article is a collection of reminiscences of those involved in the movie, including former NatLamp art director Michael Gross who was one of its producers.

Reader Ed Bondurant informs me that two National Lampoon albums are available for download on Audible.com, the online spoken-word audio source. You can get That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick! or the National Lampoon White Album for $11.95 and listen to them on your computer or portable MP3 player (such as Apple’s iPod).

In related news, National Lampoon Radio Hour, in its current re-packaged format, with host Richard Belzer, is also available on Audible.com, either in 12-month or 1-month subscriptions. Additionally, if you have Apple’s iTunes (available for both Windows and Macs), you can also buy and download individual shows from the iTunes Music Store. (Tip: Fire up iTunes, select the iTunes Music Store, and type “lampoon” in the search box to quickly find them.)

Update: So… All this info is completely out of date. You can’t get any of this stuff from Audible anymore. I do believe these LPs (and individual cuts) are still available from Apple Music (previously iTunes) as well as other music streaming services.