National Lampoon rising from the ashes?

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 3rd, 2005

A reader hipped us to a NYT article(registration required) about the latest machinations behind the National Lampoon brand.

Mr. Matheson disagreed, though he acknowledged that by failing in his bid to restore the Lampoon to its glory days, he shares in some of the blame for what it has become. “There is no national humor magazine,” he said, “and it’s so important to look at our society with that filter that says: How stupid is this? Is this as stupid as we think it is?”

The article is fascinating and packed with quotes from Lampoon alums like Tony Hendra, P.J. O’Rourke and Tom Kenney. One thing that’s always disturbed us about the Lampoon reminiscing is the tendency to look back on the early days as far more funny than they were. The male half of the staff recalls purcashing his first Lampoon (the first Lampoon!) when he was in eighth grade or therabouts.

It was wickedly funny, of course. Mad Magazine was the gateway mag, then we graduated to Lampoon. But we seem to recall that subsequent issues never lived up to those first couple. Even the quality of the first five or six was uneven. (Believe it or not, I recall being especially disappointed with the issue that had the giant bunny on the cover… at least we think it was a giant bunny.) There won’t be another magazine which might, as Mr. Matheson says, ask How stupid is this? Mainly because, for the past 20 years or so, there has been some rather wicked and insightful comedians just down the street at your local comedy club asking that very same question… and answering it with much more wit and verve than the Lampoon writers have since Issue #6 or so.

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