Episode Summary
Join us for a mind-boggling multi-media tour through the early days of an institution whose alumni left their fingerprints all over popular culture: Animal House, Caddyshack, Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters, SCTV, Spinal Tap, In Living Color, Ren & Stimpy, and The Simpsons. Long before there was The Onion and Comedy Central, there was the National Lampoon.
Participant(s) Bio
Ted Mann was the most uninhibited and unpredictable of all the people who ever worked at the Lampoon. And he was a good writer of tough, smart prose. He had serious issues on his mind, but first he and Tod Carroll created "O. C. and Stiggs," and he was one of the writers of Disco Beaver from Outer Space. Ted has since written and produced for Miami Vice, NYPD Blue, Judging Amy, John from Cincinnati, and Deadwood.
Rick Meyerowitz believes he is the most prolific contributor of illustrated articles to the National Lampoon magazine. He painted the poster for Animal House and was the creator of the magazine's trademark visual, "The Mona Gorilla." Shortly after 9/11, Rick and Maira Kalman creÂated the most talked-about New Yorker cover of this century, "NewYorkistan." Rick is also the author of Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great.
Ellis Weiner is droll and cerebral. He says he lived in a state of constant fear that he wouldn't understand what the other Lampoon editors were talkÂing about. Ellis writes for television and has written or cowritten numerous books, among which are Drop Dead, My Lovely; The Joy of Worry (with Roz Chast); YidÂdish with Dick and Jane; and Oy! Do This Not That!: 100 Simple Swaps That Could Save Your Life, Your Money, or Your Mother from a Heart Attack, God Forbid. Ellis is a regular and very funny blogger on the Huffington Post.
Rick Meyerowitz believes he is the most prolific contributor of illustrated articles to the National Lampoon magazine. He painted the poster for Animal House and was the creator of the magazine's trademark visual, "The Mona Gorilla." Shortly after 9/11, Rick and Maira Kalman creÂated the most talked-about New Yorker cover of this century, "NewYorkistan." Rick is also the author of Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great.
Ellis Weiner is droll and cerebral. He says he lived in a state of constant fear that he wouldn't understand what the other Lampoon editors were talkÂing about. Ellis writes for television and has written or cowritten numerous books, among which are Drop Dead, My Lovely; The Joy of Worry (with Roz Chast); YidÂdish with Dick and Jane; and Oy! Do This Not That!: 100 Simple Swaps That Could Save Your Life, Your Money, or Your Mother from a Heart Attack, God Forbid. Ellis is a regular and very funny blogger on the Huffington Post.
Credits
