National Lampoon, Inc. is a company formed in 2002 in order to use the brand name "National Lampoon" in comedy and entertainment following the tradition of its magazine predecessor, The National Lampoon.[2] In the words of its prospectus, the role of the company was to "develop, produce, provide creative services and distribute National Lampoon branded comedic content through a broad range of media platforms."[citation needed]
Since 2002, the company has overhauled its corporate infrastructure several times. As of 2024, it appears to be moribund.
History
In 2002, Dan Laikin and Paul Skjodt bought J2 Communications, license holder of the National Lampoon brand,[3] and renamed the company National Lampoon, Inc. J2 Communication CEO James P. Jimirro stayed on as National Lampoon, Inc. CEO[3] until January 2005.
In July 2017, PalmStar Media purchased all the assets of National Lampoon, Inc., including trademark and library of print, audio, film, and video content.[1]
In 2019, National Lampoon named Evan Shapiro, formerly of NBCUniversal Media Group, as their president, in hopes of resuscitating the brand.[4] He was laid off in 2020.[5]
Scandals and lawsuits
In December 2008, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia filed charges against National Lampoon, Inc. CEO Dan Laikin, with accusations that he and two third-party stock promoters attempted to artificially inflate the company's stock price. Laikin pleaded guilty on September 23, 2009, to his role in a conspiracy to manipulate the stock price from March through June 2008. In September 2010, a Philadelphia court sentenced Laikin to 45 months in prison.[6][7]
After Laikin resigned from his position as CEO, shareholder Tim Durham took over duties as CEO of National Lampoon Incorporated.[8] However, the next year Durham was involved in a major Ponzi scheme for which in 2012 he was sentenced to 50 years in prison.[9][10]
In 2020, National Lampoon sued its then-president, Evan Shapiro, for fraud, alleging in New York federal court that he owed more than $3 million for surreptitiously funneling the company's intellectual property and money from deals with Quibi, Disney+, and Comedy Central Digital into companies he controlled. Shapiro later claimed that National Lampoon Co-CEO Kevin Frakes had bullied him out of a job. [5]
Properties of the company
National Lampoon Press
National Lampoon, Inc. releases humor books and material under the umbrella of National Lampoon Press. These include republished collections of old National Lampoon magazine material, including True Facts, Foto Funnies, cartoons etc. from the 1970s and 1980s.
In June 2007, National Lampoon Inc. announced its intention to finance, produce, and distribute its own feature films. In an interview with the New York Times, Dan Laikin stated that, "the company really had just been a licensing company in the '90s. We were just licensing the name and we had no creative input. When I came in, we had to re-energize the brand and cut back on the licensing, because the only way to take control of the brand was to make sure that ultimately we put it on projects that we are proud of."[12] Eventually, the company hoped to release four of its own films annually and acquire up to eight more for distribution. The first release was Ratko: The Dictator's Son (2010).
National Lampoon, Inc. also began to purchase independent films and re-release them under the distinctive title of "National Lampoon Presents". The first in this series was National Lampoon Presents The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell, which was released in 2007.
Stage shows
In the fall of 2007, National Lampoon revived the live sketch comedyvariety show, National Lampoon's Lemmings for a nationwide theatrical tour. The show consists of a multimedia presentation of live sketches written and performed by the cast, which are integrated with related comedy videos.[13]
In 2020, the company rebooted Lemmings as "Lemmings: 21st Century", which was scheduled to debut in a two-night engagement at Joe's Pub in Manhattan in March of 2020 (right at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic). Instead of spoofing Woodstock, the new stage play "tackles modern festival culture through Downfall, a parody mash-up of corporatized events like Coachella and Bonnaroo."[14]
Podcasts
The Final Edition
The Final Edition was a National Lampoon podcast from November 2015 to August 2019.[15] The show was first created by former Lampoon editor Tony Hendra and author Jeff Kreisler,[16] and was later primarily run by Barry Lank. As of the time of its separation from National Lampoon, The Final Edition has been getting 1,000 downloads per episode,[citation needed] putting it in the top 10 percent of podcasts, as measured by estimates from Rob Walch, VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn.[17]
National Lampoon Radio Hour - The Podcast
Replacing The Final Edition was the National Lampoon Radio Hour: The Podcast, which debuted in December 2019.[14] It starred Megan Stalter, Brett Davis, Alex English, Aaron Jackson, Rachel Pegram, Lorelei Ramirez, and Martin Urbano.[18]
Comedy album
Lampoon issued Are There Any Triggers Here Tonight in 2016, using material from its The Final Edition podcast. It was the first Lampoon album in 35 years.[19]
In September 2002, Lampoon website writers Steve Brykman, Joe Oesterle, Sean Crespo, and Mason Brown were laid off; the four men decided to "sell themselves" on EBay to the highest bidder.[21]
In addition to the content created by The National Lampoon staff, The National Lampoon Humor Network was an affiliation of almost fifty comedy websites owned or partnered with National Lampoon. Collectively, they drew approximately 5 million monthly viewers in May 2007. This format gave it a consistent Comscore rating of #1 amongst comedy websites, barely beating out Comedy Central's web presence at #2.[12]
During 2011, the website was redesigned to resemble the classic National Lampoon magazine format. Staff writers and contributors included comedians Sandy Danto, Jessica Gottlieb, Phil Haney, Aaron Waltke, Seth Herzog, Evan Kessler, Kevin McCaffrey, Nadine Rajabi, Garrett Hargrove, Travis Tack, Eddie Rawls, and Matt Zaller.[22]
Publishing daily satire and cartoons, as of 2017 National Lampoon online was helmed by Editor-in-Chief Marty Dundics[citation needed] with contributing writers and artists including The New Yorker cartoonist Bob Eckstein, SNL humorist Jack Handey, author Mike Sacks, MAD magazine's Kit Lively, Paul Lander, Jon Daly, Dan Wuori, Brooke Preston, Trump satirist Johnny Wright, and Playboy Playmate/Huffington Post columnist Juliette Fretté.[23] National Lampoon is very active on Twitter, initiating hashtag games that produce trending topics.[24] According to their social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram they are 'The Comedy Brand.'[25][26][27] iHeart Radio is a content partner with National Lampoon Comedy Radio featuring National Lampoon Radio News.[28] There is a comedy store that sells branded T-shirts and all of the back issues of the original magazine.[29]
National Lampoon Comedy Radio was a 24/7 all comedy radio network that was made available to XM Satellite Radio, AM, FM, HD, Cable Radio and Podcast. It ran for two and a half years.
Affiliated with Clear Channel Communications, National Lampoon Comedy Radio was first added to XM Satellite Radio, and began airing on the satellite radio service on October 1, 2006. Much of the programming was broadcast from National Lampoon World Headquarters in West Hollywood, California. The station had pre-recorded, mock-live comedy talk shows with hosts Nadine Rajabi "Nadine @ Nite", Kevin Couch, and Phil Iazzetta broadcasting five days a week. The programming was built around stand-up performances from famous comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, George Carlin, D. L. Hughley, and Bob Saget. The station also played prank calls from Crank Yankers and other sources, parody songs (labeled "Poon Tunes"), and interviews with active comedians (Marc Maron, Larry The Cable Guy, Dave Attell, and many more).
Behind the scenes, the XM network was created and run out of two small, adjoining offices in a building on Sunset Blvd. The programming, while seeming live to the listener, was pre-recorded and uploaded to an XM server each day.
While on the air, the station was funded by Kent Emmons and supported by a staff of Tre Giles, David Frederic, Eugene Chin, Kevin Couch, Phil Iazzetta, Nadine Rajabi, Eric Cahill, and Jason Sharp.
Funding for the network was pulled in May 2008, when it was deemed unprofitable (despite having not employed anyone to sell ads). The Sirius-XM feed continued to air existing National Lampoon Comedy Radio content until March 2009, when it was replaced by talk programming.[citation needed]
Television
Originally formed in 2002, the National Lampoon College Network was a block of weekly television programming broadcast to colleges and universities. The format was similar to MTVu, the college-focused division of MTV.[30]
A video-sharing and social networking site featuring viral video content of extreme sports bloopers, "drunken debauchery" and the self-explanatory 'show us your butts'.
National Lampoon's Eye for an Eye
A syndicated television program that provided a variation on popular thirty-minute courtroom reality shows.
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1
A video game from the early 1990s for the PC platform. It was a 3-D chess game with animated battle scenes between the pieces when you attacked another piece, in the style of Battle Chess. Computer Gaming World said the game is "[...] an example of marketing strategy taking precedence over product quality."[31] German magazine Aktueller Software Markt gave the game a rating of "very good".[32]
The GSN cable television network in 2003 produced a comedygame showNational Lampoon's Funny Money, hosted by Jimmy Pardo. The game featured guest comedians and the more laughs in the "funny zone" were registered, the more points were earned. The winner went on to play for a National Lampoon vacation.
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