National Lampoon was an American humor magazine that ran from 1970 to 1998. The magazine started out as a spinoff from the Harvard Lampoon. National Lampoon magazine reached its height of popularity and critical acclaim during the 1970s, when it had a far-reaching effect on American humor and comedy. The magazine spawned films, radio, live theater, various sound recordings, and print products including books. Many members of the creative staff from the magazine went on to contribute creatively to successful media of all types.
A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughter. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business entertainers whose business is to make an audience laugh. It is possible to play both roles in the course of a career. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way.
Michael O'Donoghue was an American writer and performer.
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Anthony Christopher Hendra was an English satirist and writer who worked mostly in the United States. He was probably best known for being the head writer and co-producer in 1984 of the first six shows of the long-running British satirical television series Spitting Image and for starring in the film This Is Spinal Tap as the band's manager Ian Faith.
Modern Humorist was a United States-based humor webzine founded in 2000 by John Aboud and Michael Colton, and managed by CEO Kate Barker. Its board of directors included feature film producer Frank Marshall and comedian Jon Stewart.
John Aboud III is an American writer and comedian. With Michael Colton, he was a regular commentator on Best Week Ever and other VH1 shows. From 2000 to 2003, the two founded Modern Humorist, a parody website based in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to the creation of Modern Humorist, Aboud worked as a freelance writer for magazines and Web sites. In 1996, he was among the first copywriters at Grey Advertising's online division.
Christopher Cerf is an American author, composer-lyricist, voice actor, and record and television producer. He has contributed music to Sesame Street, and co-created and co-produced the PBS literacy education television program Between the Lions.
Daniel Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons and The Office. He was hired during The Simpsons' seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode "King-Size Homer", but left after season eleven. He returned to the Simpsons staff during the thirteenth season, and remains involved with the series into the present day.
Dexter Price Filkins is an American journalist known primarily for his coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for The New York Times. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for his dispatches from Afghanistan, and won a Pulitzer in 2009 as part of a team of Times reporters for their dispatches from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has been called "the premier combat journalist of his generation". He currently writes for The New Yorker.
The Real Paper was a Boston-area alternative weekly newspaper with a circulation in the tens of thousands. It ran from August 2, 1972, to June 18, 1981, often devoting space to counterculture and alternative politics of the early 1970s. The offices were in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Robert Morgan Carlock is an American screenwriter and producer. He has worked as a writer for several NBC television comedies, and as a showrunner for 30 Rock, which was created by his recurring collaborator, comedian Tina Fey. He co-created Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with Fey. He co-created the television show Mr. Mayor starring Ted Danson, again with Fey.
Nina Jane Easton is an American author, journalist, TV commentator, entrepreneur, and film producer. In 2016, she co-founded SellersEaston Media, a private-client storytelling service that chronicles the legacies and impact of leaders in business, public service, and philanthropy. A former senior editor and award-winning columnist for Fortune Magazine, she chaired Fortune Most Powerful Women International, with live events in Asia, Europe, Canada, and the U.S., and she co-chaired the Fortune Global Forum, bringing together top business and government leaders from around the world. At the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), she founded and hosts a live event series on global affairs called "Smart Women Smart Power." She is a frequent political analyst on television and was a 2012 fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Billy Kimball is an American writer and producer. He was a co-executive producer on the acclaimed HBO series Veep.
Mark O’Donnell was an American writer and humorist.
A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever is an American book by Josh Karp that was published in 2006. It is a history of National Lampoon magazine and one of its three founders, Doug Kenney, during the 1970s. The book was based on numerous interviews with people who contributed to the magazine, and people who performed in The National Lampoon Radio Hour, and the stage show Lemmings.
That's Not Funny, That's Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream is a book by the journalist Ellin Stein, published by Norton in June 2013. Based on many interviews, the book is a history covering some of National Lampoon magazine's lifespan and that of some of its creators, starting with the original founders' time spent at The Harvard Lampoon, and ending in 1980 after the funeral of co-founder Doug Kenney.
Spotlight is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Tom McCarthy and written by McCarthy and Josh Singer. The film follows The Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States, and its investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Catholic priests. Although the plot was original, it is loosely based on a series of stories by the Spotlight team that earned The Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The film features an ensemble cast including Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci, with Brian d'Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, and Billy Crudup in supporting roles.
A Futile and Stupid Gesture is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film based on Josh Karp's book of the same title, directed by David Wain, and written by Michael Colton and John Aboud. The film stars Will Forte as comedy writer Douglas Kenney, during the rise and fall of National Lampoon.
