Word: lampooning
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...here they do in spades. Belushi's wide eyes take in one gorgeous nude body after another as the girls engage in pillow fights and unmentionable other acts. Yet there is nothing sordid about his voyeurism; it seems almost pure. That is because the Lampoon people understand the darkest secret of an American college education: one of the noblest reasons to go is to spend four years studying sex. -Frank Rich
Eight years ago, three newly graduated Harvard Lampoon editors had a wild and crazy idea: Why not start the first modern national humor magazine for American adults? They took the idea to a middle-aged entrepreneur-the publisher of Weight Watchers magazine, no less-and National Lampoon was born. The rest is history, or if not history, then at least hilarity...
Today National Lampoon, the brainchild of Douglas Kenney, Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman, is a show-biz empire of comedy. Not only has the magazine been a huge success (circ. 600,000), but it has also launched popular spinoffs: books, records (three Grammy Award nominations), stage revues, a radio show. Better still, the Lampoon has nurtured a new generation of comic talent. Many of the creators of NBC's Saturday Night Live, including Michael O'Donoghue, the Chief Writer, are Lampoon alumni. That show's Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Gilda Radner...
This summer is the Lampoon's balmiest yet. Last month the magazine published its Sunday Newspaper Parody, an eight-section, $4.95 send-up of Middle American journalism that is starting to hit trade-paperback bestseller lists. This week the magazine's first film venture, a college satire titled National Lampoon's Animal House, opens in 600 theaters nationwide. Bolstered by good reviews and Star, John Belushi, the movie is already playing to smash business in New York City and should return a hefty profit on its modest $2.7 million production cost...
Though the Lampoon has become big and rich, it has never lowered its scathing comic voice. "What we do is oppressor comedy," is the proud claim of Lampoon Editor in Chief PJ. O'Rourke, 30. "Woody Allen says, I'm just a regular shmuck like you.' Our kind of comedy says, 'I'm O.K.; you're an asshole.' We are ruling class. We are the insiders who have chosen to stand in the doorway and criticize the organization. Our comic pose is superior. It says, 'I'm better than...