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Announcer: Due to the explicit
sexual nature
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of the following
National Lampoon Radio Hour,
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00:00:06,048 --> 00:00:08,591
it is featured as adult
entertainment
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00:00:08,759 --> 00:00:11,052
and not recommended
for children's ears
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00:00:11,220 --> 00:00:13,054
without parental supervision.
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00:00:13,222 --> 00:00:17,266
Tonight's show will begin
after this brief commercial word.
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John Belushi: Good evening, uh,
this is John Belushi
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and this is the
National Lampoon Radio Hour.
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- ♪ (music plays) ♪
- (applause)
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- Boy: Hi, Dad.
- Man: Hello there, son,
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00:00:34,201 --> 00:00:35,201
how was school today?
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Boy: Okay. Hey, I heard
a really neat joke
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at recess,
you wanna hear it?
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Man: Why, certainly, son.
Go ahead.
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Boy: Okay. Well, you see,
there was this priest
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and this minister and this...
Wait, what do you call it...
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Rabbi, yeah.
And they were in this car and--
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Man: Hold it right there, son.
Around this house,
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we don't make jokes
about religion, do we?
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Boy: Aw, but gee, Dad,
it's a really cute joke.
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Man: Don't "Aw, gee" me, son.
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You start off with
cute jokes about religion,
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00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:56,264
and you end up
with atheistic trash
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like this December issue
of the National Lampoon.
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It makes fun of saints and prayers
and money and all that's sacred.
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This issue of the National Lampoon
is foul and repulsive,
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and this is where your cute
little jokes will lead you, son.
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Boy: Okay, Dad, I'm...
I'm sorry.
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Man: That's all right, son,
you're forgiven.
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- Man: Oh, and son?
- Boy: Yes, Dad.
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Man: You'll be sleeping
with your mother tonight.
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It's my turn
with your sister.
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♪ (David Bowie "Jean Genie" plays) ♪
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Billy Bob Thornton:
I had this sense of humor
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that sort of didn't exist
where I grew up.
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♪ (music continues) ♪
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After reading that first
National Lampoon,
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I went, "Wow, that's what
I've been trying to say."
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National Lampoon
just meant a lot to me as a kid
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00:02:04,875 --> 00:02:06,584
because it was
what I wanted to do.
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It woke me up to the idea
that this was a job.
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Fat, drunk and stupid is
no way to go through life, son.
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Judd Apatow: And then you get
all these generations afterwards
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of people like me who were
just trying to be those guys.
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It was sharp, crystal clear,
and above all funny.
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It just blew
the whole shit house up.
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♪ (music continues) ♪
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The National Lampoon was
defining part of the zeitgeist.
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Here was this totally
outrageous voice
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that was screaming,
"Here I come."
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♪ (music continues) ♪
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Breasts... I would try
to seek out the magazine
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on the off chance that
there would be some breasts.
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♪ (music continues) ♪
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Kevin Bacon: The humor was
a little bit above my pay grade.
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(chuckling)
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Meatloaf: The Lampoons
are very intellectual.
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Tennessee Williams
and Arthur Miller
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could have been part
of National Lampoon.
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We were taking on
the idiocy
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of our own generation.
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You know, overthrowing the ageist,
racist, sexist,
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corporate pig monster
is a full-time job.
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They always had
the best parties,
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the best drugs,
the smartest people.
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We could sell out more,
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and the moment
we do sell out totally,
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we'll be dead.
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♪ (music continues) ♪
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There's a time
in everyone's life,
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00:04:09,541 --> 00:04:12,960
and it's really
between 17 and 22,
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when you talk to people
in their middle age,
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00:04:15,756 --> 00:04:17,715
they always talk
about their high school
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or their college experience
as the, quote unquote,
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"Best years of their lives."
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And I'm thinking, "Well, why?"
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And ultimately it's because,
when you're 17, 18,
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you were expected to function
as an adult, but you're a baby.
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Have you ever gone
to a college campus?
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Those kids are babies.
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But they're adults,
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so there's this wonderful
freedom, sense of adventure.
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"We can do anything we want!
We're college students!"
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And that's really
how the whole thing started.
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♪ (piano plays) ♪
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♪ Fight fiercely, Harvard
fight, fight, fight ♪
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♪ Impress them
with our prowess do ♪
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Meatloaf:
What was it originally,
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the Harvard Lampoon, right?
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Well, anybody that
mentioned Harvard,
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I just went, "Fuck you."
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The Harvard Lampoon
was one of those famous things
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that nobody has
ever seen a copy of.
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♪ Fight, fight, fight... ♪
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Mike Reiss:
The Harvard Lampoon is
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America's oldest humor magazine
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started at Harvard in 1876.
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Man: John Updike was an editor,
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and George Plimpton was
an editor.
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Well, that's about it,
you know?
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Two famous writers
in 125 years.
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And we also had Fred Gwynne, the
guy who played Herman Munster.
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It goes
off the table after that.
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♪ Fight, fight, fight ♪
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Harvard Lampoon was just
this extracurricular activity
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and was something
you did before you went
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into the family law firm
or became a banker.
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Doug Kenney and Henry Beard were
in the class after I left Harvard.
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They were both incredibly brilliant,
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and incredibly funny
and incredibly good friends,
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but they weren't the same at all.
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Doug Kenney was really the heart
and soul of the Lampoon.
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Doug was the, sort of, the complete
social opposite of Henry.
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For one thing, he did not come
from an upper-crust family.
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Doug's father was
the tennis pro
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at a golf club
in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
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Have you ever seen Caddyshack?
That's Doug.
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- You take drugs, Danny?
- Every day.
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Good.
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Tony Hendra:
The very first time I met Doug,
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he was talking like
William Makepeace Thackeray.
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I mean, he was actually
improvising his prose, right?
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And it was Thackeray,
it wasn't Dickens.
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And about 30,
45 seconds after that,
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he was demonstrating that he could
put his entire fist in his mouth.
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So this was Doug,
you know?
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Sean Kelly:
Doug was a performer.
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Doug wanted to be a star.
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And he was a smart, funny,
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complicated person
who could write.
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Now that's, uh, that's rare.
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Bruce McCall: Henry was probably
the smartest man I ever met.
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He could have been
a nuclear physicist,
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00:07:11,431 --> 00:07:12,765
he could have been
a Supreme Court judge,
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he could have been anything.
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Kelly: I remember the first time
Henry met my first wife.
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Afterwards she said,
"I've met Holden Caulfield."
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Henry Beard: My father
had graduated from Yale,
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and as a...
a bit of youthful rebellion,
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I decided to go to Harvard.
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Henry is about as private
a person as you'll ever find.
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He was mysterious and elusive.
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The two of them together were
an absolutely amazing team.
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When I was at Harvard,
we got a call one day
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from Betsy Talbot Blackwell,
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who was the editor-in-chief
of Mademoiselle magazine.
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She had seen a parody issue
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that the Harvard Lampoon
had put out,
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and Betsy said,
"You know, maybe I should
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00:07:54,391 --> 00:07:56,642
ask these guys
to do a parody of us,
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and we'll publish it
in our own magazine."
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She offered us $7,000 which
seemed like nothing even then,
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00:08:03,859 --> 00:08:07,611
but what she also offered was
a free subscription ad.
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We could do anything we wanted
as long as we put the clothes in
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and as long as we showed
the models,
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which, of course,
led to a lot of good times.
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00:08:19,583 --> 00:08:21,584
And as a result of that
parody issue,
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we got tens of thousands
of subscriptions right away.
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She gave us
a national audience.
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The discovery is that,
rather than having
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to depend on Mademoiselle to
make our magazines go national...
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...the Harvard Lampoon could actually
publish national magazines itself.
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They did Time magazine,
and they did Sports Illustrated
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and they did Life magazine.
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Beard: Doug Kenney and I decided
to do a parody of Lord of the Rings.
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We sent a letter to Tolkien,
who, honest to God,
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sent a letter back saying, "Yeah
go right ahead, silly book."
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I like the Playboy parody
that they did
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where the centerfold girl was more
tan around her bottom and top.
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She had reversed tan lines.
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Playboy was
a big hit nationally,
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00:09:08,215 --> 00:09:10,758
and Doug and Henry realized
that maybe there was some way
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that the National Lampoon
could exist.
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Radio Announcer: Uh-uh-uh,
don't touch that dial.
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The National Lampoon
will be right back
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after this insincere
commercial message
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written by some cynical Nazis,
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solely for the purpose of
ripping off your parents' money.
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I think if you take yourself
back to when you were
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in your 20s, all possibilities
appear open to anybody.
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You know, you could
go after anything at any time.
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P.J. O'Rourke: Doug and Henry
had gone to New York
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00:09:42,916 --> 00:09:45,793
in hopes of doing a 50l50 deal
with some publishing group
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who would put up the money.
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See, we met with some guys
from Time and Life.
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00:09:51,341 --> 00:09:53,634
I can't tell you how
off-putting they were.
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Just saying, "Oh, you guys,
you don't understand anything.
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You don't have a chance.
You're toast.
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You're just not going anywhere."
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00:10:00,350 --> 00:10:02,851
Doug Kenney was not
very happy about that
191
00:10:03,019 --> 00:10:05,187
and said, "You people are
the kind of people
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00:10:05,355 --> 00:10:07,606
who commute back and forth
from Westport, Connecticut,
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00:10:07,774 --> 00:10:08,857
in a station wagon.
194
00:10:09,567 --> 00:10:11,026
We have nothing to do
with you."
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00:10:11,194 --> 00:10:13,654
I thought, "Holy God",
but he was right!
196
00:10:14,364 --> 00:10:16,782
And that's how we ran
into 21st Century Communications
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00:10:16,950 --> 00:10:18,200
and Matty Simmons.
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00:10:18,368 --> 00:10:20,869
Matty Simmons: Doug Kenney,
Henry Beard, and Rob Hoffman,
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00:10:21,037 --> 00:10:23,080
three Harvard Lampoon editors,
200
00:10:23,248 --> 00:10:26,667
came into my office,
and I was immediately impressed.
201
00:10:30,213 --> 00:10:32,715
Matty belonged
to another generation.
202
00:10:32,882 --> 00:10:35,801
Very much New York,
very much old-school publishing.
203
00:10:35,969 --> 00:10:37,094
Ellis Weiner:
This guy invented
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00:10:37,262 --> 00:10:39,388
the Diners' Club card,
which was the first credit card.
205
00:10:39,556 --> 00:10:41,432
Janis Hirsch: I think he wished
he was in the Rat Pack.
206
00:10:41,599 --> 00:10:43,434
He, sort of,
always had those bedroom eyes.
207
00:10:43,601 --> 00:10:45,269
You'd be talking to him
about something serious,
208
00:10:45,437 --> 00:10:46,562
and he'd take a phone call and say,
209
00:10:46,730 --> 00:10:49,481
"Oh, yeah, darling, baby,
I love you so much, I love you.
210
00:10:49,649 --> 00:10:51,734
Yeah, broccoli for dinner's fine.
Yeah, thank you, good-bye."
211
00:10:52,652 --> 00:10:55,863
Beard: He was very full of himself,
knew the business inside out.
212
00:10:56,031 --> 00:10:58,490
Distribution in those days was,
you know,
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00:10:58,658 --> 00:11:00,034
there were some
criminal elements.
214
00:11:00,201 --> 00:11:02,494
Matty wasn't one of them, but he
had to deal with people like that.
215
00:11:05,623 --> 00:11:07,791
O'Rourke:
Magazines in the late '60s
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00:11:07,959 --> 00:11:11,003
were thought to take about five years
before they got into the black.
217
00:11:11,171 --> 00:11:14,465
Rob intuited that this would
either work or it wouldn't.
218
00:11:14,632 --> 00:11:17,301
So he made a bet
when he negotiated the deal.
219
00:11:17,469 --> 00:11:19,386
He did a forced buyout
after five years.
220
00:11:19,554 --> 00:11:21,347
It was, kind of, a gutsy move.
221
00:11:21,514 --> 00:11:24,099
Simmons:
They owned 25%, I owned 75%.
222
00:11:24,267 --> 00:11:26,685
And part of the deal was,
after five years,
223
00:11:26,811 --> 00:11:28,270
I would buy them out.
224
00:11:28,438 --> 00:11:29,938
If this magazine is successful,
225
00:11:30,106 --> 00:11:33,734
I might owe these guys five,
six million dollars,
226
00:11:33,902 --> 00:11:35,069
but I made the deal.
227
00:11:36,363 --> 00:11:38,405
And we started
National Lampoon.
228
00:11:43,495 --> 00:11:45,371
Their first hire was
Michael O'Donoghue,
229
00:11:45,538 --> 00:11:47,498
and Michael O'Donoghue
was not Harvard,
230
00:11:47,665 --> 00:11:49,458
Michael O'Donoghue was Buffalo.
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00:11:49,959 --> 00:11:51,710
♪ (T. Rex "Children of
the Revolution" plays) ♪
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Boy, was he an angry bunny.
233
00:12:00,929 --> 00:12:05,265
He probably as much as anyone
gave the Lampoon its tone.
234
00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,976
We're doing this in place
of hitting you in the face.
235
00:12:08,144 --> 00:12:11,438
He had this recipe box,
you know the ones that ladies have
236
00:12:11,606 --> 00:12:13,065
with the recipes in them?
237
00:12:13,233 --> 00:12:15,192
"Oh, baked beans..."
238
00:12:16,069 --> 00:12:20,781
But his recipe box was full of things
like battling buses of World War II.
239
00:12:20,949 --> 00:12:22,491
He just had
hundreds of these things.
240
00:12:23,701 --> 00:12:24,993
Chris Cerf:
He would take any chance.
241
00:12:25,161 --> 00:12:28,080
Even though we were perfectly
happy to do tasteful things,
242
00:12:28,248 --> 00:12:30,290
he pushed the bounds
even further.
243
00:12:30,458 --> 00:12:32,042
Doug did the dirty stuff,
Henry did the brainy stuff,
244
00:12:32,210 --> 00:12:33,752
and O'Donoghue did
the outrageous stuff,
245
00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:35,212
the really
transgressive stuff.
246
00:12:50,770 --> 00:12:52,729
Tony Hendra was
a British comic
247
00:12:52,897 --> 00:12:55,190
as part of a comedy team
called Ullett and Hendra.
248
00:12:55,358 --> 00:12:58,444
He and his partner Nick Ullett
used to be on The Merv Griffin Show.
249
00:12:58,611 --> 00:13:01,864
When you hear the buzz,
it will be the correct time.
250
00:13:02,365 --> 00:13:03,991
(buzzes)
251
00:13:04,159 --> 00:13:05,742
It is now the correct time.
252
00:13:05,910 --> 00:13:07,035
(audience laughing)
253
00:13:07,203 --> 00:13:09,371
Tony Hendra: Writing for television
was like firing on one cylinder.
254
00:13:09,539 --> 00:13:13,959
Working at the Lampoon was like
firing on all six cylinders.
255
00:13:14,127 --> 00:13:16,336
It was like you could talk about
anything you wanted.
256
00:13:16,504 --> 00:13:18,672
There was absolutely
nothing that was,
257
00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,300
"You can't say that, Tony"
or "That's not funny, Tony."
258
00:13:21,468 --> 00:13:24,136
He had this extraordinarily
educated-at-Cambridge accent
259
00:13:24,304 --> 00:13:26,013
and was very literate
and worldly
260
00:13:26,181 --> 00:13:29,933
and yet behaved like
a delinquent of 12 or 13.
261
00:13:41,029 --> 00:13:43,113
I was a humble Canadian
schoolteacher.
262
00:13:43,281 --> 00:13:46,158
One day, my upstairs neighbor,
Michel Choquette,
263
00:13:46,326 --> 00:13:49,369
came home and told me he was
interested in starting to write
264
00:13:49,537 --> 00:13:51,538
for this National Lampoon
magazine
265
00:13:51,706 --> 00:13:53,207
that was being
started in New York.
266
00:13:53,374 --> 00:13:55,709
I thought, well, maybe I can
come down to New York
267
00:13:55,877 --> 00:13:57,252
and become rich and famous
268
00:13:57,420 --> 00:14:00,130
and get tremendous amounts
of drugs and sex and things.
269
00:14:00,924 --> 00:14:02,424
None of which panned out.
270
00:14:11,059 --> 00:14:13,143
Sean Kelly actually fixed me up
271
00:14:13,269 --> 00:14:15,145
on a blind date
with Michel Choquette.
272
00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,815
And then Michel started
taking me to New York with him
273
00:14:18,983 --> 00:14:22,069
because I was, quote unquote,
"Helping him with his work."
274
00:14:23,446 --> 00:14:25,197
I got into comedy the same way
275
00:14:25,365 --> 00:14:27,699
that Catherine the Great
got into politics
276
00:14:28,201 --> 00:14:29,284
on my back.
277
00:14:39,546 --> 00:14:43,048
I was working in a saloon
on the West Side.
278
00:14:43,216 --> 00:14:45,217
One night,
somebody came over to me.
279
00:14:45,385 --> 00:14:47,719
"There's a fellow back there
stealing the ketchup."
280
00:14:47,887 --> 00:14:48,929
And I go after him, and I said,
281
00:14:49,097 --> 00:14:50,472
"Excuse me,
I know what you're doing."
282
00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:52,683
And then I realize I'm standing
here accusing somebody
283
00:14:52,850 --> 00:14:56,103
of stealing ketchup
from a red rubber bottle.
284
00:14:56,396 --> 00:14:57,896
So this is so sad.
285
00:14:58,398 --> 00:15:00,691
Very shortly thereafter,
Henry offered me a job,
286
00:15:00,858 --> 00:15:02,150
and I gleefully took it.
287
00:15:04,571 --> 00:15:06,572
Doug and Henry had this idea
about bringing in
288
00:15:06,739 --> 00:15:10,659
this very hippyish
art studio called Cloud.
289
00:15:17,292 --> 00:15:20,294
Cloud Studios was
an independent design firm.
290
00:15:21,087 --> 00:15:23,380
That's a generous term to use
for those guys.
291
00:15:23,548 --> 00:15:25,215
Bill Skurski: We were,
quote unquote, "hippie artists"
292
00:15:25,383 --> 00:15:26,717
because we weren't out
to be millionaires.
293
00:15:26,884 --> 00:15:28,677
We were out to do
the things we liked to do.
294
00:15:29,429 --> 00:15:30,429
You know, we were turned on,
295
00:15:30,597 --> 00:15:32,973
and I don't mean by drugs,
I mean by the ideas.
296
00:15:35,226 --> 00:15:38,478
Doug liked to hang with people
like Cloud Studio artists.
297
00:15:38,646 --> 00:15:40,522
He like the fact
that they were kind of freaky
298
00:15:40,690 --> 00:15:43,150
and wore costumes
and had beards.
299
00:15:43,568 --> 00:15:45,360
Michael Sullivan: Doug would
come to parties that we had,
300
00:15:45,528 --> 00:15:48,614
and when Doug wasn't in
the office working,
301
00:15:48,781 --> 00:15:50,741
he was probably high as a kite.
302
00:15:50,908 --> 00:15:53,368
Kelly: Doug wanted to be
a beat or a hippie.
303
00:15:53,536 --> 00:15:56,079
Doug wanted to be trendy
and with it.
304
00:15:56,456 --> 00:16:00,167
I remember Doug asking, "Should I...
Should I be for the Black Panthers?"
305
00:16:00,752 --> 00:16:01,877
And he wasn't kidding.
306
00:16:08,509 --> 00:16:10,927
I saw the first issue, um,
which was terrible.
307
00:16:14,182 --> 00:16:15,390
Sam Gross: They had this duck.
308
00:16:15,558 --> 00:16:19,686
And they were gonna keep
the duck as a logo on the cover
309
00:16:19,854 --> 00:16:21,813
like the Playboy bunny.
310
00:16:21,981 --> 00:16:24,816
I said to Henry,
"Get rid of the duck."
311
00:16:24,984 --> 00:16:26,818
That's not the Playboy bunny
where, you know,
312
00:16:26,986 --> 00:16:30,781
you can put it on a garter,
make it a pasty or whatever.
313
00:16:31,157 --> 00:16:34,201
Everything they did was,
it had to be funny-looking,
314
00:16:34,369 --> 00:16:37,245
which means it was all sort of
squirrely and hippie-like.
315
00:16:40,750 --> 00:16:44,336
The issues were messy,
they were confusing.
316
00:16:44,504 --> 00:16:46,171
It wasn't bringing in
the readers,
317
00:16:46,339 --> 00:16:48,215
and they weren't getting
the sales on the newsstand.
318
00:16:49,050 --> 00:16:51,343
I told them, "We've gotta
replace your art director."
319
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,181
Doug was very upset,
he wanted to keep Cloud,
320
00:16:56,349 --> 00:17:00,227
and he argued with me,
but it was my call, I was the boss.
321
00:17:01,145 --> 00:17:04,481
After we did the first seven issues,
I got a call from Doug Kenney.
322
00:17:04,649 --> 00:17:07,567
He said, "I'm sorry, but you're
no longer the art director."
323
00:17:07,735 --> 00:17:10,195
Great, knock yourself out.
324
00:17:22,583 --> 00:17:25,252
When I brought Michael Gross in,
Doug was kinda hostile.
325
00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:27,671
My first issue when
I walked in the door
326
00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:32,884
was the nostalgia issue,
which was Doug Kenney's baby.
327
00:17:41,728 --> 00:17:44,938
I knew when I was hired,
I was hired against Doug's will.
328
00:17:45,231 --> 00:17:47,274
In the sales pitch that I made,
329
00:17:47,442 --> 00:17:51,778
I referred to an article they'd
done about postage stamps.
330
00:17:51,946 --> 00:17:57,159
I said, "For these stamps to work,
they should look like real stamps."
331
00:18:00,371 --> 00:18:02,664
You should be fooled
when you look at them.
332
00:18:02,832 --> 00:18:06,334
Therefore the parody
is empowered.
333
00:18:06,502 --> 00:18:10,922
And in that little example,
he transformed the magazine.
334
00:18:13,593 --> 00:18:16,303
After that, Doug came
into my office and said,
335
00:18:16,471 --> 00:18:18,054
"You were right about this guy."
336
00:18:18,765 --> 00:18:21,808
As soon as Michael came aboard,
the Lampoon began to look great.
337
00:18:22,226 --> 00:18:25,061
♪ (King Floyd's "Groove Me" plays) ♪
338
00:18:39,535 --> 00:18:41,953
Cerf: And what the Lampoon
began to be able to do
339
00:18:42,121 --> 00:18:45,040
was to create anything
in any format,
340
00:18:45,208 --> 00:18:47,417
so that it looked like the original.
341
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,556
Michael O'Donoghue: You know,
Ed Sullivan, we kid him a lot,
342
00:19:01,724 --> 00:19:04,142
but Ed Sullivan is one of
the greats of this business,
343
00:19:04,310 --> 00:19:06,228
and I had a funny thought.
344
00:19:06,604 --> 00:19:12,025
What if Ed Sullivan were tortured,
and when I say tortured,
345
00:19:12,193 --> 00:19:14,945
what I mean is,
what if steel needles,
346
00:19:15,112 --> 00:19:18,448
say six inches long,
were plunged into Ed's eyes?
347
00:19:18,616 --> 00:19:21,243
I... I think it would go
something like this...
348
00:19:21,410 --> 00:19:25,831
(continuous screaming)
349
00:19:31,337 --> 00:19:34,130
You could walk into
the Lampoon editorial office
350
00:19:34,298 --> 00:19:35,882
and get high just walking in.
351
00:19:36,342 --> 00:19:38,718
But as long as it stayed
in the editorial office,
352
00:19:38,886 --> 00:19:41,096
and as long as they were doing
the terrific work
353
00:19:41,264 --> 00:19:43,974
they were doing,
I didn't tell them what to do.
354
00:19:46,310 --> 00:19:48,353
In the course of a given day,
it was understood
355
00:19:48,521 --> 00:19:52,607
that the day didn't end
when the office day ended.
356
00:19:52,775 --> 00:19:55,151
Beatts: They would have these
dinner meetings in, like,
357
00:19:55,319 --> 00:19:57,153
some of the worst restaurants
in New York.
358
00:19:57,321 --> 00:19:59,531
Brian McConnachie: There was
a saloon called The Green Man.
359
00:19:59,699 --> 00:20:04,035
It was hot,
it smelled of cat stink.
360
00:20:04,203 --> 00:20:07,247
And they would sit around a table
and drink tons and tons of beer.
361
00:20:07,415 --> 00:20:09,416
This would be paid for
by Henry or Doug.
362
00:20:09,584 --> 00:20:11,835
They would whip out their
company American Express card
363
00:20:12,003 --> 00:20:13,253
and pay for dinner.
364
00:20:13,421 --> 00:20:15,422
That's when we made up
the next issue.
365
00:20:15,590 --> 00:20:19,926
You had to either get Doug or Henry
to react positively to your idea.
366
00:20:20,511 --> 00:20:22,137
Ed Subitzky: The ideas would
come out very rapid fire.
367
00:20:22,305 --> 00:20:23,388
"How did he think of that?"
And then...
368
00:20:23,556 --> 00:20:24,806
"How did he think of that?"
369
00:20:25,016 --> 00:20:26,391
"How did he think of that?"
370
00:20:29,103 --> 00:20:30,979
We all do it the same way,
you get drunk,
371
00:20:31,397 --> 00:20:33,648
you go home,
you get up in the morning,
372
00:20:33,816 --> 00:20:35,025
and you write the piece.
373
00:20:35,318 --> 00:20:37,736
Gross: Doug was who
you went to really see
374
00:20:37,904 --> 00:20:41,197
if you had some wild and wacky
brilliant but funny idea.
375
00:20:41,741 --> 00:20:44,159
Doug would go,
"I gotcha, you're in."
376
00:20:44,327 --> 00:20:45,577
Beard: I mean,
he was a workaholic.
377
00:20:45,745 --> 00:20:47,746
I mean,
he was unbelievably productive.
378
00:20:47,914 --> 00:20:50,582
Like, he wrote
the Letters column every month.
379
00:20:50,750 --> 00:20:53,168
I mean, that's like 2200
very funny words of letters
380
00:20:53,336 --> 00:20:54,836
in, like,
an hour and a half.
381
00:20:55,004 --> 00:20:57,213
I mean, every single time
there was something
382
00:20:57,381 --> 00:21:00,175
that had to be done,
he really was focused on it.
383
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,427
Shary Flenniken:
Doug was valuable in that sense.
384
00:21:02,595 --> 00:21:05,263
Because he would
stimulate your ideas.
385
00:21:05,431 --> 00:21:08,224
So I don't think that there
really was anyone else
386
00:21:08,351 --> 00:21:10,769
who could inspire
other people like Doug.
387
00:21:11,103 --> 00:21:13,063
People would come
to Henry with ideas,
388
00:21:13,230 --> 00:21:14,689
and Henry would say,
389
00:21:15,191 --> 00:21:16,691
"Tempting, tempting."
390
00:21:16,859 --> 00:21:20,445
Whatever idea you pitched him,
he would say, "Tempting, tempting."
391
00:21:20,613 --> 00:21:22,656
"Tempting" meant that
392
00:21:22,782 --> 00:21:25,033
that is so awful,
it really blows chunks.
393
00:21:25,409 --> 00:21:28,745
Or, I'm about to have
an intellectual orgasm, it's so good.
394
00:21:29,497 --> 00:21:31,623
Subitzky: Somehow Henry Beard
would take this ragtag
395
00:21:31,791 --> 00:21:34,417
bunch of material and different
types of personalities
396
00:21:34,585 --> 00:21:36,336
and brilliantly
merge it together
397
00:21:36,504 --> 00:21:38,964
to make a magazine that was
surprisingly coherent.
398
00:21:39,131 --> 00:21:41,341
♪ (Dave Mason
"Only You Know & I Know" plays) ♪
399
00:21:53,062 --> 00:21:56,564
Beard: It was like we had
an attic full of culture
400
00:21:57,233 --> 00:22:01,778
that had been accumulating
from 1945 to 1970.
401
00:22:02,029 --> 00:22:05,657
And we opened the trap door,
and nobody had been up there,
402
00:22:06,409 --> 00:22:08,410
and we just basically looted it.
403
00:22:10,538 --> 00:22:12,789
Kelly: Michael O'Donoghue's
Vietnamese Baby Book
404
00:22:12,957 --> 00:22:15,667
was an extraordinary
piece of satire.
405
00:22:15,835 --> 00:22:19,546
It was a baby book, but it was
designed to be for a Vietnamese baby,
406
00:22:19,714 --> 00:22:22,757
and so it had things in it like
"Baby's First Wound."
407
00:22:24,510 --> 00:22:26,052
(laughing)
408
00:22:29,098 --> 00:22:31,349
Simmons:
It was incredibly dark,
409
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:35,061
extremely political,
and it was funny.
410
00:22:36,981 --> 00:22:39,190
Michel Choquette came to me
with an idea.
411
00:22:39,358 --> 00:22:42,652
He had run into a guy who looked
just like Adolf Hitler.
412
00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:46,364
Flenniken: The piece was called
Stranger in Paradise
413
00:22:46,699 --> 00:22:50,910
which was about Adolf Hitler
really survived World War Two
414
00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:55,165
and was living on a tropical island
somewhere in the Caribbean.
415
00:22:56,584 --> 00:22:59,002
Simmons: I gave him a budget,
and ten days later
416
00:22:59,128 --> 00:23:00,628
I got a telegram,
it said,
417
00:23:00,838 --> 00:23:04,007
"Hitler eating too much,
need more money."
418
00:23:04,175 --> 00:23:08,094
I said, "Stop feeding Hitler
and return to New York immediately."
419
00:23:08,262 --> 00:23:09,679
And it was a brilliant article,
420
00:23:09,847 --> 00:23:13,016
which we resold to almost
every foreign country.
421
00:23:16,020 --> 00:23:18,813
Doug Kenney came up with
the photo funnies concept.
422
00:23:18,981 --> 00:23:23,735
Doug insisted that they be us
and some girls we brought in.
423
00:23:23,903 --> 00:23:26,738
I was so opposed.
"Guys, we're a real magazine.
424
00:23:26,906 --> 00:23:29,491
We don't need to take Polaroid's
in a fuckin' office."
425
00:23:30,242 --> 00:23:33,495
I was so wrong,
because what Doug recognized
426
00:23:33,662 --> 00:23:37,082
is the audience identified with us.
427
00:23:37,875 --> 00:23:40,460
They went, "These are, like,
a bunch of jerk-offs like me."
428
00:23:40,628 --> 00:23:42,712
Like, "You and me,
Bernie, look!"
429
00:23:43,547 --> 00:23:46,007
That's Doug Kenney's genius.
430
00:23:47,134 --> 00:23:50,386
They did probably one of the greatest
magazine covers ever done.
431
00:23:50,554 --> 00:23:53,306
Beard: Ed Bluestone came
to the office, and he said,
432
00:23:53,474 --> 00:23:54,974
"You're gonna get a dog,
433
00:23:55,142 --> 00:23:56,684
gonna put a pistol to its head,
and you're gonna say
434
00:23:56,852 --> 00:23:58,937
'If you don't buy this magazine,
we'll kill this dog.'"
435
00:23:59,105 --> 00:24:01,022
I said, "Ed, that's the most
brilliant thing I've ever heard."
436
00:24:01,899 --> 00:24:04,192
Gross:
It was a huge, huge hit
437
00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:08,696
because it's what every magazine
publisher wanted to do.
438
00:24:08,864 --> 00:24:11,282
All they want to say is,
"Buy the fucking magazine!"
439
00:24:19,250 --> 00:24:22,043
We realized that artists,
well-known established artists,
440
00:24:22,211 --> 00:24:25,588
people like Arnold Roth,
the great cartoonist Gahan Wilson,
441
00:24:27,049 --> 00:24:28,299
Sam Gross.
442
00:24:32,054 --> 00:24:34,180
Charlotte Rodriguez is
just a wonderful illustrator.
443
00:24:34,348 --> 00:24:35,640
Neal Adams.
444
00:24:35,808 --> 00:24:40,103
They all had to have
drawers full of wonderful stuff
445
00:24:40,271 --> 00:24:43,690
that had been rejected by
more traditional publications
446
00:24:43,858 --> 00:24:45,567
that weren't rejected because
they weren't funny or good,
447
00:24:45,734 --> 00:24:47,318
they were rejected because
they were a little too raunchy,
448
00:24:47,486 --> 00:24:49,320
so we knew we were
that outlet.
449
00:24:49,488 --> 00:24:51,406
It didn't matter
how strange your work was.
450
00:24:51,574 --> 00:24:54,659
It didn't matter if your work
was anti-republican,
451
00:24:54,869 --> 00:24:56,744
anti-democrat,
anti-the-universe,
452
00:24:56,912 --> 00:24:58,872
whatever it was,
you could bring it into them,
453
00:24:59,039 --> 00:25:00,748
and they would not touch it.
454
00:25:01,167 --> 00:25:02,625
And that's one great thing
about the Lampoon.
455
00:25:02,793 --> 00:25:04,627
Never before and never
since had that kind of freedom.
456
00:25:04,795 --> 00:25:06,421
Gross:
If you were smart and funny,
457
00:25:06,589 --> 00:25:10,216
you walked into Henry Beard's office
or Doug Kenney's office,
458
00:25:10,384 --> 00:25:12,343
"Hello, can I come
show you some stuff?"
459
00:25:12,469 --> 00:25:14,888
He goes like this, he goes,
"Brilliant, thank you, you're hired.
460
00:25:15,055 --> 00:25:17,724
We don't pay much,
but we're not gonna edit you.
461
00:25:17,892 --> 00:25:19,267
We're not going to change you.
462
00:25:19,435 --> 00:25:21,853
We're gonna let you be
what you want to be."
463
00:25:28,235 --> 00:25:29,569
We had one problem.
464
00:25:30,196 --> 00:25:31,654
It was losing a lot of money.
465
00:25:33,157 --> 00:25:34,657
Because we couldn't get advertising.
466
00:25:37,411 --> 00:25:39,412
Jerry Taylor: They sold little,
teeny mail order ads.
467
00:25:43,792 --> 00:25:48,713
They needed a pro to come in,
make it bigger, more legitimate.
468
00:25:50,716 --> 00:25:52,884
Danny Abelson: Jerry Taylor was
an extraordinarily successful
469
00:25:53,052 --> 00:25:54,928
and, sort of,
charismatic ad guy.
470
00:25:55,346 --> 00:25:57,430
Bill Lippe: We had a difficult
time getting appointments
471
00:25:57,598 --> 00:25:59,349
with advertising prospects.
472
00:25:59,642 --> 00:26:02,435
Taylor: It was always hard
to be taken seriously,
473
00:26:03,103 --> 00:26:04,979
so I had a dress code.
474
00:26:05,564 --> 00:26:08,483
Three piece suit,
white shirt, vest, tie.
475
00:26:08,651 --> 00:26:11,110
We walked in looking exactly
like the guys from Time Inc.
476
00:26:12,112 --> 00:26:15,823
But still nothing,
zero, nothing mattered.
477
00:26:16,408 --> 00:26:21,329
It was almost like they would
vomit up this hostility on the desk.
478
00:26:22,081 --> 00:26:24,290
And I would say,
"Okay, that's cool.
479
00:26:24,458 --> 00:26:25,750
You don't have to buy
a subscription,
480
00:26:25,918 --> 00:26:28,670
but now let me tell you
why I think our audience
481
00:26:28,837 --> 00:26:31,547
is a great target for
your product."
482
00:26:32,049 --> 00:26:36,386
Our readership drank more than
the average adult.
483
00:26:36,553 --> 00:26:39,138
And the first liquor
advertisement that we had
484
00:26:39,306 --> 00:26:40,723
at the magazine was
Jose Cuervo,
485
00:26:40,891 --> 00:26:42,725
and it made other people,
"Oh, wow,
486
00:26:42,893 --> 00:26:44,894
they got a liquor advertisement
in the Lampoon."
487
00:26:45,062 --> 00:26:46,729
And then
the snowball started.
488
00:26:46,981 --> 00:26:49,274
♪ (King Floyd's "Groove Me" plays) ♪
489
00:27:01,453 --> 00:27:03,371
Taylor: I had a slogan,
"National Lampoon.
490
00:27:03,747 --> 00:27:06,332
There's nothing funny about
the way it sells."
491
00:27:16,010 --> 00:27:19,012
Tell me about National Lampoon.
Why do you think it's so popular?
492
00:27:19,179 --> 00:27:21,014
Well, I think they're very witty.
493
00:27:21,181 --> 00:27:24,017
Yes, they're very witty,
but they are designed
494
00:27:24,184 --> 00:27:26,477
to please and flatter
495
00:27:26,645 --> 00:27:31,065
a particular audience of
fairly well-to-do nobodies
496
00:27:31,275 --> 00:27:33,151
who can afford
to be nobodies.
497
00:27:33,319 --> 00:27:38,489
♪ (Pacific Gas & Electric
"Are You Ready?" plays) ♪
498
00:27:49,376 --> 00:27:52,128
I honestly think that
the National Lampoon
499
00:27:52,296 --> 00:27:54,672
is the most entertaining
magazine I have ever read.
500
00:27:54,757 --> 00:27:56,758
It's often the only
magazine that a lot of
501
00:27:56,925 --> 00:28:00,219
younger, hip people
today, uh, read.
502
00:28:00,387 --> 00:28:04,057
And why that is,
is I think they trust us.
503
00:28:04,224 --> 00:28:06,434
♪ (music continues) ♪
504
00:28:06,602 --> 00:28:08,227
It looks really good,
it's funny to look at.
505
00:28:08,395 --> 00:28:11,105
It's weird to look at.
And if you read the printed stuff,
506
00:28:11,273 --> 00:28:12,774
if you look at things
that aren't the pictures,
507
00:28:12,941 --> 00:28:14,650
occasionally you find
something really good
508
00:28:14,818 --> 00:28:17,195
which you don't find anywhere
else in the written humor form.
509
00:28:17,529 --> 00:28:19,364
There was a lot
of bad stuff going on.
510
00:28:20,699 --> 00:28:22,325
Christopher Buckley: We'd just
come out of the sixties.
511
00:28:22,493 --> 00:28:25,495
We had the assassinations,
Vietnam, now we had Watergate.
512
00:28:25,662 --> 00:28:32,377
So it was a perfect storm moment
of brilliant comic sensibilities
513
00:28:32,669 --> 00:28:35,671
hitting the culture
in a crisis point.
514
00:28:37,257 --> 00:28:39,884
Thornton: It was actually
the first time that I realized
515
00:28:40,052 --> 00:28:42,678
that, through humor,
you can tell the truth.
516
00:28:48,852 --> 00:28:50,520
Apatow:
In a mass media way,
517
00:28:50,687 --> 00:28:52,688
this kind of comedy didn't
exist before then.
518
00:28:52,856 --> 00:28:54,357
People weren't that frank
519
00:28:54,525 --> 00:28:58,069
and didn't attack the
establishment comedically.
520
00:28:58,237 --> 00:28:59,570
Beard: We're basically
a humor magazine,
521
00:28:59,738 --> 00:29:01,280
and we publish things
we consider to be funny.
522
00:29:01,448 --> 00:29:03,491
It's just impossible to put out
this kind of a publication
523
00:29:03,659 --> 00:29:08,287
and be, uh, completely unwilling
to do something offensive.
524
00:29:08,455 --> 00:29:09,914
I think it's sometimes conscious
525
00:29:10,082 --> 00:29:12,542
and sometimes just instinctive
that we push things
526
00:29:12,709 --> 00:29:14,627
as far as they possibly
can be pushed.
527
00:29:14,795 --> 00:29:15,920
I've always had a bad attitude.
528
00:29:16,088 --> 00:29:17,088
Interviewer: Always?
529
00:29:17,256 --> 00:29:19,424
I'm earning a living off
a bad attitude right now.
530
00:29:19,591 --> 00:29:20,925
Teachers always said
it would get me in trouble,
531
00:29:21,051 --> 00:29:22,385
but it's great,
it's working for me.
532
00:29:26,598 --> 00:29:28,558
In those days,
magazines were a bigger deal.
533
00:29:29,977 --> 00:29:34,439
People very much defined themselves
by the magazines they read.
534
00:29:38,110 --> 00:29:39,485
Simmons:
It was the most popular magazine
535
00:29:39,653 --> 00:29:41,404
on college campuses in America
536
00:29:41,572 --> 00:29:44,073
and was the second
most popular magazine
537
00:29:44,241 --> 00:29:47,869
on newsstands in America,
second only to Cosmopolitan.
538
00:29:50,622 --> 00:29:53,207
The biggest circulation
we ever had was a million.
539
00:29:53,375 --> 00:29:57,170
We had a pass along
of maybe 12 or 15.
540
00:29:57,588 --> 00:30:01,924
So we probably had
12 million readers.
541
00:30:02,092 --> 00:30:03,801
I mean, it was huge.
542
00:30:03,969 --> 00:30:05,928
It's our unerring charm
that makes our readers
543
00:30:06,096 --> 00:30:07,555
swallow it
month after month.
544
00:30:07,723 --> 00:30:09,891
And frankly, that's what
it's all about, isn't it?
545
00:30:10,976 --> 00:30:13,728
Suddenly Doug Kenney disappeared.
546
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,609
When Doug left or disappeared,
547
00:30:20,235 --> 00:30:22,695
it was...
It was a crisis.
548
00:30:22,863 --> 00:30:24,864
One Sunday morning
I came downstairs,
549
00:30:25,032 --> 00:30:26,741
and there was a note
in the kitchen, and it said,
550
00:30:26,909 --> 00:30:28,784
"Henry, I'm gonzo.
551
00:30:28,952 --> 00:30:30,995
I'm out of here, I'm gone,
I'm finished, I'm done."
552
00:30:31,622 --> 00:30:32,622
And he was gone.
553
00:30:40,172 --> 00:30:43,591
Radio Announcer: And now the
final question, for $25,000.
554
00:30:43,717 --> 00:30:45,760
Name four famous Mickeys.
555
00:30:47,304 --> 00:30:49,889
Man: Uh, Mickey Mouse.
556
00:30:50,390 --> 00:30:51,724
Radio Announcer:
That's number one.
557
00:30:51,892 --> 00:30:53,142
Man: Mickey, Mickey Mantle.
558
00:30:53,602 --> 00:30:54,852
Radio Announcer: Number two.
559
00:30:55,771 --> 00:30:58,689
Man: Uh, Mickey Rooney.
560
00:30:58,774 --> 00:30:59,899
Radio Announcer:
That's number three.
561
00:31:00,025 --> 00:31:02,360
Only one more,
and you win $25,000.
562
00:31:04,029 --> 00:31:05,196
Man: Mickey Way.
563
00:31:06,740 --> 00:31:07,907
Radio Announcer: Mickey Way?
564
00:31:08,825 --> 00:31:10,326
Man: The candy bar,
they'll take that, won't they?
565
00:31:10,494 --> 00:31:12,662
- The judges will take that?
- (buzzer sounding)
566
00:31:13,413 --> 00:31:16,916
Because I had had a previous career
as half of a comedy team,
567
00:31:17,084 --> 00:31:20,545
I had experience in how to write
and put together an album.
568
00:31:20,712 --> 00:31:24,298
And I was paired with O'Donoghue,
who wanted to do this album,
569
00:31:24,466 --> 00:31:26,717
so that's how
Radio Dinner came to be.
570
00:31:27,511 --> 00:31:30,596
Kelly: But the album itself was
very much Michael O'Donoghue.
571
00:31:30,973 --> 00:31:33,599
So Michael would say, "TV dinner?
What about radio dinner?"
572
00:31:33,767 --> 00:31:36,310
And then he'd go, "Yes," and
he'd write down Radio Dinner.
573
00:31:36,478 --> 00:31:38,187
And a year later
when someone said,
574
00:31:38,355 --> 00:31:39,855
"Let's do an album,"
he'd go...
575
00:31:40,857 --> 00:31:42,233
"Let's call it Radio Dinner."
576
00:31:43,235 --> 00:31:45,736
Cerf: Still one of my favorites
was a parody song
577
00:31:45,904 --> 00:31:47,863
that Michael O'Donoghue
and I wrote
578
00:31:48,031 --> 00:31:49,907
and that Tony Hendra
ended up performing,
579
00:31:50,075 --> 00:31:51,534
brilliantly, I might add.
580
00:31:51,785 --> 00:31:53,411
♪ I resent performing
for you fuckers ♪
581
00:31:53,579 --> 00:31:54,870
♪ Tell me,
what do you know? ♪
582
00:31:55,038 --> 00:31:56,664
♪ A lot of faggot
middle class kids ♪
583
00:31:56,832 --> 00:31:58,416
♪ Wearing long hair
and trendy clothes ♪
584
00:31:58,584 --> 00:32:00,126
♪ I don't owe you fuckers
anything ♪
585
00:32:00,294 --> 00:32:02,712
♪ And all I've got
to say is fuck you... ♪
586
00:32:02,879 --> 00:32:04,213
Cerf:
It was right after John Lennon
587
00:32:04,381 --> 00:32:06,507
had an interview in Rolling Stone,
588
00:32:06,675 --> 00:32:10,553
and we had the idea that if you just
put in an occasional rhyme...
589
00:32:10,721 --> 00:32:13,639
♪ The sky is blue... ♪
590
00:32:13,974 --> 00:32:16,267
You could set the whole
interview to music.
591
00:32:16,435 --> 00:32:18,060
♪ George said
she gave off evil vibes ♪
592
00:32:18,228 --> 00:32:20,313
♪ I should have beat the fucking
shit right out of him ♪
593
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,525
♪ Him with his
fucking Hare Krishna ♪
594
00:32:26,862 --> 00:32:28,696
Hendra: The album was actually
a great success.
595
00:32:28,864 --> 00:32:30,323
It got a tremendous amount
of airplay.
596
00:32:30,490 --> 00:32:31,991
It was also
nominated for a Grammy,
597
00:32:32,159 --> 00:32:33,242
which was pretty good,
first time out.
598
00:32:33,744 --> 00:32:37,121
It showed that we could more
than simply put out a magazine.
599
00:32:39,958 --> 00:32:41,876
The truth is,
Doug carried the magazine.
600
00:32:42,044 --> 00:32:45,588
If I wrote a hundred words,
he wrote a thousand, every month.
601
00:32:45,756 --> 00:32:48,257
People hadn't really expected
that he would disappear,
602
00:32:48,425 --> 00:32:50,718
but Doug was
not a stable person.
603
00:32:51,011 --> 00:32:52,261
Beard:
He had an older brother
604
00:32:52,387 --> 00:32:54,055
who was the preferred son,
the favorite son,
605
00:32:54,514 --> 00:32:56,974
and his older brother
died at an early age,
606
00:32:57,142 --> 00:32:58,851
and it was a great loss
to his parents,
607
00:32:59,019 --> 00:33:01,479
and his parents, kind of,
treated Doug as the...
608
00:33:01,647 --> 00:33:03,981
As the "Well, I guess
that's all we've got left."
609
00:33:04,358 --> 00:33:07,151
It probably did have
some emotional impact on him.
610
00:33:07,444 --> 00:33:09,904
Gross: And basically what happened
is he had a nervous breakdown.
611
00:33:10,072 --> 00:33:12,281
And he just couldn't
take it anymore.
612
00:33:12,574 --> 00:33:13,949
John Weidman:
He needed a break.
613
00:33:14,117 --> 00:33:16,911
He was having sort of
a mid-life crisis
614
00:33:17,079 --> 00:33:18,454
at the age of 24, whatever.
615
00:33:18,580 --> 00:33:20,081
He was trying
to figure himself out,
616
00:33:20,290 --> 00:33:23,000
and he picked up and moved
to Martha's Vineyard.
617
00:33:24,086 --> 00:33:26,420
I think he wanted to try
something else before 30.
618
00:33:26,630 --> 00:33:28,255
He's got to do something new.
619
00:33:28,423 --> 00:33:31,258
Hendra: He wanted to write
Teenage Commies from Outer Space.
620
00:33:31,426 --> 00:33:34,261
I went up to Martha's Vineyard
to actually see Doug.
621
00:33:34,429 --> 00:33:38,891
My idea was to take stuff
and develop from the magazine
622
00:33:39,059 --> 00:33:41,477
and then put it on stage,
and then Matty said
623
00:33:41,645 --> 00:33:42,812
it needed Doug's touch.
624
00:33:42,979 --> 00:33:44,146
He looked completely wasted.
625
00:33:44,314 --> 00:33:47,233
He'd obviously been
dropping acid and eating very little.
626
00:33:48,068 --> 00:33:50,403
He wanted to go for a walk
'cause he had something to show me.
627
00:33:50,570 --> 00:33:52,822
And we walked out to where
there's this peculiar,
628
00:33:52,989 --> 00:33:55,282
kind of, mud which runs
right down to the sea.
629
00:33:55,450 --> 00:33:58,202
And he said
it was really groovy,
630
00:33:58,370 --> 00:34:01,997
really groovy in the summer
to slather yourself with this stuff
631
00:34:02,124 --> 00:34:03,207
and just lie in the sun.
632
00:34:04,835 --> 00:34:06,544
So I had pitched my idea,
633
00:34:06,712 --> 00:34:08,796
and he said,
"No, man, I can't do that.
634
00:34:08,964 --> 00:34:10,423
I'm too deep into my novel."
635
00:34:10,590 --> 00:34:13,342
And it turned he'd written
one and a half chapters.
636
00:34:17,180 --> 00:34:19,640
♪ Aah... ♪
637
00:34:23,395 --> 00:34:26,772
The first album did so well,
we've got to do another album.
638
00:34:26,940 --> 00:34:29,483
Wouldn't it be fun
to parody Woodstock?
639
00:34:29,651 --> 00:34:32,319
We were going to do
a three night show, record it,
640
00:34:32,487 --> 00:34:35,072
edit it, and that would be
the second album.
641
00:34:35,824 --> 00:34:38,159
But it got out of hand.
642
00:34:38,326 --> 00:34:39,660
♪ (rock music plays) ♪
643
00:34:39,828 --> 00:34:42,705
♪ We are Lemmings! ♪
644
00:34:42,873 --> 00:34:46,459
♪ (guitar riff plays) ♪
645
00:34:46,626 --> 00:34:49,503
We needed a cast of
people who could be very funny
646
00:34:49,671 --> 00:34:51,839
and could play an instrument
647
00:34:52,007 --> 00:34:54,759
or, at the very least,
sing extremely well.
648
00:34:54,926 --> 00:34:56,469
Simmons: Tony Hendra called me
one night, and he said,
649
00:34:56,636 --> 00:34:59,138
"There's a guy here
at Second City in Chicago,
650
00:34:59,306 --> 00:35:02,683
and he's the funniest actor
I've ever seen in my life.
651
00:35:02,851 --> 00:35:03,893
He's incredible."
652
00:35:04,060 --> 00:35:05,478
So I said,
"Bring him to New York."
653
00:35:08,064 --> 00:35:09,565
John Belushi: Can I have
your attention please?
654
00:35:09,733 --> 00:35:12,693
The theme of Lemmings
Woodshuck Festival
655
00:35:12,861 --> 00:35:15,946
was that everyone's
come together to off themself.
656
00:35:16,114 --> 00:35:19,617
Lemmings are animals that commit
suicide by going over cliffs.
657
00:35:20,869 --> 00:35:23,704
So they were giving advice on how
they might do this along the way
658
00:35:23,872 --> 00:35:25,623
by the announcer,
who was John.
659
00:35:25,791 --> 00:35:28,292
(applause)
660
00:35:28,460 --> 00:35:30,795
Now we all know
why we came here.
661
00:35:31,755 --> 00:35:33,297
A million of us,
662
00:35:33,924 --> 00:35:35,883
we came here to off ourselves.
663
00:35:36,051 --> 00:35:38,761
He made the character into this,
kind of,
664
00:35:38,929 --> 00:35:43,182
manically agreeable
murderous lunatic.
665
00:35:43,350 --> 00:35:45,142
If your buddy is too stoned
to off himself,
666
00:35:45,310 --> 00:35:46,685
do him a favor.
667
00:35:46,853 --> 00:35:48,813
Roll him up
in his sleeping bag
668
00:35:48,980 --> 00:35:51,816
and drag him over to where
the tractors can run him down.
669
00:35:54,236 --> 00:35:58,155
Chris Guest did a James Taylor
that was genius.
670
00:35:58,323 --> 00:36:00,241
♪ Farewell,
New York City ♪
671
00:36:00,408 --> 00:36:03,786
♪ With your streets that
flash like strobes ♪
672
00:36:04,246 --> 00:36:06,497
♪ Farewell, Carolina ♪
673
00:36:06,748 --> 00:36:09,792
♪ Where I left
my frontal lobes ♪
674
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:11,418
Hey! Chevy!
675
00:36:11,586 --> 00:36:13,003
Hey! What's your
name again?!
676
00:36:13,255 --> 00:36:15,631
- John.
- John, hey!
677
00:36:15,799 --> 00:36:17,716
Chevy Chase: There was a sketch
where John and I
678
00:36:17,884 --> 00:36:19,927
were two high school
or college guys
679
00:36:20,095 --> 00:36:21,846
at urinals, just talking.
680
00:36:21,972 --> 00:36:23,305
I can't even remember
what it was about,
681
00:36:23,473 --> 00:36:25,975
but I do remember that
they were laughing all through.
682
00:36:26,434 --> 00:36:28,352
And it became clearer
and clearer to me
683
00:36:28,478 --> 00:36:29,520
that they were laughing at John,
684
00:36:29,688 --> 00:36:30,855
whether he was saying
anything or not.
685
00:36:31,022 --> 00:36:32,022
(laughter)
686
00:36:32,107 --> 00:36:33,774
I'm like this, talking to John.
687
00:36:35,068 --> 00:36:38,612
And finally after, like, a week,
I have to look over at him
688
00:36:38,780 --> 00:36:40,447
to see what the hell
is going on,
689
00:36:40,615 --> 00:36:42,449
why are they always laughing?
And he's like this.
690
00:36:44,077 --> 00:36:47,037
(chuckling)
691
00:36:47,455 --> 00:36:49,081
Never knew it,
never told me.
692
00:36:50,041 --> 00:36:52,251
The little bastard
just took me.
693
00:36:52,419 --> 00:36:55,129
(laughing)
694
00:36:55,589 --> 00:36:56,797
It was so good.
695
00:36:57,966 --> 00:37:00,342
It was decided, because
the ticket sales were so brisk,
696
00:37:00,844 --> 00:37:02,386
that we would simply
leave the show open.
697
00:37:02,554 --> 00:37:04,763
And at that point,
from a record project,
698
00:37:04,931 --> 00:37:07,099
it actually become an
off-Broadway show.
699
00:37:07,684 --> 00:37:09,101
♪ (piano music plays) ♪
700
00:37:09,269 --> 00:37:12,062
It was in this little
tiny club in the Village,
701
00:37:12,230 --> 00:37:15,441
but it was an underground hit,
it was a cool thing to go see.
702
00:37:15,609 --> 00:37:16,901
(indistinct singing)
♪ Well I'm standing here ♪
703
00:37:17,068 --> 00:37:18,402
♪ Singing my song ♪
704
00:37:18,570 --> 00:37:22,281
♪ Well, there ain't nothing
to do, all my friends are gone ♪
705
00:37:22,782 --> 00:37:25,784
♪ I had sunshine
and a country home ♪
706
00:37:25,952 --> 00:37:28,871
♪ I've been on the cover
of Rolling Stone ♪
707
00:37:29,039 --> 00:37:31,040
- ♪ But it lonely ♪
- ♪ Yes it's lonely ♪
708
00:37:31,207 --> 00:37:32,875
Kelly:
When we were with the actors,
709
00:37:33,043 --> 00:37:34,752
it got more rambunctious.
710
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,963
Because that was
when actual uppers and downers
711
00:37:38,131 --> 00:37:41,091
and nose candy,
and things, entered.
712
00:37:41,259 --> 00:37:43,385
What about the acid?
You gonna open the acid?
713
00:37:45,263 --> 00:37:46,347
What acid?
714
00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:49,600
What do you mean,
"What acid," John?
715
00:37:49,768 --> 00:37:51,518
- What acid?
- The LSD 25, man.
716
00:37:51,686 --> 00:37:53,228
You mean the LSD zero?
717
00:37:53,396 --> 00:37:54,939
(audience laughing)
718
00:37:55,106 --> 00:37:56,565
Tony would go
to Matty and say
719
00:37:56,733 --> 00:38:00,444
he needed X bucks
to buy marijuana for the cast.
720
00:38:00,612 --> 00:38:03,405
And then Tony, of course, would
immediately buy cocaine with it.
721
00:38:03,907 --> 00:38:06,241
I mean, everybody can buy
their own marijuana.
722
00:38:07,077 --> 00:38:09,244
♪ (music continues) ♪
723
00:38:09,412 --> 00:38:10,579
(applause)
724
00:38:10,747 --> 00:38:12,831
Hey! Hey,
you gotta get up!
725
00:38:14,542 --> 00:38:16,460
Hup! Hup!
726
00:38:16,628 --> 00:38:19,421
(groaning)
727
00:38:23,134 --> 00:38:24,176
Whoa!
728
00:38:24,344 --> 00:38:25,928
(laughter)
729
00:38:29,015 --> 00:38:31,183
♪ What would you do ♪
730
00:38:31,851 --> 00:38:34,395
♪ If I sang out of tune? ♪
731
00:38:34,562 --> 00:38:37,815
- One, two, three!
- ♪ Lonely at the bottom ♪
732
00:38:37,983 --> 00:38:40,275
♪ Lonely,
lonely, lonely ♪
733
00:38:40,443 --> 00:38:42,903
- ♪ Lonely at the bottom ♪
- ♪ I said my baby's lonely ♪
734
00:38:43,071 --> 00:38:44,697
♪ I said she lonely,
I said she lonely ♪
735
00:38:44,864 --> 00:38:47,449
♪ I said she lonely,
I said she lonely, I said... ♪
736
00:38:48,451 --> 00:38:50,119
(music stops)
737
00:38:50,286 --> 00:38:54,331
(cheering and applause)
738
00:38:54,666 --> 00:38:58,127
Gross: Henry Beard's
office door hardly ever opened.
739
00:38:58,461 --> 00:39:01,213
Henry Beard sat there
and typed.
740
00:39:01,381 --> 00:39:02,756
(typewriter keys clicking)
741
00:39:02,924 --> 00:39:05,551
Pull it out, pull it out.
Pages, pages, pages.
742
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:10,806
Genius, brilliant,
intellectual and otherwise pages.
743
00:39:10,974 --> 00:39:12,016
That's it.
744
00:39:13,101 --> 00:39:15,144
Beard: Suddenly I was working
a hundred hours a week.
745
00:39:15,311 --> 00:39:17,521
You know, I would
go home and go to bed
746
00:39:17,772 --> 00:39:19,148
and then wake up
the next morning
747
00:39:19,315 --> 00:39:21,817
and go to the office
and start writing again.
748
00:39:23,069 --> 00:39:24,445
Hendra: Henry, really,
749
00:39:24,612 --> 00:39:26,155
had become
the leader of the magazine.
750
00:39:26,322 --> 00:39:28,198
When Doug was still there,
it was a partnership,
751
00:39:28,366 --> 00:39:31,243
and when he left,
Henry was the only person
752
00:39:31,369 --> 00:39:33,912
who could actually, sort of,
be the final authority,
753
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,707
and he had done that very,
I think, grudgingly.
754
00:39:37,250 --> 00:39:40,210
So when Doug sidled back
into the office,
755
00:39:40,378 --> 00:39:44,465
sort of saying, "Hi, I'm back,"
no one had much patience for Doug.
756
00:39:45,091 --> 00:39:48,218
He came back humbled,
deeply humbled.
757
00:39:48,386 --> 00:39:50,095
Deeply, sadly humbled.
758
00:39:50,263 --> 00:39:52,973
Tail between his legs.
He knew what he had done.
759
00:39:55,143 --> 00:39:57,269
Gross:
Doug brought the novel back,
760
00:39:57,437 --> 00:40:00,147
and Henry looks at it and goes,
"Jesus, this is awful."
761
00:40:00,315 --> 00:40:02,399
He... I... I read this thing,
it just made no sense.
762
00:40:02,567 --> 00:40:04,276
It was a complete nothing.
763
00:40:04,861 --> 00:40:06,987
And what he did was,
he opened up the window
764
00:40:07,155 --> 00:40:10,157
on Madison Avenue and just
scaled the whole thing out.
765
00:40:12,285 --> 00:40:13,994
Gross: There were people
not talking to him.
766
00:40:14,204 --> 00:40:16,789
And people were, like, doing this.
They didn't even want to see him.
767
00:40:17,624 --> 00:40:19,500
I was pissed at Doug,
and I said,
768
00:40:19,667 --> 00:40:21,919
"Doug, you know,
you fucking let me down.
769
00:40:23,171 --> 00:40:24,171
You let us all down."
770
00:40:33,723 --> 00:40:35,933
- Julius: This is Julius...
- Ethel: And Ethel...
771
00:40:36,101 --> 00:40:37,142
Both:
Rosenberg.
772
00:40:37,310 --> 00:40:40,354
Julius: Did you know that
the majority of dead people are Jews?
773
00:40:40,522 --> 00:40:45,150
Mm-hmm. 85% of all
dead people are Jewish.
774
00:40:45,443 --> 00:40:46,735
So remember,
775
00:40:46,903 --> 00:40:49,780
if you persecute Jews
when you're alive,
776
00:40:49,948 --> 00:40:53,242
boy, are you going to get it
when you're dead.
777
00:40:54,452 --> 00:40:57,329
Doug had just gotten back from
being AWOL for about a year,
778
00:40:57,497 --> 00:40:58,789
and I had just been hired.
779
00:40:58,957 --> 00:41:01,834
And Michael O'Donoghue,
in the early Lampoon,
780
00:41:02,001 --> 00:41:05,420
wrote a brief parody
of a high school year book.
781
00:41:05,588 --> 00:41:07,714
Matty Simmons had the idea
of turning this
782
00:41:07,882 --> 00:41:11,093
into a special edition
of doing a yearbook.
783
00:41:11,261 --> 00:41:14,429
Matty gave us the job because,
basically, we couldn't say no.
784
00:41:14,597 --> 00:41:17,975
Doug was still in the doghouse,
and I was a fresh hire.
785
00:41:18,143 --> 00:41:19,518
Simmons:
They weren't hot about the idea.
786
00:41:19,686 --> 00:41:22,563
But I wanted to do it,
and I pushed them.
787
00:41:22,730 --> 00:41:24,731
O'Rourke: We're sitting around,
bemoaning our fate.
788
00:41:24,899 --> 00:41:26,733
"This is such a stupid idea.
789
00:41:26,901 --> 00:41:28,569
How are we gonna
talk him out of this?"
790
00:41:29,154 --> 00:41:30,696
And we just started talking
about high school.
791
00:41:31,072 --> 00:41:33,282
And we started
talking about how, really,
792
00:41:33,449 --> 00:41:35,242
there are only a dozen people
in high school.
793
00:41:35,410 --> 00:41:36,827
Well, there's
the beautiful frigid girl,
794
00:41:36,995 --> 00:41:38,203
there's the stupid jock,
795
00:41:38,413 --> 00:41:40,414
there's the exchange student
from "Absurd-istan."
796
00:41:40,582 --> 00:41:43,083
You know, there's only a dozen,
18 people in high school.
797
00:41:44,210 --> 00:41:45,252
♪ (Chuck Berry "School Days" plays) ♪
798
00:41:45,420 --> 00:41:46,420
Bingo.
799
00:41:48,423 --> 00:41:49,548
O'Rourke: This is how you do it.
800
00:41:49,716 --> 00:41:52,176
You cast these 18 characters,
801
00:41:52,343 --> 00:41:54,469
and you spin out a year
of their life,
802
00:41:54,637 --> 00:41:56,346
and you can get
a whole book out of this.
803
00:41:59,309 --> 00:42:00,893
Hirsch:
When I got to the Lampoon,
804
00:42:01,060 --> 00:42:03,562
Anne Beatts and Emily Prager
were the only two women writers.
805
00:42:03,730 --> 00:42:05,439
So I was desperate
to work on anything.
806
00:42:05,607 --> 00:42:08,192
And so I said to Doug Kenney,
"I volunteer.
807
00:42:08,359 --> 00:42:12,696
I will do anything
you want to help you."
808
00:42:13,072 --> 00:42:15,157
I walked with crutches,
I had polio as a kid.
809
00:42:15,325 --> 00:42:17,159
He said, "Oh, well, you know,
there's always a handicapped kid
810
00:42:17,285 --> 00:42:18,285
in every school.
811
00:42:18,453 --> 00:42:20,037
Can we borrow
your crutches?"
812
00:42:20,663 --> 00:42:22,539
And I went,
"Well, not without me, you can't!"
813
00:42:22,707 --> 00:42:24,541
And so he said "All right,
well, will you be in it?"
814
00:42:24,709 --> 00:42:26,460
And I was
Ursula Wattersky.
815
00:42:31,007 --> 00:42:33,592
I think P.J. was
the women's gym teacher.
816
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,886
Brian McConnachie doing
the optometrist club,
817
00:42:36,054 --> 00:42:38,222
and they're all,
sort of, listing to the side.
818
00:42:38,389 --> 00:42:39,723
It was a wonderful experience.
819
00:42:39,891 --> 00:42:42,267
It was like producing
an independent movie.
820
00:42:43,770 --> 00:42:47,022
It was perfect for Doug
because he had simultaneously
821
00:42:47,190 --> 00:42:51,318
been just a regular high school guy
and Doug Kenney,
822
00:42:52,445 --> 00:42:54,404
super brain,
watching from on high.
823
00:42:55,198 --> 00:42:57,449
He wore his high school jacket
all the time, Doug.
824
00:42:57,617 --> 00:42:59,785
That was his natural costume.
825
00:42:59,953 --> 00:43:02,537
Doug used his own picture
as the dead student
826
00:43:02,664 --> 00:43:04,414
that the yearbook
was dedicated to.
827
00:43:05,083 --> 00:43:06,792
♪ (music continues) ♪
828
00:43:08,503 --> 00:43:11,380
It was a work of
true satirical brilliance.
829
00:43:11,547 --> 00:43:14,383
There were 50 storylines
830
00:43:14,550 --> 00:43:16,677
woven through it in all the different
831
00:43:16,844 --> 00:43:19,763
sections of it.
It was really a comic masterpiece.
832
00:43:21,140 --> 00:43:23,558
Gross: Doug was the personality
of National Lampoon.
833
00:43:23,726 --> 00:43:25,227
He understood...
834
00:43:26,980 --> 00:43:28,146
...people.
835
00:43:30,650 --> 00:43:32,150
(music stops)
836
00:43:33,987 --> 00:43:37,906
Simmons: Michael O'Donoghue
in the office was like a time bomb.
837
00:43:38,366 --> 00:43:40,158
You never knew
when it was going to go off.
838
00:43:40,326 --> 00:43:43,787
Michael O'Donoghue was... Seemed
to be the world's angriest guy.
839
00:43:43,955 --> 00:43:45,205
Simmons:
And he would scream and yell,
840
00:43:45,373 --> 00:43:47,291
and he would throw
telephone books.
841
00:43:47,458 --> 00:43:49,042
And the phone,
he'd rip the phone out
842
00:43:49,210 --> 00:43:51,628
and throw it across the office,
narrowly missing people.
843
00:43:52,005 --> 00:43:54,589
He was prone to,
when you're stuck,
844
00:43:54,757 --> 00:43:57,134
you turn around, you wanna
get angry at somebody.
845
00:43:57,302 --> 00:43:58,593
And you hit
the people closest to you.
846
00:43:58,761 --> 00:44:00,345
You start slapping
them around.
847
00:44:00,972 --> 00:44:02,889
Hendra: Michael was like
a bundle of dynamite.
848
00:44:03,057 --> 00:44:05,809
For some reason, we hit it off
when I first came to the magazine.
849
00:44:06,227 --> 00:44:07,686
And we were friends
for a while.
850
00:44:07,854 --> 00:44:10,105
As everybody was
with Michael, for a while.
851
00:44:12,066 --> 00:44:15,152
Beatts: Michael had gotten
into a giant feud with Tony
852
00:44:15,403 --> 00:44:18,947
over the fact that Tony had slept
with Michael's then-girlfriend, Amy.
853
00:44:19,115 --> 00:44:22,242
Michael marched into my office
and said, "You gotta fire him."
854
00:44:22,994 --> 00:44:25,912
And he told me what happened.
I said, "Michael, the one thing
855
00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:28,790
I never want to do is get
involved with the personal lives
856
00:44:28,958 --> 00:44:30,459
of the people who work here."
857
00:44:30,626 --> 00:44:34,379
Matty gave Michael
the National Lampoon Radio Hour
858
00:44:34,547 --> 00:44:36,465
as a compensatory thing.
859
00:44:36,632 --> 00:44:40,177
Like, okay, they have Lemmings,
you can have the Radio Hour.
860
00:44:40,595 --> 00:44:43,597
♪ (theme music plays) ♪
861
00:44:43,765 --> 00:44:45,849
- (knocking on door)
- Woman: Who is it?
862
00:44:46,017 --> 00:44:47,100
Man: Tom the Baker, here.
863
00:44:47,268 --> 00:44:49,311
Woman: Oh, Tom. Come on in.
864
00:44:49,479 --> 00:44:50,687
(door opens)
865
00:44:50,855 --> 00:44:52,314
You're not
Tom the baker!
866
00:44:52,482 --> 00:44:53,690
Woman 2:
Watch out, he's got a knife.
867
00:44:53,858 --> 00:44:55,317
(woman 1 gasping)
Who are you?
868
00:44:55,485 --> 00:44:56,777
Man: I'm Bob the rapist.
869
00:44:56,944 --> 00:44:59,112
- Woman: Oh, Bob.
- Woman 2: Oh, Bob.
870
00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:00,947
Woman: Come on in,
have some coffee.
871
00:45:01,115 --> 00:45:02,366
Woman 2: Good to see you.
872
00:45:04,827 --> 00:45:07,037
In the beginning of the Radio Hour,
I guess it was envisioned
873
00:45:07,205 --> 00:45:08,830
that the editors
would be the writers.
874
00:45:08,998 --> 00:45:10,707
Michael had just sort of
written Lemmings off
875
00:45:10,875 --> 00:45:12,084
and everybody in it.
876
00:45:13,086 --> 00:45:14,961
One day, Chris Guest was
supposed to come in and do
877
00:45:15,129 --> 00:45:16,671
a Peter O'Toole imitation,
878
00:45:16,839 --> 00:45:18,507
and he called up
last minute to cancel.
879
00:45:19,008 --> 00:45:21,510
And I said,
"John can do Peter O'Toole."
880
00:45:21,677 --> 00:45:23,804
And that's how
everybody in Second City
881
00:45:23,971 --> 00:45:25,680
entered the Radio Hour.
882
00:45:25,848 --> 00:45:29,101
Gilda Radner: Hi, I'm your
host person, Gilda Radner,
883
00:45:29,268 --> 00:45:31,812
and I am going to read you
the people who contributed.
884
00:45:31,979 --> 00:45:34,314
John Belushi,
Brian Doyle-Murray,
885
00:45:34,482 --> 00:45:36,691
Bill Murray, Gilda Radner,
Harold "Rahmis",
886
00:45:36,859 --> 00:45:38,193
- Ed Subitzky.
- Harold Ramis: It's Ramis.
887
00:45:38,361 --> 00:45:40,278
- Gilda: What?
- Ramis: Ramis, not "Rahmis."
888
00:45:40,988 --> 00:45:42,906
Hirsch: These guys were
all Second City guys,
889
00:45:43,074 --> 00:45:47,369
and they learned a craft,
which is writing sketches.
890
00:45:47,537 --> 00:45:49,704
- What's the point, Coach?
- The point is this, Shnobble.
891
00:45:49,872 --> 00:45:51,289
There are winners
and losers,
892
00:45:51,457 --> 00:45:53,250
but some guys don't even get
to finish the game.
893
00:45:53,418 --> 00:45:54,918
Yeah?
What are you talking about?
894
00:45:55,086 --> 00:45:57,212
There's a big coach
somewhere in the universe,
895
00:45:57,380 --> 00:45:58,755
and he's taking
one of us up.
896
00:45:58,923 --> 00:46:02,467
- Stefanski, you got Leukoplakia.
- Huh?
897
00:46:02,635 --> 00:46:04,719
The doc says you might
not last the season.
898
00:46:04,887 --> 00:46:07,472
(all moaning)
899
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:10,350
I suppose that one of us
ought to say something, Coach,
900
00:46:10,518 --> 00:46:11,768
and as the defensive captain...
901
00:46:12,019 --> 00:46:13,270
Harold: Wait, that's not all.
902
00:46:13,438 --> 00:46:15,689
Luciano has
Huntington's Chorea.
903
00:46:16,023 --> 00:46:17,774
Shaffer and Collins,
you two have
904
00:46:17,942 --> 00:46:19,818
sickle cell anemia, highly advanced.
905
00:46:20,278 --> 00:46:23,447
Thomson, Carson and McNulty,
spinal meningitis.
906
00:46:23,614 --> 00:46:24,656
(all moaning)
907
00:46:24,866 --> 00:46:27,242
Okay, that's pretty good.
You can go on to the next one.
908
00:46:27,618 --> 00:46:30,537
Danny Abelson: For human nerds, the
National Lampoon is like an obscure
909
00:46:30,705 --> 00:46:33,832
record label that first recorded
Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.
910
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:37,085
You, sort of,
can trace extraordinary talent
911
00:46:37,253 --> 00:46:39,337
back to this one
little record label.
912
00:46:39,505 --> 00:46:42,340
But we do a fair amount
of music on the radio show.
913
00:46:42,508 --> 00:46:46,386
We do, um, often performed
by us because we're so awful,
914
00:46:46,554 --> 00:46:48,972
that we couldn't ever get
professionals to sound
915
00:46:49,140 --> 00:46:51,099
as bad as we wanted
the thing to sound.
916
00:46:51,350 --> 00:46:54,019
♪ I wish I was a Negro ♪
917
00:46:54,187 --> 00:46:56,605
♪ With lots of Negro soul ♪
918
00:46:57,190 --> 00:46:59,858
♪ So I could stay true
to my ethnic roots ♪
919
00:47:00,026 --> 00:47:02,444
♪ And still play rock'n'roll ♪
920
00:47:02,612 --> 00:47:04,946
♪ If I was a funky Negro ♪
921
00:47:05,114 --> 00:47:08,074
♪ Eating soul food barbecues ♪
922
00:47:08,576 --> 00:47:11,244
♪ I wouldn't have to sing
the middle-class liberal ♪
923
00:47:11,412 --> 00:47:12,996
♪ Well-intentioned blues ♪
924
00:47:13,164 --> 00:47:16,249
We get some reaction
from people accusing us
925
00:47:16,417 --> 00:47:18,043
of being racist or anti-Semitic,
926
00:47:18,211 --> 00:47:19,961
or we even got complaints
from the Nazis
927
00:47:20,129 --> 00:47:22,088
that we were
anti-Nazi or something.
928
00:47:23,508 --> 00:47:25,717
Kenney: All of the editors,
I think, to a certain degree,
929
00:47:25,885 --> 00:47:28,053
are unbelievable racists.
930
00:47:28,221 --> 00:47:30,472
You ask,
"Are we anti-Polack?"
931
00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:33,350
Of course, we're anti-Polack,
they're so dumb.
932
00:47:33,518 --> 00:47:35,310
Interviewer: What about racism
being dealt with
933
00:47:35,478 --> 00:47:36,811
in the way
it is in Lampoon?
934
00:47:36,979 --> 00:47:38,813
Oh, I suggest simply
the hotter the issue,
935
00:47:38,981 --> 00:47:40,524
the more they cool it
by hilarity.
936
00:47:40,691 --> 00:47:43,902
Why does one laugh? Laughter is
entirely a defense mechanism.
937
00:47:44,070 --> 00:47:46,988
Laughter is a defense
against hostility,
938
00:47:47,156 --> 00:47:48,657
a replacement
for hostility,
939
00:47:48,824 --> 00:47:52,202
a, uh, a defense mechanism
against guilt, embarrassment.
940
00:47:52,370 --> 00:47:55,288
Michael did a thing about
Kentucky Fried Chicken,
941
00:47:55,456 --> 00:47:57,374
except, of course,
the Colonel was serving
942
00:47:57,542 --> 00:47:58,833
Kentucky Fried black people.
943
00:47:58,918 --> 00:48:01,628
And you think, well,
that's beyond tasteless.
944
00:48:01,796 --> 00:48:03,838
Except it's, sort of, true.
945
00:48:04,340 --> 00:48:06,216
We're a good,
humorous say anything which is true,
946
00:48:06,384 --> 00:48:08,385
which you would do
anything to deny is true.
947
00:48:08,553 --> 00:48:10,220
Kelly:
So I wouldn't say the
948
00:48:10,471 --> 00:48:13,223
Kentucky Fried joke was
a racist joke.
949
00:48:13,391 --> 00:48:15,350
It was a joke against racism.
950
00:48:15,685 --> 00:48:19,187
Judith Belushi: We had a very
disgruntled sponsor who dropped us.
951
00:48:19,355 --> 00:48:21,439
And I remember the memo
we got after, it was from Matty.
952
00:48:21,607 --> 00:48:23,650
"You can make fun
of poor people,
953
00:48:24,026 --> 00:48:25,235
you can make fun of Indians,
954
00:48:25,361 --> 00:48:27,821
you can make fun
of anything you want,
955
00:48:27,989 --> 00:48:29,864
but do not make fun
of the Jews."
956
00:48:32,201 --> 00:48:34,369
It is the job of a satirist, okay,
957
00:48:34,537 --> 00:48:37,247
to make people in power
uncomfortable,
958
00:48:37,415 --> 00:48:38,957
really uncomfortable.
959
00:48:39,125 --> 00:48:41,835
To the point where they go,
"This has to be stopped."
960
00:48:42,086 --> 00:48:44,504
♪ Well-intentioned blues ♪
961
00:48:50,219 --> 00:48:53,263
In the National Lampoon,
what really gets people angry?
962
00:48:53,431 --> 00:48:55,765
What do they...
What do they sue you about?
963
00:48:55,933 --> 00:48:59,436
Probably the most famous suit
we ever had was the Volkswagen suit.
964
00:49:01,230 --> 00:49:03,189
We had a picture
of a Volkswagen.
965
00:49:03,357 --> 00:49:05,442
We said if Teddy Kennedy
had driven a Volkswagen,
966
00:49:05,610 --> 00:49:09,154
he'd be President today.
Which is true, of course.
967
00:49:09,322 --> 00:49:10,697
Teddy Kennedy
would be President
968
00:49:10,781 --> 00:49:13,074
if he drove a car that floated.
969
00:49:13,993 --> 00:49:15,785
Well, the first thing we did,
and this was Matty,
970
00:49:15,953 --> 00:49:17,662
he sent out
a news release,
971
00:49:17,830 --> 00:49:20,874
along with the ad,
nationwide,
972
00:49:21,834 --> 00:49:23,877
saying that
Volkswagen was suing us.
973
00:49:24,045 --> 00:49:26,296
It got picked up in
every newspaper in America.
974
00:49:26,464 --> 00:49:29,716
They ran the ad,
and the issue sold out.
975
00:49:30,926 --> 00:49:34,054
I had let them get away
with things that even shocked me.
976
00:49:38,601 --> 00:49:41,353
One day, I got a call from
the Vice President at NBC.
977
00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:46,191
He said, "We have been talking about
doing a Saturday night satire show.
978
00:49:46,359 --> 00:49:47,442
Would you be interested?"
979
00:49:47,610 --> 00:49:49,361
We had all sorts
of things going on.
980
00:49:49,528 --> 00:49:51,112
We had live shows
on the road,
981
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:54,658
we had the magazine,
we had a book division.
982
00:49:54,825 --> 00:49:56,284
It was the biggest radio show
in the country.
983
00:49:56,452 --> 00:49:57,911
It was on 600 stations.
984
00:49:58,079 --> 00:50:01,039
We were the humor empire
in the United States.
985
00:50:01,749 --> 00:50:05,001
I said, "I really appreciate it,
but it's too demanding."
986
00:50:05,836 --> 00:50:09,631
National Lampoon was
just a magazine, you know?
987
00:50:09,799 --> 00:50:13,510
But suddenly, it was records
and actors and musicians.
988
00:50:13,678 --> 00:50:15,220
Abelson: There was
an extraordinary change
989
00:50:15,388 --> 00:50:17,931
in the sense that the spotlight
was suddenly being shared.
990
00:50:18,099 --> 00:50:19,808
Well, I remember Chevy
coming to the office
991
00:50:19,975 --> 00:50:21,976
and John Belushi coming
to the office, and those guys
992
00:50:22,144 --> 00:50:23,728
had an energy to them
that was very exciting.
993
00:50:23,896 --> 00:50:25,855
And you felt that it must have
been difficult for editors
994
00:50:26,023 --> 00:50:28,108
who'd been around for a long time
to not be a part of that group.
995
00:50:32,655 --> 00:50:34,989
The more famous
and the more popular we got,
996
00:50:35,157 --> 00:50:38,368
the more people's egos
were doing this.
997
00:50:38,536 --> 00:50:40,036
Kelly: Michael and Tony were
998
00:50:40,204 --> 00:50:41,705
heading in their
different directions.
999
00:50:41,872 --> 00:50:44,582
It was very difficult,
especially because you couldn't
1000
00:50:44,750 --> 00:50:46,668
work for both of them
at the same time,
1001
00:50:46,836 --> 00:50:50,004
or they would consider you
a traitor and a Mordred.
1002
00:50:50,172 --> 00:50:51,423
We don't need this,
and this is supposed to be
1003
00:50:51,590 --> 00:50:52,799
fun and happy and what not.
1004
00:50:52,967 --> 00:50:54,801
We're getting paid to be
as silly as we can.
1005
00:50:54,969 --> 00:50:56,344
Simmons: We're talking about
the smartest,
1006
00:50:56,512 --> 00:50:59,597
most curious,
free-spirited people.
1007
00:50:59,849 --> 00:51:01,641
These were not
cageable people.
1008
00:51:01,809 --> 00:51:05,395
And people started
leaving the Lampoon.
1009
00:51:08,566 --> 00:51:10,984
O'Donoghue,
his girlfriend was Anne Beatts.
1010
00:51:11,152 --> 00:51:14,612
Beatts: Matty had given
Michael Simmons my desk,
1011
00:51:14,780 --> 00:51:16,156
and I was furious.
1012
00:51:16,323 --> 00:51:18,324
It had taken me all
that many years to get a desk,
1013
00:51:18,492 --> 00:51:20,243
and then suddenly I didn't
have it anymore.
1014
00:51:20,411 --> 00:51:22,412
He called me up
one morning, and he said,
1015
00:51:22,580 --> 00:51:24,414
"I gotta talk to you,
Anne Beatts must have
1016
00:51:24,582 --> 00:51:25,707
an office at the radio show.
1017
00:51:25,875 --> 00:51:27,751
If you don't do this
I'm gonna quit."
1018
00:51:27,918 --> 00:51:30,920
Matty said, "Well,
if she doesn't like it, she can quit,
1019
00:51:31,088 --> 00:51:32,756
and if you don't like it,
you can quit."
1020
00:51:32,923 --> 00:51:34,632
And Michael said,
"I quit."
1021
00:51:35,050 --> 00:51:36,301
And he quit.
1022
00:51:37,470 --> 00:51:38,720
And that was it.
1023
00:51:39,221 --> 00:51:41,181
Michael left,
never came back.
1024
00:51:43,809 --> 00:51:45,560
Gross: I had been with
the magazine four or five years.
1025
00:51:45,728 --> 00:51:47,562
Rock'n'roll is
the best analogy.
1026
00:51:47,730 --> 00:51:50,398
You know, it's a band that
just started to go bad.
1027
00:51:50,566 --> 00:51:51,775
So it was just time
for me to move.
1028
00:52:00,534 --> 00:52:01,868
Bill Murray: Bless me Father,
for I have sinned.
1029
00:52:01,994 --> 00:52:03,203
Brian Doyle-Murray:
And how long has it been
1030
00:52:03,329 --> 00:52:04,329
since your last confession,
my son?
1031
00:52:04,497 --> 00:52:05,705
Murray: About four months,
I guess, Father.
1032
00:52:05,873 --> 00:52:06,873
Doyle-Murray:
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
1033
00:52:07,041 --> 00:52:08,541
Murray: Uh...
And I fucked this girl...
1034
00:52:08,709 --> 00:52:10,251
Uh...
Excuse my French, Father,
1035
00:52:10,419 --> 00:52:11,753
Uh... I went all the way
with this girl.
1036
00:52:11,921 --> 00:52:13,087
Doyle-Murray:
Don't be embarrassed, my son.
1037
00:52:13,214 --> 00:52:14,339
I've heard it all before.
1038
00:52:14,507 --> 00:52:16,007
I've heard much,
much worse than that.
1039
00:52:16,258 --> 00:52:17,258
Murray: You heard cunnilingus?
1040
00:52:17,426 --> 00:52:19,010
Doyle-Murray: I hear that from
second graders.
1041
00:52:19,178 --> 00:52:20,720
Murray: Wow. Wobbly warhead,
you heard that?
1042
00:52:20,888 --> 00:52:21,930
Slam the warhead at her?
1043
00:52:22,097 --> 00:52:23,264
Doyle-Murray:
Years ago, years ago.
1044
00:52:23,432 --> 00:52:24,682
Murray: Low clearance clit?
You heard that?
1045
00:52:24,850 --> 00:52:26,810
- Doyle-Murray: Dwarf cock.
- Murray: Bosom burger?
1046
00:52:26,936 --> 00:52:28,520
- Doyle-Murray: Scrotum breath.
- Murray: Albino beaver?
1047
00:52:28,646 --> 00:52:30,271
- Doyle-Murray: Iguana tits.
- Murray: Madam ovary?
1048
00:52:30,439 --> 00:52:32,398
- Doyle-Murray: Slime slit.
- Murray: Mashy nipple lick?
1049
00:52:32,525 --> 00:52:33,775
- Murray: Bug nuts.
- Doyle-Murray: Cock nose?
1050
00:52:33,901 --> 00:52:35,318
- Doyle-Murray: Vagina.
- Murray: Oriental crack?
1051
00:52:35,444 --> 00:52:36,319
Doyle-Murray: Superdome pussy.
1052
00:52:36,445 --> 00:52:37,695
Murray: Afterbirth on toast,
it's pizza.
1053
00:52:37,863 --> 00:52:39,405
- Doyle-Murray: Punk piss.
- Murray: Hillbilly snatch.
1054
00:52:39,532 --> 00:52:41,407
- Doyle-Murray: Boob puss.
- Murray: You heard Rhino Clit?
1055
00:52:41,575 --> 00:52:43,743
Doyle-Murray: Rhino Clit?
That's disgusting.
1056
00:52:43,911 --> 00:52:45,078
That's terrible.
1057
00:52:45,246 --> 00:52:47,247
Nice mouth, you kiss your
mother with that mouth?
1058
00:52:47,414 --> 00:52:48,957
You eat with that mouth?
1059
00:52:49,291 --> 00:52:50,708
Garbage mouth!
1060
00:52:51,877 --> 00:52:54,295
Man: Well, the Nat Lamp,
as it is affectionately called
1061
00:52:54,463 --> 00:52:57,715
by both its friends and enemies,
has taken its anarchism off its pages
1062
00:52:57,883 --> 00:53:00,426
and put it on the stage
in revue form.
1063
00:53:00,678 --> 00:53:03,263
They are the cast of the new
National Lampoon show,
1064
00:53:03,430 --> 00:53:06,099
which opens this Friday
at the new Palladium Cabaret
1065
00:53:06,267 --> 00:53:08,518
at 120 West 51st Street.
1066
00:53:08,811 --> 00:53:10,812
I've given up a life
of comfort and wealth.
1067
00:53:10,980 --> 00:53:12,730
Surely you can send something.
1068
00:53:12,898 --> 00:53:16,276
A dime, a dollar,
a pair of socks,
1069
00:53:16,443 --> 00:53:19,571
some 50 caliber tracer bullets
or whatever you can to...
1070
00:53:19,738 --> 00:53:21,406
The Symbionese
Liberation Army.
1071
00:53:21,574 --> 00:53:22,991
That's the SLA in L.A.,
1072
00:53:23,158 --> 00:53:26,202
418 Tishman Building,
Los Angeles, California.
1073
00:53:27,746 --> 00:53:29,539
I was reading
the magazine.
1074
00:53:29,707 --> 00:53:31,416
I was very impressed
with the writing in it,
1075
00:53:31,584 --> 00:53:33,167
so I looked up
on the masthead
1076
00:53:33,335 --> 00:53:35,879
and found Matty Simmons'
name and called him.
1077
00:53:36,046 --> 00:53:38,923
He had seen the
National Lampoon show in Toronto.
1078
00:53:39,091 --> 00:53:42,093
Matty decided to do
another stage show,
1079
00:53:42,261 --> 00:53:44,888
using Bill Murray,
Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis,
1080
00:53:45,055 --> 00:53:47,599
and much of the same talent
in the Radio Hour.
1081
00:53:47,766 --> 00:53:49,058
So I said to Ivan,
1082
00:53:49,226 --> 00:53:52,020
"Why don't you come in
and run it in New York?"
1083
00:53:52,187 --> 00:53:56,691
And now the National Lampoon
Radio Hour single's bar of the air.
1084
00:53:56,859 --> 00:53:59,736
Your opportunity to meet some of
today's most beautiful, bright,
1085
00:53:59,904 --> 00:54:02,947
talented, sensitive, and unattached
young men and women.
1086
00:54:03,115 --> 00:54:04,699
Will that
perfect mate be you?
1087
00:54:05,743 --> 00:54:07,160
Hiya, fella.
1088
00:54:07,328 --> 00:54:09,078
Nice weather, isn't it?
1089
00:54:09,371 --> 00:54:11,956
I used to believe
in ethical culture,
1090
00:54:12,124 --> 00:54:13,708
but then I switched
to Zen.
1091
00:54:14,168 --> 00:54:17,545
My hobbies are plants,
and once I had an ant farm.
1092
00:54:17,713 --> 00:54:19,631
Ivan Reitman: I showed up to one
of the early rehearsals,
1093
00:54:19,798 --> 00:54:21,341
and there was,
kind of, a discussion
1094
00:54:21,508 --> 00:54:23,217
about some little thing
that's going on.
1095
00:54:23,385 --> 00:54:25,720
And I just naturally say,
"Well, wouldn't it be better
1096
00:54:25,888 --> 00:54:27,513
if you..."
I made some suggestion.
1097
00:54:27,681 --> 00:54:29,098
And suddenly the whole
group stopped,
1098
00:54:29,266 --> 00:54:30,642
and they looked at me,
1099
00:54:30,768 --> 00:54:33,436
this outsider, and wondered,
"Did he just say something?"
1100
00:54:33,604 --> 00:54:36,898
Did he have the nerve to actually
open up his mouth and direct us?
1101
00:54:37,816 --> 00:54:39,567
Bill Murray,
always the bravest of the group,
1102
00:54:39,735 --> 00:54:42,111
sort of walked up
to me very calmly,
1103
00:54:42,404 --> 00:54:44,906
put his arm around me
and patted me on my back,
1104
00:54:45,074 --> 00:54:49,327
got my winter scarf and wrapped it
very slowly around my neck.
1105
00:54:49,954 --> 00:54:53,289
And said, "Hey, thanks for
dropping in, we'll see you."
1106
00:54:53,457 --> 00:54:56,542
And he patted me,
and he ushered me out of the room.
1107
00:54:56,710 --> 00:54:58,544
It was very,
very embarrassing.
1108
00:54:59,171 --> 00:55:00,380
Better luck next time.
1109
00:55:00,547 --> 00:55:01,673
Rehearsal warm-up!
1110
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:03,216
Let's take first
to the right eyebrow.
1111
00:55:03,384 --> 00:55:05,551
Ready, and one and two
1112
00:55:05,719 --> 00:55:08,721
and three and four
and five and six.
1113
00:55:08,889 --> 00:55:10,390
Now left, and two.
1114
00:55:10,557 --> 00:55:12,433
Come on! Up! Down!
1115
00:55:12,601 --> 00:55:14,852
And halt.
Cross, and...
1116
00:55:15,020 --> 00:55:16,854
Reitman: Belushi was this sure
great performer.
1117
00:55:17,022 --> 00:55:19,941
He was the center
of The National Lampoon Show.
1118
00:55:20,109 --> 00:55:22,318
He, basically,
acted as the director.
1119
00:55:22,486 --> 00:55:23,528
What are you doing here?
1120
00:55:23,779 --> 00:55:24,779
- Who me?
- Yeah.
1121
00:55:25,406 --> 00:55:27,657
♪ Well, I'm a congressman
from Cleveland ♪
1122
00:55:28,158 --> 00:55:30,410
♪ I took kickbacks
all the time ♪
1123
00:55:30,911 --> 00:55:33,121
♪ Now I'm stuck here
in prison for them ♪
1124
00:55:33,706 --> 00:55:35,748
- ♪ Doing 99 ♪
- Years?
1125
00:55:35,916 --> 00:55:37,208
- No, hours.
- Wow.
1126
00:55:37,376 --> 00:55:39,335
Ramis:
♪ I'm a white collar criminal ♪
1127
00:55:39,920 --> 00:55:42,255
♪ My wife's a debutante ♪
1128
00:55:43,173 --> 00:55:46,676
♪ I'm stuck in prison farm
for as long as I want ♪
1129
00:55:46,844 --> 00:55:48,636
♪ Whoa... ♪
1130
00:55:49,304 --> 00:55:51,472
Hendra: What was really
remarkable about John was that
1131
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:53,850
he was the rock'n'roll
of humor.
1132
00:55:54,018 --> 00:55:57,729
I mean, he represented those
two things in perfect combination.
1133
00:55:58,856 --> 00:56:00,648
♪ You know,
we gotta eat caviar ♪
1134
00:56:00,816 --> 00:56:01,899
Yeah!
1135
00:56:02,359 --> 00:56:03,860
♪ We got a chauffeur
and a car ♪
1136
00:56:04,028 --> 00:56:05,319
Whoa!
1137
00:56:05,612 --> 00:56:07,905
♪ We got a church
and a school ♪
1138
00:56:08,073 --> 00:56:11,200
♪ We got a sauna
and a pool... Whoa! ♪
1139
00:56:11,368 --> 00:56:14,328
♪ Six months
on prison farm... ♪
1140
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:17,790
He was very focused on
the business side of it as well.
1141
00:56:18,042 --> 00:56:19,417
He was the one who
would call me up every week
1142
00:56:19,585 --> 00:56:21,002
and say, "Hey, you're not
advertising enough"
1143
00:56:21,170 --> 00:56:23,421
or "We should put
these quotes on."
1144
00:56:23,589 --> 00:56:24,922
♪ My honey ♪
1145
00:56:25,090 --> 00:56:30,261
♪ Told her to save
my tennis things ♪
1146
00:56:33,557 --> 00:56:36,225
Hirsch: I think it was
Sean who said to Matty,
1147
00:56:36,393 --> 00:56:40,229
put him on retainer.
Give him $500 a week
1148
00:56:41,356 --> 00:56:43,107
just to keep him here.
1149
00:56:43,317 --> 00:56:44,734
And Matty didn't do it.
1150
00:56:45,986 --> 00:56:47,278
Let's begin.
1151
00:56:48,989 --> 00:56:50,656
Repeat after me.
1152
00:56:51,325 --> 00:56:53,326
- I would like
- I would like
1153
00:56:53,494 --> 00:56:54,577
to feed your fingertips
1154
00:56:54,745 --> 00:56:56,162
to feed your fingertips
1155
00:56:56,330 --> 00:56:58,414
- to the wolverines.
- to the wolverines.
1156
00:56:58,582 --> 00:57:00,249
(laughter)
1157
00:57:00,417 --> 00:57:03,252
- Next, I am afraid
- I am afraid
1158
00:57:03,420 --> 00:57:04,879
- we are out
- we are out
1159
00:57:05,005 --> 00:57:06,380
- of badgers.
- of badgers.
1160
00:57:06,548 --> 00:57:08,424
- Would you accept
- Would you accept
1161
00:57:08,592 --> 00:57:10,301
- a wolverine
- a wolverine
1162
00:57:10,469 --> 00:57:12,261
- in its place?
- in its place?
1163
00:57:13,680 --> 00:57:14,931
Next...
(gasps)
1164
00:57:21,355 --> 00:57:23,022
(gasps)
1165
00:57:23,190 --> 00:57:25,108
(applause)
1166
00:57:28,737 --> 00:57:30,404
(inaudible)
1167
00:57:31,323 --> 00:57:34,408
Live from New York,
it's Saturday Night!
1168
00:57:36,453 --> 00:57:38,412
Most of the cast
of Saturday Night Live
1169
00:57:38,580 --> 00:57:40,790
was taken right from
the first company
1170
00:57:40,999 --> 00:57:42,375
of The National Lampoon Show.
1171
00:57:42,501 --> 00:57:44,877
Announcer:
Starring the Not For Ready
1172
00:57:45,003 --> 00:57:46,504
Primetime Players!
1173
00:57:46,672 --> 00:57:50,883
The producer of Saturday Night Live
watched our show for about a month
1174
00:57:51,051 --> 00:57:52,760
and then hired
the people in the show.
1175
00:57:52,886 --> 00:57:54,595
Tom Snyder: You're talking about
Lorne Michaels, who produces?
1176
00:57:54,763 --> 00:57:55,805
Oh, yeah,
I forgot his name.
1177
00:57:55,973 --> 00:57:58,224
Lorne Michaels...
No, I know his name.
1178
00:57:58,392 --> 00:58:00,101
- Are you mad at him?"
- No, I'm not mad at him.
1179
00:58:00,269 --> 00:58:03,146
Since he has most of my actors
and many of my writers.
1180
00:58:04,356 --> 00:58:05,773
You could almost feel
the energy
1181
00:58:05,941 --> 00:58:08,734
sucked out of the magazine
and into that show.
1182
00:58:08,902 --> 00:58:10,611
It was written
by some Lampoon people.
1183
00:58:10,779 --> 00:58:12,613
It was starring some former
Lampoon people.
1184
00:58:12,781 --> 00:58:15,950
And it was very glamorous,
and it was a huge hit,
1185
00:58:16,118 --> 00:58:18,619
from the beginning,
and I gathered pretty quickly
1186
00:58:18,787 --> 00:58:20,580
that if I liked
Saturday Night Live,
1187
00:58:20,747 --> 00:58:21,747
I should keep it to myself.
1188
00:58:21,915 --> 00:58:23,916
Rick Meyerowitz: Suddenly,
what the Lampoon offered
1189
00:58:24,084 --> 00:58:27,128
was available
to a much larger audience.
1190
00:58:27,504 --> 00:58:30,214
The Lampoon lost its exceptionalism.
1191
00:58:30,424 --> 00:58:33,384
♪ (music plays) ♪
1192
00:58:43,687 --> 00:58:45,688
♪ What would ya do ♪
1193
00:58:45,856 --> 00:58:48,566
♪ If I sang out of tune ♪
1194
00:58:48,734 --> 00:58:50,151
(applause)
1195
00:58:50,319 --> 00:58:52,862
♪ Would you stand up
and walk out on me? ♪
1196
00:58:53,030 --> 00:58:55,239
♪ Oh, baby,
I get high ♪
1197
00:58:55,407 --> 00:58:58,117
♪ With a little help
from my friends ♪
1198
00:58:58,285 --> 00:59:03,289
♪ Oh, yeah, whoa... ♪
1199
00:59:03,457 --> 00:59:06,751
I've described the Lampoon as the
hippest place to be to write comedy.
1200
00:59:06,919 --> 00:59:08,211
And it was,
1201
00:59:08,378 --> 00:59:10,922
until the hippest place
to be to write comedy
1202
00:59:11,089 --> 00:59:12,757
became Saturday Night Live.
1203
00:59:14,092 --> 00:59:16,344
Chevy Chase came over
to the Lampoon offices,
1204
00:59:16,511 --> 00:59:18,179
and, chuckling, he said,
1205
00:59:18,347 --> 00:59:21,057
"Nobody gets laid writing for
the National Lampoon anymore."
1206
00:59:30,567 --> 00:59:33,027
This friend of mine
tells me that Michael Gross
1207
00:59:33,237 --> 00:59:34,862
is leaving the Lampoon,
the art director,
1208
00:59:35,030 --> 00:59:36,364
and I should apply for the job.
1209
00:59:36,657 --> 00:59:40,826
And, I walk into the conference room,
and Doug Kenney says to me,
1210
00:59:40,994 --> 00:59:44,789
"Well, I have three questions:
Can you get us drugs?
1211
00:59:44,957 --> 00:59:46,916
Can you get us nude models?
1212
00:59:47,084 --> 00:59:48,584
And do you have some place
where we can go
1213
00:59:48,752 --> 00:59:50,461
with the drugs
and the nude models?"
1214
00:59:51,672 --> 00:59:53,756
And I thought very seriously
1215
00:59:53,924 --> 00:59:58,552
and I said,
"Yes, yes, and yes."
1216
00:59:59,596 --> 01:00:02,223
And Doug looked at me and he says,
"Well, I have no further questions."
1217
01:00:02,557 --> 01:00:05,351
♪ (King Floyd's "Groove Me" plays) ♪
1218
01:00:07,813 --> 01:00:09,438
Abelson:
Peter had very little pretension
1219
01:00:09,606 --> 01:00:11,899
in terms of art,
as did Michael Gross.
1220
01:00:12,359 --> 01:00:15,194
Totally different kind of person
but he got it, you know,
1221
01:00:15,362 --> 01:00:16,946
and that's the thing
that mattered.
1222
01:00:17,114 --> 01:00:20,074
He was a great looking guy who
was not afraid to approach
1223
01:00:20,242 --> 01:00:22,660
people of the opposite sex
and suggest
1224
01:00:22,828 --> 01:00:24,662
that they might get
to know one another better,
1225
01:00:24,830 --> 01:00:26,747
which was somewhat fascinating
to all of us.
1226
01:00:27,416 --> 01:00:30,376
Every 30 days we were putting out
this 100-page magazine.
1227
01:00:30,544 --> 01:00:33,504
Didn't matter how dirty,
or how vile, or how perverted,
1228
01:00:33,672 --> 01:00:36,549
or how sexual, or how twisted
or violent it was.
1229
01:00:36,717 --> 01:00:39,468
If it was funny,
and if Doug liked it, it was in.
1230
01:00:48,729 --> 01:00:50,313
Simmons:
We knew all along that Doug
1231
01:00:50,480 --> 01:00:51,981
and Henry Beard and Rob Hoffman
1232
01:00:52,149 --> 01:00:54,650
would ask us to buy them out
after five years.
1233
01:00:54,818 --> 01:01:00,614
However, the buyout said
that they would buy it out
1234
01:01:00,782 --> 01:01:05,077
at 21 times earnings,
which was outrageous.
1235
01:01:05,245 --> 01:01:07,788
They stood to make
a nice piece of change.
1236
01:01:07,914 --> 01:01:10,541
I owed them seven and a half
million dollars.
1237
01:01:11,293 --> 01:01:14,003
So we met with them
and we sat down and we talked.
1238
01:01:14,963 --> 01:01:18,883
For whatever reason,
any reasonable alternative
1239
01:01:19,051 --> 01:01:21,427
to the buyout was rejected.
1240
01:01:22,763 --> 01:01:25,222
So when push came to shove,
we shoved.
1241
01:01:25,390 --> 01:01:27,016
I don't think Matty
was prepared.
1242
01:01:27,184 --> 01:01:30,227
I don't think Matty Simmons
really thought Doug and Henry
1243
01:01:30,354 --> 01:01:31,354
would go through with it.
1244
01:01:32,647 --> 01:01:33,647
And they did.
1245
01:01:41,365 --> 01:01:45,701
Henry hinted a few times that,
you know,
1246
01:01:45,869 --> 01:01:49,497
this could be good for you guys.
Meaning Sean, Tony and myself.
1247
01:01:50,874 --> 01:01:53,709
O'Rourke: Other people apparently
felt that they were stake holders.
1248
01:01:55,253 --> 01:01:58,130
And, um, you know,
they weren't.
1249
01:01:59,132 --> 01:02:01,884
They all thought Henry had
promised them a lot of money
1250
01:02:02,052 --> 01:02:05,054
and he walked out of that office
the day the check was cashed.
1251
01:02:05,222 --> 01:02:07,681
He stood up on a desk and said,
"I hated every minute of this.
1252
01:02:07,849 --> 01:02:10,059
Fuck you!" Then left.
1253
01:02:11,186 --> 01:02:13,270
Kelly:
When Henry got up and told us
1254
01:02:13,438 --> 01:02:15,147
that he was never going to talk
to any of us again,
1255
01:02:15,315 --> 01:02:18,150
it was such a shattering
experience for all of us
1256
01:02:18,318 --> 01:02:20,861
because he was the one
we were trying to please.
1257
01:02:21,029 --> 01:02:22,613
I think the culture changed.
1258
01:02:22,781 --> 01:02:26,117
And you know, people grew up.
It had a lifespan.
1259
01:02:30,163 --> 01:02:31,455
Radio Announcer:
Never send care packages
1260
01:02:31,623 --> 01:02:33,207
to the so-called starving families
1261
01:02:33,375 --> 01:02:35,793
in Europe because they're not
starving at all.
1262
01:02:35,961 --> 01:02:38,421
Can you afford to live in Europe?
No.
1263
01:02:38,588 --> 01:02:40,089
You can't even afford
to visit Europe.
1264
01:02:40,257 --> 01:02:42,758
And do you know what they do
with the care packages you send?
1265
01:02:42,926 --> 01:02:44,385
They whack them
with their polo mallets
1266
01:02:44,553 --> 01:02:46,011
and kick them into
their swimming pools.
1267
01:02:46,888 --> 01:02:49,390
The first time I saw Doug
after the buyout,
1268
01:02:49,558 --> 01:02:52,184
I said, "What are you going to
do with all of this bread?
1269
01:02:52,352 --> 01:02:53,602
That's so great!"
1270
01:02:53,770 --> 01:02:55,729
And Doug said,
"I'm going to Disneyland."
1271
01:02:55,939 --> 01:02:59,066
♪ (rock music plays) ♪
1272
01:02:59,234 --> 01:03:00,443
Doug was going to quit.
1273
01:03:00,610 --> 01:03:02,319
He was wealthy now
and he was going to quit.
1274
01:03:02,487 --> 01:03:04,530
And Matty was smart enough
to know that
1275
01:03:04,698 --> 01:03:06,407
"Holy shit, if I lose Doug,
1276
01:03:06,616 --> 01:03:08,701
I'm going to lose the heart
and soul of this company."
1277
01:03:09,077 --> 01:03:10,536
And so he said,
"Well, don't quit Doug,
1278
01:03:10,704 --> 01:03:13,289
we're going to make a movie."
And Doug went, "Really?"
1279
01:03:13,457 --> 01:03:15,958
Once I told Doug we were making a
movie, we had to make a movie.
1280
01:03:16,668 --> 01:03:20,045
Ivan then started coming up
with ideas with Harold Ramis.
1281
01:03:20,297 --> 01:03:22,089
Reitman: I knew that the
High School Yearbook
1282
01:03:22,257 --> 01:03:23,841
was the most popular thing
1283
01:03:24,718 --> 01:03:26,427
that the National Lampoon
had ever put out.
1284
01:03:26,595 --> 01:03:28,679
So I called up Doug Kenney
and said,
1285
01:03:28,847 --> 01:03:31,974
"Hey, why don't you help Harold
write this high school movie?"
1286
01:03:32,142 --> 01:03:33,726
They started writing
a screenplay that was
1287
01:03:33,894 --> 01:03:35,811
Charlie Manson and his followers
1288
01:03:35,979 --> 01:03:37,730
back when they were still
in high school.
1289
01:03:37,898 --> 01:03:40,900
There was so much sex
and drinking and what have you
1290
01:03:41,067 --> 01:03:45,070
involved with it that I said,
"We can't do this in high school.
1291
01:03:45,530 --> 01:03:46,530
We'll get lynched."
1292
01:03:46,698 --> 01:03:48,032
♪ (rock music plays) ♪
1293
01:03:48,241 --> 01:03:51,368
So I spoke to Matty about shifting
away from high school to college
1294
01:03:51,828 --> 01:03:55,039
and we were thinking of using
Chris Miller's stories.
1295
01:03:55,207 --> 01:03:58,542
Simmons: Chris Miller was the
most popular short story writer
1296
01:03:58,710 --> 01:03:59,960
in the history of the Lampoon.
1297
01:04:00,128 --> 01:04:03,380
Reitman: He specialized in stories
based on his Dartmouth years.
1298
01:04:03,673 --> 01:04:05,216
Chris Miller:
My stories were about college
1299
01:04:05,592 --> 01:04:07,801
and getting loaded
and living a wild life
1300
01:04:07,969 --> 01:04:09,678
and sex, drugs and rock'n'roll,
1301
01:04:09,971 --> 01:04:11,680
or the absence of those things.
1302
01:04:12,474 --> 01:04:13,891
Doug Kenney went crazy over it
1303
01:04:14,142 --> 01:04:16,310
because they didn't do
shit like that at Harvard.
1304
01:04:16,478 --> 01:04:17,978
Simmons:
Ramis, Kenney and Miller worked
1305
01:04:18,146 --> 01:04:21,524
for a full year on what became
a 114 page treatment.
1306
01:04:21,691 --> 01:04:23,526
The biggest treatment
anyone's ever seen.
1307
01:04:23,693 --> 01:04:27,154
And so, that really
became Animal House.
1308
01:04:30,575 --> 01:04:31,825
(rock music stops)
1309
01:04:31,993 --> 01:04:35,704
After the buyout,
we bumped along until P.J.
1310
01:04:35,872 --> 01:04:37,831
took the title of Editor-in-Chief.
1311
01:04:37,999 --> 01:04:41,502
♪ (The Hombres
"Let It All Hang Out" plays) ♪
1312
01:04:42,796 --> 01:04:46,215
I went to work as Matty's assistant
but I wound up as Editor-in-Chief
1313
01:04:46,383 --> 01:04:49,468
because I had had some prior
publishing experience.
1314
01:04:49,636 --> 01:04:52,638
I actually knew what on time
and under budget meant.
1315
01:04:52,806 --> 01:04:55,724
The era of P.J. being
the Editor-in-Chief,
1316
01:04:55,892 --> 01:04:58,686
it was less high-brow
and more approachable.
1317
01:04:59,104 --> 01:05:00,854
Editorial meetings
were way different.
1318
01:05:01,022 --> 01:05:04,024
Before he was editor,
editorial meetings were hanging out
1319
01:05:04,192 --> 01:05:05,818
and trying to one-up each other
1320
01:05:05,986 --> 01:05:08,070
and consisted of
this free-flow of ideas.
1321
01:05:08,905 --> 01:05:12,116
When P.J. took over,
he was the chair of every meeting.
1322
01:05:12,284 --> 01:05:13,534
He had an agenda on his legal pad.
1323
01:05:13,702 --> 01:05:15,119
He would read us things
that he had written
1324
01:05:15,287 --> 01:05:16,912
that he thought were
particularly funny.
1325
01:05:17,831 --> 01:05:21,000
P.J. was one of those people
that really worked hard.
1326
01:05:21,209 --> 01:05:23,502
It was not an endearing quality.
1327
01:05:25,589 --> 01:05:30,801
It needed a grown-up,
but frankly, it stopped being fun.
1328
01:05:34,681 --> 01:05:37,016
"How to talk your wife into oral sex:
1329
01:05:37,726 --> 01:05:42,646
Beg, wheedle, plead,
moan, groan and whine.
1330
01:05:42,814 --> 01:05:45,691
The object being to have
her grab it in disgust
1331
01:05:45,859 --> 01:05:48,777
and perform the dirty deed
to shut you up."
1332
01:05:49,946 --> 01:05:51,030
By John Hughes.
1333
01:05:51,197 --> 01:05:54,825
♪ (rock music plays) ♪
1334
01:05:54,993 --> 01:05:57,077
Apatow: I was always an
enormous fan of John Hughes.
1335
01:05:57,245 --> 01:06:00,456
He did all of this humor
about families and growing up
1336
01:06:00,624 --> 01:06:03,417
and then really funny,
dirty stuff.
1337
01:06:07,172 --> 01:06:08,380
When I was running the magazine,
1338
01:06:08,548 --> 01:06:09,923
he was the best person
I had working for me.
1339
01:06:10,216 --> 01:06:13,927
John could hue within,
sort of, one degree of reality
1340
01:06:14,095 --> 01:06:15,179
and make it hilarious.
1341
01:06:15,847 --> 01:06:18,265
Peter Kleinman: On the surface,
he was all-American, you know,
1342
01:06:18,433 --> 01:06:20,434
almost like this nice family guy.
1343
01:06:20,935 --> 01:06:23,520
And then you'd start
reading his stuff,
1344
01:06:23,688 --> 01:06:27,066
and it was the most sick,
sexual, depraved,
1345
01:06:27,233 --> 01:06:28,817
deviant stuff you've ever read.
1346
01:06:31,821 --> 01:06:35,115
P.J. O'Rourke and John Hughes
and the kinds of articles they liked
1347
01:06:35,283 --> 01:06:37,785
and wrote and edited
were politically different
1348
01:06:37,952 --> 01:06:40,412
and culturally and socially different
than the stuff we had done.
1349
01:06:40,580 --> 01:06:42,706
And the kinds of readers
changed also.
1350
01:06:44,501 --> 01:06:46,460
Simmons:
I knew no one in Hollywood,
1351
01:06:46,628 --> 01:06:49,171
but this is one of those things
that has to happen.
1352
01:06:50,423 --> 01:06:54,510
You have to have luck
to go with talent.
1353
01:06:57,389 --> 01:07:01,058
I got a phone call about a week
later from a guy who said,
1354
01:07:01,226 --> 01:07:03,560
"Mr. Simmons,
I am the assistant to Ned Tanen
1355
01:07:03,728 --> 01:07:06,522
at Universal Studios,
and I just want you to know
1356
01:07:06,690 --> 01:07:10,317
that I'm a huge Lampoon freak
and if you ever want
1357
01:07:10,485 --> 01:07:12,111
to do a movie, please call me."
1358
01:07:12,362 --> 01:07:15,364
We met with Ned Tanen and he said,
"I hate this.
1359
01:07:15,532 --> 01:07:19,201
Everybody's a drunkard, a womanizer,
they're doing drugs."
1360
01:07:19,369 --> 01:07:22,538
But he had two assistants:
Sean Daniel and Thom Mount,
1361
01:07:22,706 --> 01:07:24,581
who had always thought
this project could work.
1362
01:07:24,708 --> 01:07:25,791
And they were pushing it.
1363
01:07:26,000 --> 01:07:27,251
As a National Lampoon fan,
1364
01:07:27,419 --> 01:07:30,003
I just thought this is hilarious.
1365
01:07:30,171 --> 01:07:33,006
Not everyone thought it was
as funny as I did.
1366
01:07:33,174 --> 01:07:36,510
In fact, it was held
in total contempt.
1367
01:07:37,303 --> 01:07:40,639
My deal was that if any part
of the National Lampoon show,
1368
01:07:40,807 --> 01:07:44,101
which I produced, sort of,
led to what was going to be
1369
01:07:44,269 --> 01:07:45,978
a National Lampoon movie
1370
01:07:46,146 --> 01:07:48,605
then I was going to have
the opportunity to direct it.
1371
01:07:48,773 --> 01:07:50,774
But the only film I had directed
up to that point
1372
01:07:50,942 --> 01:07:53,652
was, uh, Cannibal Girls.
1373
01:07:53,820 --> 01:07:55,404
Announcer:
They love every man they meet.
1374
01:07:56,531 --> 01:07:59,116
First to death,
then for dinner.
1375
01:08:00,493 --> 01:08:03,370
Universal said, "Well, you can
produce it but you can't direct it."
1376
01:08:03,705 --> 01:08:05,581
My girlfriend at the time
was working as
1377
01:08:05,749 --> 01:08:08,041
a script supervisor
on Kentucky Fried Movie.
1378
01:08:08,209 --> 01:08:10,335
She said to me
you have got to get to know
1379
01:08:10,503 --> 01:08:11,670
the director of this movie,
John Landis.
1380
01:08:13,548 --> 01:08:15,883
Sean approached me and said,
"Would you be interested
1381
01:08:16,050 --> 01:08:18,594
in making a film at Universal?"
1382
01:08:18,762 --> 01:08:21,472
And I was like,
"Duh", and, uh,
1383
01:08:21,639 --> 01:08:23,557
he gave me
the script to Animal House.
1384
01:08:23,725 --> 01:08:25,267
Ned Tanen took me
into his office and said,
1385
01:08:25,435 --> 01:08:27,978
"Look, a lot of people
around here hate this
1386
01:08:28,146 --> 01:08:29,396
and don't think
we should be doing it.
1387
01:08:29,564 --> 01:08:30,814
But if you believe in it,
1388
01:08:30,982 --> 01:08:32,983
go away and bring us back
a movie."
1389
01:08:37,238 --> 01:08:40,073
You can't spend your whole life
worrying about your mistakes.
1390
01:08:40,241 --> 01:08:42,618
You fucked up!
You trusted us!
1391
01:08:44,996 --> 01:08:46,413
I had never done a comedy,
1392
01:08:46,581 --> 01:08:49,374
and I just was so over
where my career was.
1393
01:08:49,542 --> 01:08:51,543
I was like,
"I have to be in this movie."
1394
01:08:51,711 --> 01:08:53,253
(loud crack)
1395
01:08:53,338 --> 01:08:54,797
Thank you, sir.
May I have another?
1396
01:08:56,674 --> 01:08:58,008
Bacon:
I auditioned for John Landis
1397
01:08:58,176 --> 01:09:00,552
and he said,
"Yeah, this guy is smarmy,
1398
01:09:00,720 --> 01:09:03,222
he's a smarmy guy.
Can ya do that?"
1399
01:09:03,598 --> 01:09:05,349
I had no idea
what the word smarmy meant,
1400
01:09:05,517 --> 01:09:10,103
so I just, kind of, made this face
and he was like, "That's great!"
1401
01:09:11,064 --> 01:09:13,857
My kid can't see, is it all right
if he stands in front of you?
1402
01:09:14,025 --> 01:09:15,025
No!
1403
01:09:16,903 --> 01:09:18,737
Landis: I really wanted
the writers on set.
1404
01:09:18,905 --> 01:09:21,156
Universal of course,
this is a low-budget picture,
1405
01:09:21,324 --> 01:09:22,825
told me to go fuck myself, so...
1406
01:09:23,368 --> 01:09:26,870
What I did, was I said,
"Look, get yourself to Eugene
1407
01:09:27,038 --> 01:09:29,373
and I will hire you
every day as actors."
1408
01:09:29,707 --> 01:09:31,792
Chris and Doug
being there was important.
1409
01:09:32,085 --> 01:09:35,921
And Doug Kenney,
really important because,
1410
01:09:36,130 --> 01:09:38,006
you know, we made up a lot
of stuff shooting.
1411
01:09:38,174 --> 01:09:40,425
What the hell
we supposed to do, you moron?
1412
01:09:40,593 --> 01:09:42,469
Doug was always the smartest guy
in the room,
1413
01:09:42,595 --> 01:09:44,763
you know, and the richest guy.
(chuckling)
1414
01:09:45,139 --> 01:09:46,723
And the one with the drugs.
1415
01:09:47,016 --> 01:09:50,060
So, it was a real special time
because it was a chance
1416
01:09:50,228 --> 01:09:52,688
to meet all these people
that I had always revered.
1417
01:09:52,856 --> 01:09:55,941
You know, the Lampoon
and that Doug had founded it
1418
01:09:56,109 --> 01:09:59,361
and was as smart in person
and funny in person
1419
01:09:59,529 --> 01:10:01,780
as the magazine was.
1420
01:10:01,948 --> 01:10:03,949
Landis: I know that for Doug,
he was in heaven.
1421
01:10:04,325 --> 01:10:05,534
He had the time of his life.
1422
01:10:07,996 --> 01:10:11,248
But Ned Tanen was very upset
about it and very concerned
1423
01:10:11,416 --> 01:10:13,667
and really we were in trouble
for a while.
1424
01:10:13,918 --> 01:10:15,460
When he saw the movie he just...
1425
01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:19,339
He didn't like it and, uh,
didn't find any of it funny.
1426
01:10:22,093 --> 01:10:23,760
Sean Daniel:
Came time to preview the movie
1427
01:10:23,928 --> 01:10:26,805
in front of
an actual paying audience,
1428
01:10:27,265 --> 01:10:29,266
the president
of the corporation came,
1429
01:10:29,434 --> 01:10:32,311
who had been one of
the non-believers.
1430
01:10:33,771 --> 01:10:36,356
And all of
the executives were there.
1431
01:10:36,524 --> 01:10:39,943
The time has come for someone
to put his foot down,
1432
01:10:40,987 --> 01:10:43,071
and that foot is me.
1433
01:10:43,573 --> 01:10:45,407
It was, you know,
you're sitting there very nervous,
1434
01:10:45,575 --> 01:10:46,575
"How will they like the movie?"
1435
01:10:47,660 --> 01:10:49,828
(screaming)
1436
01:10:50,038 --> 01:10:51,121
They went nuts.
1437
01:10:51,372 --> 01:10:53,081
(cheering)
1438
01:10:54,751 --> 01:10:57,544
Suddenly the studio went,
"Oh, my God, this really worked."
1439
01:10:57,837 --> 01:10:59,421
Landis:
And from that moment on,
1440
01:10:59,589 --> 01:11:03,091
we went from being criminals...
Suspects to heroes.
1441
01:11:07,680 --> 01:11:11,141
I remember seeing it with my mom.
It was the first time I saw
1442
01:11:11,309 --> 01:11:13,518
women's breasts
in front of my mother.
1443
01:11:13,937 --> 01:11:15,812
I literally can remember how
many people were in the theater
1444
01:11:15,980 --> 01:11:19,024
and what it looked like
and my red shamed face.
1445
01:11:19,400 --> 01:11:22,903
And you have to remember that
Animal House created a genre.
1446
01:11:23,071 --> 01:11:25,447
♪ (Bobby Lewis
"Tossin' and Turnin" ' plays) ♪
1447
01:11:28,117 --> 01:11:29,409
So we figured,
"Wow, this is awesome."
1448
01:11:29,577 --> 01:11:31,036
Everybody's going to love
the magazine now
1449
01:11:31,204 --> 01:11:33,038
and see that we're more
mainstream because of this movie
1450
01:11:33,206 --> 01:11:34,790
which was a huge success.
1451
01:11:35,208 --> 01:11:36,708
What we didn't anticipate
1452
01:11:36,876 --> 01:11:40,629
was that Hollywood now would
rear it's voracious head
1453
01:11:40,797 --> 01:11:46,093
and take away all of our wonderful,
creative talent.
1454
01:11:46,719 --> 01:11:49,262
The second it came out somebody
hired me to write about
1455
01:11:49,430 --> 01:11:51,974
college kids drinking
and having sex in cars
1456
01:11:52,141 --> 01:11:54,893
and everybody wanted
to have a meeting even if...
1457
01:11:55,061 --> 01:11:56,895
And I had nothing to do
with the movie.
1458
01:11:57,063 --> 01:11:59,356
I just worked at
the Lampoon for a while.
1459
01:11:59,774 --> 01:12:03,777
(jet engine roar)
1460
01:12:10,118 --> 01:12:12,160
Chris Miller:
Doug came out to Hollywood
1461
01:12:12,328 --> 01:12:14,454
and the search for joy
and for ecstasy
1462
01:12:14,622 --> 01:12:16,790
was a major fact of life.
1463
01:12:18,292 --> 01:12:19,418
It was what we did.
1464
01:12:19,919 --> 01:12:21,628
♪ (Bobby Blue Bland
"Turn On Your Love Light" Plays) ♪
1465
01:12:23,840 --> 01:12:25,924
Beard: I realized that this is
what he wanted to do.
1466
01:12:26,092 --> 01:12:28,510
I mean, Doug Kenney
should be writing movies.
1467
01:12:28,678 --> 01:12:29,845
He was a producer.
1468
01:12:34,851 --> 01:12:37,519
He seemed to be running
the whole show.
1469
01:12:37,687 --> 01:12:39,980
He was the engine that was
making the wheels turn.
1470
01:12:40,148 --> 01:12:43,734
♪ (music continues) ♪
1471
01:12:43,901 --> 01:12:45,777
Doug was just
an upward road to fame.
1472
01:12:48,781 --> 01:12:50,490
Beverly D'Angelo: I remember
going to Doug Kenney's house
1473
01:12:50,658 --> 01:12:51,950
when I first came to Hollywood.
1474
01:12:52,118 --> 01:12:53,368
They were having
the most fun in town.
1475
01:12:53,536 --> 01:12:55,120
They were what was
going on in town.
1476
01:12:58,124 --> 01:13:02,794
Belushi: There was that part of him
that enjoyed being a star.
1477
01:13:10,595 --> 01:13:12,971
Kleinman: Doug and Chevy
had this great chemistry.
1478
01:13:13,139 --> 01:13:15,557
They could start going
and you'd just sit back
1479
01:13:15,725 --> 01:13:17,309
and just watch the party.
1480
01:13:17,727 --> 01:13:20,270
He considered himself the most
handsome man in comedy.
1481
01:13:20,688 --> 01:13:22,647
He'd be in front
of the mirror and say,
1482
01:13:22,815 --> 01:13:25,650
"Look the most handsome man
in comedy."
1483
01:13:25,818 --> 01:13:29,071
And then I'd stand behind him
and go, "Almost."
1484
01:13:34,786 --> 01:13:36,620
Hendra: Wherever Doug was
would be a party.
1485
01:13:37,163 --> 01:13:40,499
Just full of people,
studio heads and guys from Denny's.
1486
01:13:40,666 --> 01:13:42,334
You know, I mean,
just anyone he met.
1487
01:13:42,502 --> 01:13:44,211
And it would go on for hours,
sometimes days.
1488
01:14:17,036 --> 01:14:18,495
Kleinman: Doug's career was
really taking off,
1489
01:14:18,663 --> 01:14:20,080
and meanwhile back at the ranch,
1490
01:14:20,248 --> 01:14:22,874
everyone was making
Disco Beavers From Outer Space.
1491
01:14:23,042 --> 01:14:25,627
♪ Disco beaver ♪
1492
01:14:25,795 --> 01:14:28,421
♪ From outer space... ♪
1493
01:14:29,048 --> 01:14:30,715
There was a giant beaver
walking around
1494
01:14:30,883 --> 01:14:32,717
throughout everything
eating the floors.
1495
01:14:32,885 --> 01:14:35,303
So in the middle of the sketch,
the floor would collapse
1496
01:14:35,471 --> 01:14:37,681
and this beaver, who had eaten it,
would pop up.
1497
01:14:39,642 --> 01:14:42,144
Do I really have to talk
about Disco Beaver?
1498
01:14:42,311 --> 01:14:44,062
♪ Disco beaver... ♪
1499
01:14:45,982 --> 01:14:47,440
Somebody at the Lampoon
called me and said,
1500
01:14:47,608 --> 01:14:50,360
"Look we have a whole bunch of
kids coming in from Harvard...
1501
01:14:50,528 --> 01:14:55,115
♪ (rock music plays) ♪
1502
01:14:55,283 --> 01:14:57,075
...and we'd like you to come
to the magazine
1503
01:14:57,243 --> 01:14:58,827
and just, kind of,
tutor these guys."
1504
01:14:58,995 --> 01:15:00,829
I thought, okay,
that sounds like fun.
1505
01:15:02,874 --> 01:15:04,499
Reiss: My first week
at the National Lampoon,
1506
01:15:04,667 --> 01:15:07,419
we were getting drunk at a park
with bagpipers there.
1507
01:15:07,587 --> 01:15:08,879
I saw a fistfight.
1508
01:15:09,172 --> 01:15:11,506
There was a man secretly
living in his office.
1509
01:15:11,674 --> 01:15:15,677
It was... It was a crazy place,
like nothing I had ever seen before.
1510
01:15:15,845 --> 01:15:18,263
And, you know, for a guy just
out of college this was a dream.
1511
01:15:18,431 --> 01:15:20,140
You know, you were able to
actually write comedy for a living,
1512
01:15:20,266 --> 01:15:21,224
which was astounding to me.
1513
01:15:21,392 --> 01:15:23,393
One thing that Mike and I did early,
was these articles
1514
01:15:23,561 --> 01:15:26,146
about how to write. And we did
one that Thurgood Marshall,
1515
01:15:26,314 --> 01:15:28,398
the Supreme Court Justice did,
How to Write Dirty,
1516
01:15:28,566 --> 01:15:30,734
where he instructed you
how to write pornography.
1517
01:15:31,444 --> 01:15:33,570
I had the thought
that Thurgood Marshall,
1518
01:15:33,738 --> 01:15:35,488
he would never see this article,
but if he did,
1519
01:15:35,656 --> 01:15:37,741
I thought maybe he would
even enjoy it, right?
1520
01:15:37,909 --> 01:15:41,036
He was so upset that
he called the FBI and said,
1521
01:15:41,204 --> 01:15:42,412
"What can I do to them?"
1522
01:15:42,914 --> 01:15:44,706
And the FBI said,
"Well, there's a thing
1523
01:15:44,874 --> 01:15:47,709
called Freedom of Speech,
Mr. Justice, it protects them."
1524
01:15:56,302 --> 01:15:57,802
McConnachie:
After Animal House,
1525
01:15:57,970 --> 01:16:00,472
Harold and Doug went up to
Florida and made Caddyshack.
1526
01:16:00,640 --> 01:16:03,266
Caddyshack
was not a Lampoon movie,
1527
01:16:03,434 --> 01:16:07,229
but it was a Doug Kenney movie
and Doug Kenney was the Lampoon,
1528
01:16:07,396 --> 01:16:09,940
so obviously it was
a Lampoon movie.
1529
01:16:10,107 --> 01:16:13,276
I mean, it may not have been
officially a Lampoon movie
1530
01:16:13,444 --> 01:16:17,030
but with Chevy and Billy
and Doug and Brian,
1531
01:16:17,198 --> 01:16:18,907
I mean, it was a Lampoon movie.
1532
01:16:19,075 --> 01:16:21,159
That was the spirit
of the Lampoon.
1533
01:16:21,577 --> 01:16:23,453
Doug was the producer
of Caddyshack
1534
01:16:23,621 --> 01:16:26,748
but it all seemed
a little disorganized.
1535
01:16:27,041 --> 01:16:29,292
There was a kind of
haphazard quality
1536
01:16:29,460 --> 01:16:32,545
to the way in which
the film was created.
1537
01:16:32,713 --> 01:16:34,089
Stop thinking.
1538
01:16:35,007 --> 01:16:38,468
Let things happen
and be the ball.
1539
01:16:41,180 --> 01:16:42,430
Danny? Danny?
1540
01:16:42,807 --> 01:16:45,433
It was only, like, my second movie
or something, I don't remember.
1541
01:16:45,601 --> 01:16:47,519
Everybody was smoking pot.
1542
01:16:47,687 --> 01:16:48,645
(coughing)
1543
01:16:48,813 --> 01:16:50,063
It's a little harsh.
1544
01:16:50,398 --> 01:16:53,817
It was a very nocturnal,
uh, movie.
1545
01:16:55,486 --> 01:16:56,569
(sniffing)
1546
01:16:56,779 --> 01:16:57,904
♪ (Kenny Loggins
"I'm Alight" plays) ♪
1547
01:16:58,197 --> 01:16:59,864
Cocaine was just always there.
1548
01:17:00,992 --> 01:17:03,326
Matheson: Cocaine wasn't bad for you.
You'd do this and you'd go,
1549
01:17:03,494 --> 01:17:04,744
"I can't believe
this isn't bad for me!"
1550
01:17:04,912 --> 01:17:07,247
You know, 'cause it wasn't
considered, at that time,
1551
01:17:07,415 --> 01:17:10,875
to be a bad thing...
for a while.
1552
01:17:16,007 --> 01:17:17,173
He's got a beautiful backswing.
1553
01:17:17,341 --> 01:17:19,426
That's...
Oh, he got all of that one!
1554
01:17:19,760 --> 01:17:21,303
Judd Apatow: I remember
when Caddyshack came out,
1555
01:17:21,470 --> 01:17:22,804
Newsday gave it
two and a half stars,
1556
01:17:22,972 --> 01:17:25,974
and I'm like, "What?
This is like the best movie ever!"
1557
01:17:26,142 --> 01:17:28,643
Caddyshack is not about the
Mikado's daughter-in-law elect.
1558
01:17:28,811 --> 01:17:31,396
It's about as rotten a movie as has
slopped the screen this summer.
1559
01:17:33,899 --> 01:17:34,983
Tim Matheson:
Doug was very distraught
1560
01:17:35,151 --> 01:17:37,819
and upset that Caddyshack
wasn't as big as Animal House.
1561
01:17:37,987 --> 01:17:39,529
I said, "Jeez, you know,
Animal House is a homerun.
1562
01:17:39,697 --> 01:17:42,699
So let's just say Caddyshack is a
double or a triple. But who cares?"
1563
01:17:42,867 --> 01:17:44,409
Chevy Chase:
But I was at Dangerfield's
1564
01:17:44,577 --> 01:17:46,244
with Billy and maybe Harold
1565
01:17:46,412 --> 01:17:49,789
promoting the picture
and somebody came up to me after
1566
01:17:49,957 --> 01:17:52,000
and he said, "You know,
Doug is really..."
1567
01:17:52,168 --> 01:17:55,295
And I could see that Doug
was like asleep on a table
1568
01:17:55,463 --> 01:17:59,174
back there starting to get
loaded at noon or whatever.
1569
01:17:59,342 --> 01:18:01,593
I had seen him depressed before
but this was like
1570
01:18:01,761 --> 01:18:04,262
he had achieved a level of
depression that was impressive
1571
01:18:04,430 --> 01:18:06,431
to me and I'm good
at being depressed.
1572
01:18:06,766 --> 01:18:08,099
And it was about the movie.
1573
01:18:09,310 --> 01:18:12,771
He'd spent a year and a half of
his life or something on this thing
1574
01:18:12,938 --> 01:18:17,067
and what I got is like
a talking gopher for Christ's sake.
1575
01:18:19,403 --> 01:18:23,156
It actually did fine, it kind of
hit the mark a lot of films do.
1576
01:18:23,491 --> 01:18:25,033
It just wasn't his mark.
1577
01:18:25,326 --> 01:18:28,703
So I guess that's probably part
of what happened to Doug,
1578
01:18:28,871 --> 01:18:30,789
just feeling it should
have done better...
1579
01:18:32,750 --> 01:18:33,917
...he could have done better.
1580
01:18:37,254 --> 01:18:39,255
Sean Kelly: At that point
the magazine was on the skids
1581
01:18:39,632 --> 01:18:40,924
in terms of its sales,
1582
01:18:41,175 --> 01:18:43,927
and it was believed
by management
1583
01:18:44,095 --> 01:18:49,808
that the way to get it back to being
a best-seller was to have more tits.
1584
01:18:49,975 --> 01:18:54,062
♪ (rock music plays) ♪
1585
01:18:56,899 --> 01:18:59,984
Al Jean: They had this mandate that
every sixth issue or second issue
1586
01:19:00,152 --> 01:19:02,445
or every issue had to be
a sex issue.
1587
01:19:08,119 --> 01:19:11,204
And we couldn't
afford B-List tits.
1588
01:19:11,455 --> 01:19:14,290
We had like D and E-List tits.
1589
01:19:16,085 --> 01:19:17,919
And the more tits and ass
we put on the cover,
1590
01:19:18,087 --> 01:19:20,964
the more 7-11's and everybody
put it under the counter
1591
01:19:21,173 --> 01:19:22,507
so it didn't matter
what was on the cover.
1592
01:19:27,179 --> 01:19:29,848
Then the phone rang and they
said, "Do you want to quit
1593
01:19:30,015 --> 01:19:31,433
your job and come to Hollywood?"
1594
01:19:31,600 --> 01:19:33,476
And we said,
"Yes, who is this?"
1595
01:19:33,727 --> 01:19:37,105
The kids left to go
write The Simpsons
1596
01:19:37,356 --> 01:19:39,190
and every other thing
that's huge.
1597
01:19:39,358 --> 01:19:41,443
We were in something
of a death spiral.
1598
01:19:46,574 --> 01:19:48,825
Chris Miller: I was working on
a movie called Club Sandwich.
1599
01:19:48,993 --> 01:19:50,910
We had to have a meeting
with our producers
1600
01:19:51,078 --> 01:19:54,914
and that was Michael Shamberg
and Allen Greisman and Doug.
1601
01:19:55,082 --> 01:19:56,332
And in comes Doug,
1602
01:19:56,709 --> 01:19:59,127
and behind him
comes this coke dealer.
1603
01:19:59,795 --> 01:20:03,423
And, um, Doug says,
"I'll be right with you guys!"
1604
01:20:04,133 --> 01:20:08,678
He lays a rail of this coke
along his arm, and he goes...
1605
01:20:08,846 --> 01:20:10,013
(snorting)
1606
01:20:10,181 --> 01:20:12,599
And the entire amount of cocaine
goes up his nose.
1607
01:20:12,850 --> 01:20:15,185
And then he says, "Okay,
we're having a meeting now?"
1608
01:20:15,352 --> 01:20:16,603
And, uh...
1609
01:20:17,146 --> 01:20:21,149
I had been as big a drug abuser
as anybody,
1610
01:20:21,400 --> 01:20:23,651
and I had hung around
with Doug a lot.
1611
01:20:23,819 --> 01:20:27,155
I had never seen Doug do
something like that at 9:00 a.m.
1612
01:20:27,406 --> 01:20:29,407
when a business meeting
was about to be held.
1613
01:20:30,242 --> 01:20:31,993
Tim Matheson: You know Hollywood
is one of those things.
1614
01:20:32,161 --> 01:20:34,370
They don't care what you do.
1615
01:20:35,122 --> 01:20:37,916
Just as long as you show up
to work and you're okay then.
1616
01:20:38,083 --> 01:20:40,668
Whatever you do on your own time,
that's what you do on your own time.
1617
01:20:41,712 --> 01:20:42,837
(phone ringing)
1618
01:20:43,005 --> 01:20:45,340
Man: Hello, this is
a recorded message
1619
01:20:45,508 --> 01:20:47,675
from your suicide
prevention phone.
1620
01:20:48,135 --> 01:20:50,345
Now first of all why not stop,
1621
01:20:50,554 --> 01:20:53,348
take a deep breath
and think for a minute.
1622
01:20:53,599 --> 01:20:55,850
Can things really be all that bad?
1623
01:20:56,602 --> 01:20:59,687
Sure, the road of life can be
pretty bumpy sometimes
1624
01:20:59,855 --> 01:21:04,150
but isn't that just part in parcel
of that rich tapestry we call living?
1625
01:21:04,318 --> 01:21:05,360
- (gunshot)
- (gasp and thud)
1626
01:21:05,528 --> 01:21:07,946
You know, a wise man once said,
1627
01:21:08,113 --> 01:21:10,907
"Today is the first day
of the rest of your life."
1628
01:21:20,251 --> 01:21:22,043
Peter Kleinman: I mean,
you know, I'm not a doctor
1629
01:21:22,211 --> 01:21:24,212
but I guess Doug was an addict.
1630
01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:27,674
He had the disease of addiction,
right?
1631
01:21:28,133 --> 01:21:30,343
Doug couldn't not be high.
1632
01:21:31,470 --> 01:21:34,013
Coming out to L.A.
was very bad for Doug, I think.
1633
01:21:34,181 --> 01:21:37,058
The cocaine out here was
everywhere and, uh...
1634
01:21:38,561 --> 01:21:40,895
Doug just went for it, uh...
1635
01:21:42,106 --> 01:21:45,567
as hard as anybody
has ever gone for it.
1636
01:21:49,488 --> 01:21:53,825
Doug wasn't...
He wasn't as happy
1637
01:21:53,951 --> 01:21:58,705
as I thought I might be
if I had, you know,
1638
01:21:59,248 --> 01:22:00,999
that kind of success
1639
01:22:01,208 --> 01:22:04,252
and that kind of notoriety
and money.
1640
01:22:05,421 --> 01:22:08,298
He was sort of, an emptiness,
1641
01:22:08,924 --> 01:22:10,967
like, there was like a sadness.
1642
01:22:11,594 --> 01:22:12,719
He was having trouble.
1643
01:22:13,679 --> 01:22:15,638
And they said, you know,
take him away, or...
1644
01:22:15,806 --> 01:22:17,140
for a week or something.
1645
01:22:17,474 --> 01:22:19,642
So Doug and I
went off together.
1646
01:22:19,810 --> 01:22:21,853
I took him to Hawaii.
1647
01:22:22,396 --> 01:22:26,190
I think that he and Chevy were,
at that time, um...
1648
01:22:27,067 --> 01:22:29,152
battling their
attraction to drugs.
1649
01:22:29,570 --> 01:22:32,655
I remember at one point
we were at the hotel
1650
01:22:32,823 --> 01:22:35,283
on Maui on like the 15th floor.
1651
01:22:37,453 --> 01:22:38,953
I went to his room,
and I told him
1652
01:22:39,121 --> 01:22:42,415
I just couldn't take it anymore,
I was so depressed.
1653
01:22:44,293 --> 01:22:46,794
Then I went back to my room
and I took my boots off
1654
01:22:46,962 --> 01:22:51,549
and left them right by the fence,
the terrace,
1655
01:22:51,759 --> 01:22:54,302
and then just went,
"I got, uh, ah!"
1656
01:22:55,387 --> 01:22:59,974
The sound of somebody falling
from the terrace or jumping.
1657
01:23:00,517 --> 01:23:02,644
And he came running and,
of course, I'm hiding
1658
01:23:03,729 --> 01:23:06,022
and for a second he really
actually looked.
1659
01:23:07,024 --> 01:23:08,524
(chuckling)
1660
01:23:14,782 --> 01:23:16,324
I'm telling you
all this about Doug
1661
01:23:16,492 --> 01:23:18,868
because I miss him very much,
he was my best friend.
1662
01:23:25,959 --> 01:23:27,794
I had to come back
to work finally,
1663
01:23:28,003 --> 01:23:30,380
back to California,
and I left him in Hawaii.
1664
01:23:30,881 --> 01:23:36,678
I got a call
from Doug's girlfriend, um...
1665
01:23:36,845 --> 01:23:37,845
(clearing throat)
1666
01:23:38,055 --> 01:23:40,807
And he was missing and did
I know where he was
1667
01:23:40,974 --> 01:23:42,225
and I had no idea.
1668
01:23:42,393 --> 01:23:45,269
One day I was talking to him
and the next day he was missing.
1669
01:23:50,234 --> 01:23:53,736
Doug being missing
wasn't that unusual
1670
01:23:53,904 --> 01:23:56,114
but this time
it didn't feel right.
1671
01:23:56,657 --> 01:23:58,074
I flew back out.
1672
01:23:58,242 --> 01:23:59,992
We found Doug but he was
at the bottom of
1673
01:24:00,786 --> 01:24:03,454
what they call
the Grand Canyon in Kauai.
1674
01:24:20,764 --> 01:24:22,265
John Weidman: I don't
want to suggest for a minute
1675
01:24:22,433 --> 01:24:24,308
that what happened
to Doug was expected.
1676
01:24:24,476 --> 01:24:26,102
It was awful
when I got the news,
1677
01:24:26,270 --> 01:24:32,984
but it was not entirely incompatible
with the life he had been living.
1678
01:24:34,069 --> 01:24:38,197
It was a tragic loss.
He was the first person I knew
1679
01:24:38,365 --> 01:24:39,907
that I considered a drug casualty.
1680
01:24:40,617 --> 01:24:42,869
John Landis: Was he stoned
and fell off the cliff?
1681
01:24:43,203 --> 01:24:46,414
Was he suicidal
and jumped off the cliff?
1682
01:24:46,832 --> 01:24:48,833
Or was he in fact murdered
in a drug deal,
1683
01:24:49,001 --> 01:24:50,376
which is what a lot of people think.
1684
01:24:50,753 --> 01:24:53,379
They said that there was a sign
at the cliff where he died,
1685
01:24:53,547 --> 01:24:54,756
that said,
"Do not go beyond this point."
1686
01:24:55,257 --> 01:24:59,302
And as soon as I heard that
I just saw Doug read it and say
1687
01:24:59,470 --> 01:25:00,595
"You mean here?"
1688
01:25:04,641 --> 01:25:06,476
He wrote me a chatty letter
from Hawaii,
1689
01:25:06,643 --> 01:25:09,020
and told me he looked forward to
seeing me when he came to L.A.
1690
01:25:09,229 --> 01:25:10,521
He wanted to talk about something.
1691
01:25:11,315 --> 01:25:12,940
So I don't think he was...
1692
01:25:13,776 --> 01:25:15,151
I don't think he killed himself.
1693
01:25:15,319 --> 01:25:18,404
He was never a guy
to take his life.
1694
01:25:19,072 --> 01:25:24,076
And having thought about it
all this time over the years,
1695
01:25:24,745 --> 01:25:27,371
I think that he...
he slipped.
1696
01:25:27,790 --> 01:25:29,040
Which is stupid.
1697
01:25:29,958 --> 01:25:35,505
And, um... uh, it killed him.
So... that was that.
1698
01:25:39,092 --> 01:25:42,512
I've heard every version
of this and I have no idea.
1699
01:25:43,472 --> 01:25:46,057
Chris Miller very brilliantly said,
1700
01:25:46,809 --> 01:25:50,353
"Doug was looking for a better place
to jump from when he slipped."
1701
01:25:51,396 --> 01:25:54,649
(laughing)
1702
01:26:11,291 --> 01:26:12,416
Henry Beard: Had he lived,
1703
01:26:12,626 --> 01:26:14,961
Doug Kenney would have
been kind of force
1704
01:26:15,128 --> 01:26:17,046
in American movie making,
directorial force
1705
01:26:17,214 --> 01:26:19,674
that John Hughes was,
the kind of movies he made.
1706
01:26:19,842 --> 01:26:21,259
Dad, whoa!
1707
01:26:21,385 --> 01:26:22,593
♪ Walley World! ♪
1708
01:26:24,596 --> 01:26:27,974
Matty Simmons: John Hughes wrote
the short story Vacation '58.
1709
01:26:28,267 --> 01:26:29,225
I called him in,
and I said,
1710
01:26:29,393 --> 01:26:31,018
"John, I'm gonna make
a movie of this."
1711
01:26:31,436 --> 01:26:32,562
(tires screeching)
1712
01:26:34,606 --> 01:26:36,399
I think you're
all fucked in the head.
1713
01:26:36,942 --> 01:26:39,819
We're ten hours from the fucking
fun park and you wanna bail out!
1714
01:26:39,987 --> 01:26:42,697
Judd Apatow: Vacation was my family.
I went on those trips,
1715
01:26:42,865 --> 01:26:46,450
and it was that heinous,
you know, every single time.
1716
01:26:46,618 --> 01:26:48,411
Chevy: We're all gonna have
so much fucking fun
1717
01:26:48,579 --> 01:26:51,205
we'll need plastic surgery
to remove our goddamn smiles.
1718
01:26:51,665 --> 01:26:54,542
You'll be whistling Zip-a-Dee-
Doo-Dah out of your assholes!
1719
01:26:55,502 --> 01:26:56,502
(laughing)
1720
01:26:56,670 --> 01:26:58,170
It was rated R!
1721
01:26:58,422 --> 01:27:01,549
Dogs are being killed,
adultery is being flaunted.
1722
01:27:01,800 --> 01:27:06,512
There's elderly abuse, incest,
masturbation, kidnapping.
1723
01:27:06,722 --> 01:27:09,307
That's a lot of stuff that
you wouldn't think of as
1724
01:27:09,474 --> 01:27:14,562
being present in what has become
like a beloved family film.
1725
01:27:15,606 --> 01:27:18,149
- Good talk, son.
- Good talk, Dad.
1726
01:27:18,817 --> 01:27:21,694
I think Matty said something like,
"Well, this is National Lampoon."
1727
01:27:25,115 --> 01:27:26,991
Peter Kleinman:
If there was a golden age,
1728
01:27:27,242 --> 01:27:29,952
and a silver age,
and a platinum age,
1729
01:27:30,370 --> 01:27:33,414
this would probably be
the moldy rye bread age
1730
01:27:33,624 --> 01:27:34,999
of the National Lampoon.
1731
01:27:38,378 --> 01:27:41,005
We were doing this horror
and fantasy issue
1732
01:27:41,173 --> 01:27:43,382
and we were trying to come up
with the most horrible,
1733
01:27:43,550 --> 01:27:45,009
gruesome, funny ideas.
1734
01:27:45,344 --> 01:27:48,346
And I said, "What about
a baby in a blender?"
1735
01:27:48,513 --> 01:27:51,390
And everybody was like, "Aah,
that's so funny, baby in a blender!"
1736
01:27:54,645 --> 01:27:58,606
There was supposed to be
a satire of a famous old saying
1737
01:27:58,774 --> 01:28:00,858
that went something like,
1738
01:28:01,026 --> 01:28:03,110
"It's a worse mess
than a baby in a blender."
1739
01:28:03,278 --> 01:28:05,446
So, we decided we would do it.
1740
01:28:05,614 --> 01:28:09,700
And I took a picture of a baby crying
and took a picture of a blender
1741
01:28:09,868 --> 01:28:11,702
and we actually
stripped them together
1742
01:28:11,787 --> 01:28:13,829
so it looked like the baby
was in the blender.
1743
01:28:13,997 --> 01:28:17,625
And we put Satan's finger
on the puree button.
1744
01:28:21,880 --> 01:28:23,673
Matty Simmons: There was a group
called the Christian Coalition
1745
01:28:23,757 --> 01:28:25,841
which hated us because
we made fun of groups
1746
01:28:26,009 --> 01:28:27,468
like the Christian Coalition.
1747
01:28:29,638 --> 01:28:32,848
They organized a group
of right wing zealots
1748
01:28:33,016 --> 01:28:34,016
and they sent letters around
1749
01:28:34,184 --> 01:28:36,811
and we lost almost
all our national advertising.
1750
01:28:42,651 --> 01:28:46,612
And it went downhill from there,
and I'm gonna end it on that note.
1751
01:28:54,454 --> 01:28:56,539
♪ (David Bowie "Changes" plays) ♪
1752
01:29:12,431 --> 01:29:14,390
The things that happened to us
when we are young
1753
01:29:14,558 --> 01:29:17,268
just seem so much more important
than other things
1754
01:29:17,436 --> 01:29:18,853
because they're happening
for the first time.
1755
01:29:19,688 --> 01:29:21,105
Anne Beatts:
You know, looking backwards
1756
01:29:21,273 --> 01:29:22,940
is always a dangerous position.
1757
01:29:23,108 --> 01:29:24,859
You could really
throw your neck out,
1758
01:29:25,027 --> 01:29:26,902
but when I do look back
at all of this,
1759
01:29:27,112 --> 01:29:28,154
I feel lucky.
1760
01:29:29,364 --> 01:29:31,073
Ivan Reitman: The National Lampoon
really changed my life.
1761
01:29:31,241 --> 01:29:33,743
It introduced me to this
extraordinary group of performers
1762
01:29:33,910 --> 01:29:37,705
that were really the finest
comedic actors of their generation.
1763
01:29:40,667 --> 01:29:42,793
Tony Hendra: Some people might think
this is an egregious comparison,
1764
01:29:42,961 --> 01:29:46,756
but I would say that
my years at the Lampoon, um,
1765
01:29:47,090 --> 01:29:49,592
were not unlike the Paris
of the twenties
1766
01:29:49,843 --> 01:29:52,386
that Hemingway describes
in A Moveable Feast.
1767
01:29:52,637 --> 01:29:56,432
Wherever two or more
Lampoon people got together
1768
01:29:56,600 --> 01:29:59,310
in those years,
something explosive happened.
1769
01:30:03,857 --> 01:30:06,859
Janis Hirsch: I felt like I
snuck in some magical clubhouse.
1770
01:30:07,486 --> 01:30:09,570
With those people there,
you knew you were never
1771
01:30:09,696 --> 01:30:11,030
going to see people
like that again.
1772
01:30:13,241 --> 01:30:14,575
Sean Kelly:
At the end of the year
1773
01:30:14,743 --> 01:30:16,869
when I'm talking to students
who are about to graduate,
1774
01:30:17,037 --> 01:30:21,540
I say I wish them,
that they get maybe five years
1775
01:30:21,708 --> 01:30:23,375
in their whole working lives
1776
01:30:24,252 --> 01:30:25,795
like the five years I got,
1777
01:30:25,962 --> 01:30:29,298
where you're doing something,
frankly, you would pay to do,
1778
01:30:29,883 --> 01:30:31,509
except you're getting
paid to do it.
1779
01:30:37,390 --> 01:30:38,849
Henry Beard:
It's a time of dial telephone.
1780
01:30:39,017 --> 01:30:40,851
There's no Internet,
there's no computers.
1781
01:30:41,019 --> 01:30:43,062
There wasn't that much
that was shared,
1782
01:30:43,355 --> 01:30:45,648
but what was shared
was shared by everybody.
1783
01:30:45,816 --> 01:30:48,192
They absolutely
had everything in common
1784
01:30:48,401 --> 01:30:50,444
and in a way that never
will happen again.
1785
01:30:50,821 --> 01:30:52,238
Michael Gross:
I'm just so super proud
1786
01:30:52,405 --> 01:30:55,533
of that period of our life,
not to mention blessed.
1787
01:30:56,576 --> 01:31:01,122
I somehow was part of
the greatest band of an era.
1788
01:31:06,670 --> 01:31:09,380
Really what is important,
I think, is just those people.
1789
01:31:11,883 --> 01:31:14,677
They became
all of modern comedy.
1790
01:31:15,679 --> 01:31:17,263
♪ (music continues) ♪
1791
01:31:50,505 --> 01:31:53,757
Doug always had a predilection
for sticking his dick in girls' ears.
1792
01:31:54,134 --> 01:31:57,469
Uh, it was something that
he would surprise everybody
1793
01:31:57,637 --> 01:32:00,389
by doing in the middle of
a cocktail party or something.
1794
01:32:00,557 --> 01:32:03,309
There would be Doug with
his dick in some girl's ear.
1795
01:32:03,643 --> 01:32:07,771
And he used to say to me,
"Chris, I hope that somehow
1796
01:32:08,023 --> 01:32:11,233
I'll go to heaven and I'll be
able to stick my dick
1797
01:32:11,401 --> 01:32:13,027
in the ear
of Eleanor Roosevelt."
1798
01:32:13,320 --> 01:32:17,406
And so when Doug died, I figured
he definitely got into heaven
1799
01:32:17,574 --> 01:32:20,242
and probably,
probably even right now,
1800
01:32:20,410 --> 01:32:22,828
he's sticking his dick
in the ear of Eleanor Roosevelt.
1801
01:32:24,873 --> 01:32:28,709
♪ (Lindsay Buckingham
"Holiday Road" plays) ♪
1802
01:34:29,247 --> 01:34:31,123
(dog barking to beat)
1803
01:34:33,418 --> 01:34:35,878
(indistinct chatter)
1804
01:34:37,589 --> 01:34:39,548
(squeaking)
1805
01:34:44,804 --> 01:34:46,722
Man: (in Scottish accent)
You've been listening to
1806
01:34:46,890 --> 01:34:49,683
The National Lampoon
Radio Hour.
141484
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