The National Lampoon documentary brings back repressed memories of guilt-free pleasures.
When I was a kid, I got two life-changing castoffs from my grandfather.
The first came from when he was a gravedigger at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Years later, he was a garbage man and would occasionally bring me shopping bags full of comic books.
I was eight, they blew my mind.
They didnt stop me, but they knew.
They put a baby in a blender years before it was chic.
Then the movies came out and holy shit they were wholly shit.
Ad content continues below
The thing I didnt see was the live show.
I heard about it on the radio.
It was in the Village.
The Village Gate, where I would later seeToomfooleryand comedians Steve Landesburg and Jon Stewart.
These were my heroes.
About a half hour before the preview, I checked in to see if there would be chemical refreshments.
Michael ODonoghue is exactly as he seemed to be, explosive and implosive, sometimes simultaneously.
The readers remember stories of Mr. Mike shooting Hendras mailboxes and worse.
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Deadtriggered memories of a million punch lines.
It presents the Lampoon very straight because the clips provide enough chuckles.
The movie doesnt bother dwelling on the fact that National Lampoons humor was considered controversial.
The writers were encouraged to offend and broke new ground on irreverence.
It might even seem more offensive now than at the time.
As ODonoghue would say to anyone still listening, Making people laugh is the lowest form of comedy.
A lot of people write offNational Lampoonas frat humor, but it was incisive and socially relevant.
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead told the history of theLampoonfrom its start at Harvard.
What also emerges in the film is the perfect work environment.
One of its first writers, Tony Hendra became the first editor in 1971.
ODonoghue and Hendra co-createdNational Lampoons first albumRadio Dinnerin 1972.
One of the pieces was Hendras post-Beatle John Lennon parody Magical Misery Tour.
Lennon would later hire Michael Gross, who defined the look ofNational Lampoonmagazine, as his personal designer.
Gross explains how he got that baby in a blender.
It seems like Tim Matheson never lost his faith in the power ofNational Lampoon.
The founders may have buzzed and burnt out on it, but the actor sees the legacy.
Life is not for everybody, the late ODonaghue might say.
Douglas Tirola is clearly having fun taking us on this ride through comedys desperado past.
But dont let that stop you.
Rating:
4 out of 5
