Erstwhile National Lampoon contributor Richard Levinson has announced that he and several other others (Bill Martin, who wrote “Elephant Parts,” and Jeff Mandel, who contributed to a few NatLamp LPs) have started a new vanity humor site together. You can see it at www.modernmirth.com. Update: Modern Mirth is long gone, but I’ve redirected the link to the Wayback Machine archive of the site.

The 1972 James Ivory film Savages, written by Michael O’Donoghue and George Trow, is being released this month as part of Criterion’s Merchant-Ivory Collection. More information can be found on the Criterion website. (Hint: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on one of the links for the Merchant-Ivory Collection. When the window pops up, select “Savages” from the “select a film” menu. Note: Flash is required for the Merchant-Ivory Collection section.) Update: The film is apparently no longer available from Criterion, but it’s not hard to find it online for streaming or on disc through places like Amazon, although those available seem to be mostly foreign releases.

The June 2004 issue of Premiere magazine contains an article about the making of Ghostbusters (it’s the 20th anniversary this year). The article is a collection of reminiscences of those involved in the movie, including former NatLamp art director Michael Gross who was one of its producers.

Reader Ed Bondurant informs me that two National Lampoon albums are available for download on Audible.com, the online spoken-word audio source. You can get That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick! or the National Lampoon White Album for $11.95 and listen to them on your computer or portable MP3 player (such as Apple’s iPod).

In related news, National Lampoon Radio Hour, in its current re-packaged format, with host Richard Belzer, is also available on Audible.com, either in 12-month or 1-month subscriptions. Additionally, if you have Apple’s iTunes (available for both Windows and Macs), you can also buy and download individual shows from the iTunes Music Store. (Tip: Fire up iTunes, select the iTunes Music Store, and type “lampoon” in the search box to quickly find them.)

Update: So… All this info is completely out of date. You can’t get any of this stuff from Audible anymore. I do believe these LPs (and individual cuts) are still available from Apple Music (previously iTunes) as well as other music streaming services.

Prominent graphic designer Michael Beirut discusses the “forgotten design legacy” of National Lampoon on the Design Observer weblog. (I somehow missed this when it first appeared back in January.)

A new book, National Lampoon’s Big Book of Love, just hit the bookstores (on- and off-line) recently and I was able to procure a copy. I was ready to be disappointed, but, lo and behold, it is actually quite a worthy collection. In fact, this 200-odd-page volume contains most of the articles people are always bugging me to track down for them, such as My Penis and My Vagina, First Blow-Job, Nancy Reagan’s Dating Dos and Don’ts, How to Talk Dirty in Esperanto, Third Base Magazine, Obligatory Sex Scenes, and many other classics that have been forgotten. Many of the best past National Lampoon contributors are represented, including Doug Kenney, Henry Beard, Michael O’Donoghue, Anne Beatts, P.J. O’Rourke, Tony Hendra, John Boni, John Weidman, Shary Flenniken, Ed Subitzky, William S. Burroughs and Terry Southern (believe it or not), Jeff Greenfield, Emily Prager, and more. It contains some new material, as well, written by the NationalLampoon.com gang (Scott Rubin, Sean Crespo, Mason Brown, Steve Brykman, Joe Osterie, and others), and, for the most part, it holds its own along side the classic material. The design and layout of the new material and reformatting of some of the older material is a bit lacking, but, inspite of it, the collection is well worth the $20 price for fans of NatLamp‘s heyday. Let’s hope there’s more to come.

From Michael Gross:

“On Jan. 23, 2004 David Kaestle passed away due to cancer.

“David was my oldest and dearest friend and shared the art directing responsibilities for National Lampoon for several years. I am often credited as the design force behind the magazine, but many of the best-known (and best art directed) NatLamp products were the work of David. We alternated doing the magazine and the many special publications being ground out by a brilliant overworked staff. David’s finest work was the High School Yearbook Parody (for which I am often mistakenly credited). He also took over the magazine while I worked on Lemmings. That was our flawlessly intermingled role, functioning at it’s best.

“David and I went on to start a design company with National Lampoon as one of our clients, continuing a tradition of art direction that could be from either one of us…like Siamese design twins.

“David was the finest man I have ever known. His modesty and integrity were unmatched. He did little to promote his own role at NatLamp and I hope this note will bring credit where it is deserved.

“David, you are loved and missed by everyone who ever had the privilege of knowing and working with you.

“With tears, Michael”

Thanks to Michael for sharing this with my readers.

If you’ve got a copy of the National Lampoon Bicentennial Calendar from 1976, you can pull it out and use it again this year. It happens that 1976 and 2004 share the exact same calendar days. (Thanks to Dave Meredith for the tip.)

St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Rick Shefchik got a copy of the re-issued 1964 High School Yearbook Parody for Christmas and wrote a column about it. Nice piece, but he gets the publication date wrong by three years. It was published in 1974, not 1971. Update: The column appears to have been removed, but I’ve added a link to the original page from the Wayback Machine archive.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure will air on NBC Saturday, December 20 at 8 p.m. EST. Written and produced by Matty Simmons, it stars Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn reprising their roles as cousin Eddy and his long-suffering wife Catherine from the earlier “Vacation” films. Also featured are Ed Asner (as Uncle Nick), Fred Willard, Eric Idle, Jake Thomas, and Dana Barron, who played Audrey Griswold in the original films, reprising her role as an adult. This is the first National Lampoon film Simmons has been involved with since the original “Christmas Vacation.”