As you may have noticed, this is the first new News page since March. This is partly because I have been busy putting together the new Radio Hour pages. But, it’s also because I’m starting to lose interest in maintaining this site. (I am now doing web design full-time in my day job and doing the same in my free time doesn’t seem quite so diverting anymore.) Rather than pull the plug, the site is officially going into low maintainance mode until further notice. I will continue to post new ads on the Classifieds page, but please be patient if you write me with questions for the Answers page. These can be very time-consuming, so I will only answer the ones I know off the top of my head and only when it’s convenient. I will post News pages less frequently—maybe two or three per year. The bottom line is, the site will remain up indefinitely, though it may not change as often as it used to.

Late last Spring, I was contacted by Shary Flenniken, creator of the popular and long-running Funny Pages strip “Trots and Bonnie.” Ms. Flenniken contributed to the National Lampoon as a freelancer through most of its history (though she joined the staff for several years in the around 1980 as an editor). She is alive and well, and has been living in Seattle since the late ’80s in the house she grew up in. Lately, she has been a contributor to Mad magazine. A friend pointed her Mark’s Very Large National Lampoon Site and she finds it hard to believe anyone’s still interested in this stuff. (She says that it seems like the only fans of National Lampoon left are guys in prison!) Anyway, the big news for Trots and Bonnie fans is that Ms. Flenniken has graciously given me permission to run a couple of her strips. I chose two from the early years that I think are classic examples. Just follow the links on Shary’s page.

“Hi. I’m Jill St. John. And I am so thrilled to be a guest hostess of this, the very first National Lampoon Radio Hour, I can hardly talk.” Those words—read by Michael O’Donoghue, sounding exactly like Michael O’Donoghue and nothing like Jill St. John—began the 59-week run of one of the funniest and most provocative radio shows of all time. Through the efforts of dilligent Radio Hour afficianado Dave Meredith and myself, Mark’s Very Large National Lampoon Site is proud to bring you, at last, bit-by-bit listings of National Lampoon Radio Hour from show number 1, broadcast on November 17, 1973, to the last show, broadcast on December 28, 1974. A year in the making, this is the most significant addition to my site in quite a while, and is probably the only resource of its kind available to the public. For more info about the show, see my intro.

Still working on it… Stay tuned for this new feature of Mark’s Very Large National Lampoon Site.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a project is under way to put National Lampoon on the Web. No details yet, but the URL reportedly will be “www.nationallampoon.com”.

I recently got confirmation of something that I had been hearing rumors about over the last few months: National Lampoon magazine has ceased publication. The November 1998 (Failure) issue was the final new issue published by J2 Communications, the current owners all things National Lampoon.

According to documents filed with the SEC last October, J2 Communications has renegotiated its contract with the Harvard Lampoon which dates back to the 1970 founding of National Lampoon by Harvard Lampoon alums Henry Beard, Doug Kenney, and Rob Hoffman, and magazine publisher 21st Century Communications. (Harvard Lampoon apparently owns the rights to the name “Lampoon” and has considerable say over what the owners of National Lampoon may do with the name and anything associated with it.) In the new agreement, J2 Communications is no longer required to publish new issues of the magazine (in fact, it is barred from doing so), though it may do whatever it wants with previously published materials and retains the rights to the “National Lampoon” name.

This news should not be surprising to anyone who has followed the magazine in recent years. Since the early ’90s, National Lampoon magazine has been published only once yearly—the minimum required by the previous contract—apparently in order to retain the right to use the name for licensing.

So, no more magazine but we can look forward to more made-for-tv movies on Fox Family, not to mention the possibility of “National Lampoon” labeled sweat pants.

Please be patient! It’s turned out to be a bigger job than I anticipated. Stay tuned for this new feature of Mark’s Very Large National Lampoon Site.

Over the last couple years of running this site, I have fielded many queries from readers looking for obscure (and sometimes not-so-obscure) information concerning National Lampoon and related topics. Questions have ranged from “Whatever happened to Danielle, the Foto Funnies girl?” to “Is National Lampoon still being published?” I decided it didn’t make sense to keep these queries private as many others would surely be interested to know the answers to some of these questions. The other reason is that sometimes I don’t know or don’t have time to find all the answers. By putting everything out in the open, I’m hoping fellow “know-it-alls” will chime in and make up for my ignorance. I’ve compiled them all into one handy page, the Answers page. As new queries come in, the answers will appear there in addition to my customary e-mail reply.

Diligent National Lampoon Radio Hour fanatic Dave Meredith has just sent me a complete listing of the contents of all but two of the broadcast shows. Stay tuned for this new feature of Mark’s Very Large National Lampoon Site.

Though it does fall outside the 1970-75 period this site concerns itself with, I’m going to answer once and (I hope) for all the question that seems to be on the minds of a high number of NatLamp fans: No, I do not know where to find copies of the 1977 NatLamp album “That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick!” and it was never (to my knowledge) released on cassette or compact disc. As you can see if you take a quick glance at the Classifieds page, I will happily post an ad for anyone seeking this album. The tips on the Where To Find Stuff page may also be of some help. (Update: See the answer about this on the Answers page.)

For those unfamiliar with this album, here is a quick run down:

“That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick!” released in 1977 on Label 21 Records. Starring Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Murray, Christopher Guest and featuring Richard Belzer, Rhonda Coullet, Gracie Whitebread, Pat Bright, Bob Dryden, George Agoglia, Tony Hendra, Sid Davis, Larraine Newman, Anna Uppstrom, John Dunn, and John Weidman. Written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Murray, Richard Belzer, Christopher Guest, John Weidman, Bob Tischler, Tony Hendra, Harold Ramis, Doug Kenney, and Bruce McCall. Produced and engineered by Bob Tischler. Cover illustration (the infamous double-amputee frog cartoon) by Sam Gross. Bits include The Dick Ballentine Phone-In Show (Belzer), Listener-Sponsored Radio (Murray), Mr. Roberts (Mr. Rogers parody with Guest and Murray) where he interviews a bass player (my favorite line: Mr. Roberts: Well, we’re gonna go to the Magic Kingdom. Bass Player: Ah, no, man. It’s too early for me. I gotta drive.), “Height Report Disco” (Murray and Donna Detroit), Humpback Whales with Gas (Hendra), 2015-Year-Old Man (Belzer), Monolithic Oil Corporation Spot, and others. (Some of the bits appear to be lifted from earlier broadcasts of National Lampoon Radio Hour.)

If you have questions about National Lampoon during the early ’70s, I’m more than happy to answer them, but please stop asking about this album.