Reader Cullum Rogers, who runs the amazing Magazine Parody website, recently did a detailed post about a NatLamp subscription promo from the late seventies that was probably not widely seen. It’s a parody of the typical Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes offer that was so ubiquitous back then. As a NatLamp subscriber at the time, I probably never saw this (that I can recall anyway), so I found the post pretty interesting—and informative beyond the promo itself.
National Lampoon’s subscription promos were usually funny (or meant to be). One renewal promo I remember from around 1974 took the form of a series of ransom letters, one of which I happen to still have:
Cartoonist Gahan Wilson, who was a frequent contributor to National Lampoon, passed away yesterday at the age of 89. The announcement appeared this morning on the fundraising site set up by his stepson Paul Winters to help pay for his memory care.
At long last, a collection of B.K. Taylor’sNational Lampoon comics will be published. For years, readers of my site have asked about such a collection and it’s finally happening.
Taylor created both “The Appletons” and “Timberland Tales” comic strips which appeared for over a decade in the Funny Pages section of National Lampoon, generally alternating between the two from issue to issue.
I’ve been on the email list for the Gahan Wilson Fundraiser (see below or here), and today the guy running it, Gahan’s step-son Paul, posted a link to an interview with Gahan from back in 2011 for the Mr. Media podcast. It’s mostly about his relationship with Playboy magazine, but National Lampoon comes up a few times. You can listen to the interview on YouTube.
Longtime National Lampoon contributing cartoonist Gahan Wilson is suffering from dementia. His step son, Paul Winters, has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help fund his memory care. Click the link if you want to help.
Wilson is known to NatLamp readers for his warped, often macabre sense of humor. He did many covers for the magazine, as well as feature articles, cartoons, and the long-running, autobiographical comic strip Nuts.
The Caledonian Record, a newspaper based in Vermont, has posted a piece by cartoonist Randall Enos, who apparently does cartoons for them. Enos, you may know, was also a long-time contributor to National Lampoon, and did the long-running Funny Pages comic strip Chicken Gutz. In the piece, Enos tells how he came to work for the magazine and of the crazy stuff that went on.
I met Enos back in 2010 at the NYPL event for the launch of Rick Meyerowitz‘s book Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead. Really sweet guy and one of my favorite NL contributors.
Did you ever wonder about the dog that appeared on the all-time most famous cover of the National Lampoon? The one with the blurb, “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog“? Well, the guys at the Lampoon didn’t shoot him, but somebody did. The dog’s name was Mr. Cheeseface. You can find the whole sad tale, including where his strange name came from and how he made the cover of the National Lampoon, at Seven Days, as reported by Dan Boles. (Hat tip to Dan for letting me know about this.)
Mark's Very Large Plug. You might think, as you wade through this site, that I have no life. Not true. I spend about two days a year working on Mark's Very Large National Lampoon Site. The rest of the time I make fonts. You can see my real website here. I also have an “art” website where I post caricatures and other stuff. For Lampoon-related stuff and site updates, follow me on X (Twitter). Also, check out my YouTube channel, where I post videos related to National Lampoon.
