Anne Beatts was a prolific humor writer. She was one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980 and after that she created and wrote the TV show, Square Pegs which was light years ahead of its time.
But the place where she started out at was the National Lampoon. The National Lampoon was a magazine that made fun of everything, sometimes very viciously. Here’s a parody of a Volkswagen ad the Beatts wrote. You couldn’t put it out now or you’d probably get arrested. It defined being politically incorrect before that was even a catch-phrase.
Sadly, she died last week at 74-years-old.
I loved the National Lampoon and it was a big influence on my writing and humor. In honor of Anne Beatts, below is her obituary from The NY Times, then five links to online articles and websites about the National Lampoon. There’s also a video where the magazine and its history is discussed with Douglas Tirola who produced and directed a film about the legendary magazine.
Then, there’s the MBIP Coming Attractions for what’s happening on the blog next week. Well, maybe I should say for what’s not happening on the blog next week!
Read along and you’ll find out!
Anne Beatts, Original ’S.N.L. Writer, Dies at 74 - Rosie Shuster (who was also an original SNL writer) notes Beatts’ National Lampoon experience helped her out at SNL, which had a majority of male writers.
Mark’s Very Large National Lampoon Site - Here’s a website that has a wealth of National Lampoon information on it, including listings of every issue from 1970 to 1975.
Flashbak - National Lampoon Page - This page has links that show National Lampoon covers from the ‘70s and ’80s, plus some other vintage material.
National Lampoon: the magazine that became a comedy empire - The history of the National Lampoon is documented in this article.
The Rise and Fall of the National Lampoon - Paul Krassner, who was an editor at the National Lampoon from 1984 to 1989 notes the quick rise and the slow decline of the National Lampoon.
’The National Lampoon Radio Hour’ - One of the many off-shoots of the magazine was The National Lampoon Radio Hour. It was kind of a pre-SNL radio show that was written and performed by John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill and Brian Doyle Murray and Richard Belzer among other comedic talents.
How a college magazine built the comedy empire, “National Lampoon.” - CBS This Morning remembers the National Lampoon and interviews Douglas Tirola who produced and directed a film about the magazine, called, “Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of The National Lampoon.”
Monday through Friday: As I announced last week, the MBIP World Headquarters is moving! I’m taking a week off of the blog to pack up and start hauling boxes to the new headquarters. We’ll be officially moved in at the beginning of May and I’ll post pictures then.
Saturday: I’ll be back next Saturday with a post from MBIP’s pizza past.
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