Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (2015)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The edgy, twisted, often outrageously funny Lampoon died years ago, although I recall it continued as the walking dead for a few years. This documentary follows the magazine from its pre-creation with the Harvard Lampoon through its early success and then just the tip of its long, slow, painful decline. It is a talking heads documentary, but the talking heads are witty and illustrated with pages from the magazine that work as a Greek chorus and are often cleverly animated.I probably started reading the Lampoon in the mid-70s - my favorite writers were Ellis Weiner and P.J. O'Rourke - but the documentary is most concerned with what it considers the magazine's glory days in the early 70s. Truthfully, the little bits of Lampoon stuff I've read by the early writers like Beard and O'Donoghue haven't really appealed to me, but the movie tells me they were amazing geniuses and perhaps they were.The story the movie tells is a fairly superficial one. It gets into some of the drama and gives some nice background, but it sticks very closely to the geniuses-working-hard-and-having-fun. The decline is portrayed as the loss of geniuses to SNL and the movies, which seems simplistic, and there's not really much attempt to put the Lampoon into a larger societal context.Which is fine, because it's an entertaining documentary, but for me it means people giving this 10 stars just have lower standards for a great documentary than I do. This is just a nice little history that fans of the magazine will enjoy. And it's probably pretty fun even if you don't know the magazine.

I just watched this documentary about the rise & fall of National Lampoon magazine, a periodical I wasn't really supposed to be looking at when I was 14 in 1973, yet I did anyway (when I could find one). Despite average to good reviews here on IMDb, I found it quite enjoyable. I especially liked the parts where we caught video of a pre-fame Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and of course John Belushi. Those guys WERE FUNNY! And it also allowed me to travel back in time to the mid-70's, a time when there was and actual "underground" comedy scene. And it seemed to poke fun of everybody (whites/blacks, Dems/Repubs, Jews/Gentiles) and you could laugh and not worry about "politically incorrect repercussions". Sadly, that time is long gone. Also, I saw a sh*t-load of 1970's era natural breasts, in both black and white and color! Say what you will about that long-lost magazine, they sure did know how to make funny visual jokes around naked women.I'm recommending this for anyone who'd like to take a nice 40+ year rewind.

If you were living in your late teens and early 20's during the 70's, male (in most cases) there is a good chance you may have been a regular or semi-regular reader of the "National Lampoon" an outrageously funny monthly periodical of the time. A good description is that the NL was a natural progression for teenage boys when they were outgrowing "Mad" and developing some intellectual chops. The NL was screamingly funny, absolutely hilarious satire. I'll admit that when I first started reading in high school some of the stuff went over my head but one thing about the 'Poon compared to the lightweight so-called satirists of today, the overwhelming majority of whom are promoting a far left agenda - the NL was truly an equal opportunity satirist. I'm sure that most of the writers, being in their 20's and most with an Ivy League background were politically left but the 'Poon went after politicians and causes of conservatives and liberals with an equal vengeance, with Nixon and Ted Kennedy being 2 prime examples. While the NL made great sport of right wing iconic institutions like the military, big business, police, Christianity, the NRA and right to life, they also satirized virtually every ethnic group, liberal elites, homosexuals, the entire counter-culture movement, and women (plenty of tits!) Indeed, if someone would try to revive the NL in the spirit of the 70's I'd think the PC police would immediately begin to try to abolish its existence for being racist, sexist and homophobic. For those under about age 50 the National Lampoon is remembered for the movies that began in 1978 with the classic "Animal House" and then the series of "Vacation" movies, plus some others over the years not worth mentioning. The success of AH would continue the siphoning of the NL's most talented writers and performers (the NL Radio Show, which ran on Saturday evenings on a syndicated network, mostly AOR stations. Included Belushi, C Chase, Radner, Ramis and the Murray Bros.) which had begun with NBC's SNL. The NL couldn't compete with the money, fame and women that movies and TV offered their creative talent and the magazine died a slow death in the 80's. "DSBD" is a great look at this quick rise and fall of a comedy empire.

For many of us our first introduction to off kilter and subversive humor came in the form of a magazine that was on newsstands everywhere. For pre-teens it was less the humor that was involved that got our attention but the fact there was nudity in it and it wasn't hidden under the counter. But for those who loved a good laugh it was the premier source of humor to find at the time, our own generations humor as opposed to that of what was popular at the time. There is a huge difference between Henny Youngman cracking wise about his wife and a magazine cover that pictured a dog with a gun to its head that read "Buy this magazine or we'll shoot this dog".This movie takes a look at NATIONAL LAMPOON from its inception to its demise, covering all bases good and bad. A spin off of the HARVARD LAMPOON, the magazine was started by Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman. It was a humor filled magazine that parodied and focused on what was happening in the country, sort of like MAD magazine but from a more adult perspective. What the three of them did was bring in many of the most thought provoking comedy writers of the time to work for the magazine and in return its success skyrocketed.You have to remember that these were the days before comedy clubs dotted the country and skit based comedy took over the airwaves. As a matter of fact it was from National Lampoon that many of those who went on to take over the airwaves began. As the magazine grew in popularity things happened that altered what was to come. Kenney left for a time leaving the magazine in the hands of Beard alone. A workaholic who helped create the tone of every issue, his disappearance had an effect on all involved.But what helped move the downfall of the magazine as well was the departure of many of the staff members. As the magazine grew it evolved into a number of albums, weekly radio shows and stage productions involving those writers. NATIONAL LAMPOON'S LEMMINGS was a record and stage show featuring both John Belushi and Chevy Chase. As those writers and performers left for shows like Saturday NIGHT LIVE, the magazine suffered. Many other noted writers stepped in and did well but they too left.The magazine got involved in movies in 1978 with the release of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE but by then the magazine sales were dwindling. More successful movies followed but the magazine had lost its punch, relegating itself to special issues, rehashes of old issues and more nudity rather than humor. Eventually it ended publication.This documentary takes a look at all of that. Using a stills, filmed footage and numerous interviews with those involved it blends them together to take us through the magazine as it was and as it ended. It talks about the good and the bad, never whitewashing facts to suit those who loved it non-stop. In so doing it also reflects the evolution of comedy from that time period. Nearly every major comedy writer or humorist at the time had some connection to the magazine be it SNL writer Michael O'Donoghue, political satirist P.J. O'Rourke or screenwriter John Hughes.In some ways it was the success of the magazine that led to its demise years later. Coupled with a generation that relies solely on visual media and ignores printed matter there was little hope that the magazine could go on. Watching this movie makes that a sad realization that so much was lost when the magazine folded. But with this film many who weren't aware of the contribution to comedy that came from the magazine will be realized. Perhaps enough so that people will go back in search of old issues, maybe one fan will be inspired to create his own LAMPOON someday. We can hope.Until then we can watch and learn from some of the most creative comic minds of the past century on screen here. It serves as a reminder that creativity and humor can walk hand in hand and inspire one another. And it lets others know that there was something funny long before they were born, something this generation seems to not realize yet. With this movie the proof is there. An interesting and delightful documentary that captures the time and the laughs in only 98 far too short minutes.