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

“There’s a time in everyone’s life, and its really between 17 and 22, when you talk to people in their middle age, they always talk about their high school or their college experience as the quote unquote best years of their lives. And I’m thinkin’ why? And *ultimately* its because when you’re 17-18, you were expected to function as an adult , but you’re a baby. Have you ever gone to a college campus? Those kids are babies; but, they’re adults. So, there’s this wonderful freedom, sense of adventure. We can do anything we want! We’re college students! And that’s really how the whole thing started.” – John Landis

Number of Times Seen – 1 (18 May 2022)

Brief Synopsis – Documentary about the rise and fall of the National lampoon Magazine in the 1970’s.

My Take on it – Amazing documentary that really shows the behind the scenes issues that helps make this magazine such a powerful one in its time. The interviews are astounding to watch due to the way that they give us so much information about the problems behind the scenes along with the reasons for the success of this endeavor for so many years. They also explain the how and why they moved from the print medium to the film medium which also changed the face of comedies as we now know them.

Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Comedians John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray first gained attention as part of National Lampoon’s stage and radio shows before gaining fame on Saturday Night Live. Michael O’Donoghue was a founder, writer, and editor for the National Lampoon magazine before becoming the first head writer of Saturday Night Live. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)