The National Lampoon Show toured colleges in the U.S. in 1974, including Rider University, Slippery Rock University, and the University of Texas at Arlington, with those productions directed by cast member Belushi.[6][5] It opened Off-Broadway in New York City at the New Palladium Club (51st Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues) on February 17, 1975, directed by Martin Charnin. The original Off-Broadway cast starred Belushi, Doyle-Murray, Bill Murray, Radner, and Ramis. It ran for 180 performances, closing in July 1975.[7] After closing in New York, it went on a second, nine-month-long, national tour.[5]
Shortly after the show closed in New York, Belushi and Radner joined the original cast of Saturday Night Live, with the Murray brothers soon joining the SNL cast as well.[8] Ramis, meanwhile, used some of the sketches from the show in the script of National Lampoon's first film production, Animal House, released in 1978.[9]
Description
The National Lampoon Show was a satirical revue, mixing social and political satire. It was characterized by aggressive humor, frequently targeting and insulting the audience, with the cast openly expressing disdain for the spectators. The show was a mix of sadistic and masochistic elements, characterized by crude, ghoulish, and boundary-pushing humor.
One skit was a parody of a television fundraiser in which Patty Hearst (played by Radner), dressed in SLA garb, asked viewers for money to pay for weaponry. (The skit ended with Hearst shooting her fiancé Steven Weed.)[10] Another skit involved Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis being a panelist on a celebrity game show who is so startled by the sound of a starting pistol that she ducks under her seat.[5] Songs included one about white-collar criminals living comfortably in prison and another being a manic celebration of New York City's mundane aspects (featuring Bill Murray).
The New York Times gave the production a negative review, writing that the show "set new boundaries for impropriety. But... it does not match its bad taste with good humor." Comparing the show unfavorably to Lemmings (which it characterized as "half of a very funny evening"), it cited The National Lampoon Show as being half as clever. The reviewer felt that despite some standout performances, particularly by Belushi, the show fell short in execution, leaving a gap between its ambitious ideas and their comedic realization.[17]
^ abSpitznagel, Eric (July 6, 2017). "Summer of '78: Meatballs: An Oral History". Vanity Fair. (Reitman:) In 1975, I'd produced an Off-Broadway show called The National Lampoon Show, which starred John Belushi, Brian Doyle, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and Harold Ramis. Here was this extraordinary all-star team, the likes of which I had never seen before.
^ ab"Meeting The Man Behind 'Meatballs'". 9News.com. June 15, 2007. Retrieved October 24, 2024. (Reitman:) Bill worked with me before he worked on Saturday Night Live. I had a show off-Broadway called The National Lampoon Show that starred Bill Murray, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Brian-Doyle Murray, Joe Flaherty, and Harold Ramis.
^Collis, Clark (February 14, 2022). "Ivan Reitman: An appreciation of the man who brought us Ghostbusters and so much more". Entertainment Weekly. Reitman also worked in the U.S., producing the off-Broadway The National Lampoon Show with a cast that included Murray, Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Harold Ramis. That experience led Reitman to pitch National Lampoon publisher Matty Simmons on a movie inspired by his satirical publication. 'I was a big fan of the Lampoon,' Reitman told EW in 1998. 'One day, I called up Matty Simmons and said, "Let's make movies." ... When Saturday Night Live started, Lorne Michaels picked up most of the cast [of The National Lampoon Show]. But Harold Ramis was sort of left off. I told Harold we should put a movie together using some of the skits from the Lampoon show.' (Ramis would co-write National Lampoon's Animal House with Doug Kenney and Chris Miller.)
^Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2003). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (8 ed.). Ballantine Books. ISBN9780345455420.
^Cronin, Brian (Aug 23, 2020). "Which Classic Bill Murray Comedy Was Originally a Cheech and Chong Vehicle?". CBR. The stage show, 'The National Lampoon Show,' was popular, but then a good chunk of the cast was signed away by fellow Canadian Lorne Michaels for his then-new TV series, Saturday Night Live (Gilda Radner and John Belushi to start and then Bill Murray a year later). One of the only people NOT signed away was Harold Ramis. So Reitman pitched Ramis on taking some of the sketches from the show and turning it into a movie.
^"Show Business: The Lampoon Goes Hollywood". Time. Aug 14, 1978. Off-Broadway audiences recall The National Lampoon Show of 1975, in which Gilda Radner playing Patty Hearst machine-gunned Steven Weed.
