A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever

Josh Karp's biography of Doug Kenney is as meaningful as it is engaging. He ressurects the memory of the almost forgotten humorist Doug Kenney. Mr. Kenney, perhaps most easily recognized for playing Stork in ANIMAL HOUSE, was also one of the principle authors of said film and a comedic giant in his own right. Karp's biography chronicles the many ways in which Kenney shaped American comedy in the late 20th century and then thoroughly recounts the mysterious circumstance surrounding his untimely death in 1980. The book is a must read for any student or devotee of THE HARVARD LAMPOON, THE NATIONAL LAMPOON, SECOND CITY, SNL and of course ANIMAL HOUSE. Thank you for this long overdue story of this brilliant and complicated man who brought us so much joy in the form of unbridled laughter.

Say the name "Doug Kenney", and you're likely to draw blank stares and numerous "who"s from the average comedy fan. But say "Animal House", "Caddyshack" or "National Lampoon", and they'll likely know what you're talking about. That's the time to tell them why the first name is so important. Doug Kenney was a shadow figure in the history of comedy, a magazine writer and co-founder of the Lampoon's national version who managed to write some great articles, the scripts for two legendary comedy classics, and numerous other artifacts of his time all before his death in 1980, of an apparent suicide or accidential fall from a cliff in Hawaii. The fact that he died so young and so unheralded outside the insular world of comedy is a shame, especially considering what a legacy he left. In Josh Karp's book, Kenney is even a minor character in his own life story, as whole portions of the book focus on the hangers-on at the Lampoon (various writers and other talents whose lights shined more brightly than that of Kenney or his co-founder, Henry Beard). But this is not a fault of the biographer: Kenney's own story is inevitably tied to the magazine and entertainment empire he helped found, and which owes him more than the current crop of "direct to DVD" releases and smarmy Paris Hilton cash-ins currently under the banner of "The National Lampoon". Kenney's gift and his curse was his talent, one which produced masterpieces like "Animal House" and Nancy Reagan's "dating tips" but also let him down when it came to writing his "great American novel" of TACOS (Teenage Commies From Outer Space). Karp gives us a peek inside the mind of this elusive character and reveals a man of deep contradictions whose short, happy-sometimes-sad-othertimes life was offset by the impact he and his cohorts made on the world of American humor in the Seventies. If you're an admirer of the Lampoon's golden era, or simply curious thanks to Animal House or Caddyshack, do yourself a favor and get this book. Whereas Tony Hendra's memoir of his time at the magazine (Going Too Far) is grandiose and self-congratulatory, this book offers a great history of one of the leading lights of American humor, and a man who arguably should be listed with the greats.

The first book I have read straight through in a LONG time, and I read lot of books. Very acute social history of the period--having myself been a bright Midwestie (from Dacron, Ohio) in a an elite east coast college circa 1962-6, I could fully understand Kenny's insider/outsider conundrum and Beard's drive to succeed on his own terms. The mix of types and personalities on the the creative side was well deliniated, and their continual tension with the business end--but for whom they would not have had careers--was the heart of the story. The book appears to be thoroughly researched and clips along nicely. The "what happened in the year" intros to each segment were seriously useful. Anyone who watched SNL when it was funny or looked at the parody yearbook and mistook it for his or her own MUST read this book.

The title "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" is, of course a quote from "National Lampoon's Animal House", one of the most beloved, successful, and influential films of the past 30 years. Doug Kenney helped write that movie and played the role of "Stork", as well as writing the almost-as-adored "Caddyshack", along with being one of the first and most powerful editors of the legendary magazine "National Lampoon". Josh Karp's book is both a biography of Kenney and a history of the whole "Lampoon" scene, which because of the sway of the quasi-spinoff "Saturday Night Live", becomes a social history of American comedy during the 1970's. And that decade was to comedy like the 1960's was to rock--a time which transformed show business and culture not just in the U.S. but in the whole Western world. The irony is that, as a woman who worked with the almost all-male writers of that scene said of them, "they were the most miserable bunch of guys I've ever known." Karp's book is astoundingly thorough. He has interviewed pretty much everyone involved with the epic story and read encyclopedic amounts of social history so he can present the whole Lampoon cultural revolution in its widest context. Kenney was like the Forrest Gump of comedy in that he met almost everyone during that time, so you get sharply etched portraits of the SNL gang, Michael O' Donoghue, Harold Ramis, P.J. O'Rourke, Tony Hendra, Anne Beatts, and a whole constellation of stars that came into contact with the Hollywood-Lampoon axis. Karp is a smooth, novelistic storyteller so the book is as fun to read as the old magazine itself. And there are large chunks of the Lampoon excerpted, so you get a rich taste of what the publication was like at its best. Karp is also a competent historian, so you also get a suprisingly objective and rationally considered picture, especially about the above-mentioned personal misery of Kenney and his crew. Karp is unsparing in writing about the drug abuse which may have eventually wrecked Kenney's life, and about the misogyny and darkness of much of the comedy produced at the time. At this late date it's still hard to know whether Kenney's death was an accident or suicide, but his demise was a signature event of the era, not unlike the more famous passing of John Belushi 18 months later. It was a signal to "come inside and join the adults at the table", as O'Rourke would put it. Anyone who wants to have a fuller understanding of American cultural history in the twilight of the 20th century should consult Karp's excellent book.

Ever since Esquire published their cover story on Doug Kenney, "Life and Death of a Comic Genius," many years ago, I've been hoping for a book like this to appear. Mention the name Doug Kenney to your co-workers and see what sort of reaction you get until you start talking about National Lampoon and Animal House. As a comic novelist who was deeply inspired by the take-no-prisoners attitude of the Lampoon, I feel indebted to Kenney (as many other writers and comedians should) and hope this book brings wider attention to his comic genius and important contributions to the history of modern comedy. Josh Karp does a wonderful job of weaving the interesting life of a magazine, with the interesting and tragic life of Kenney. This could have easily been an on-the-fly trash bio, but Karp approaches his subjects with intelligence and obviously did a lot of homework, interviewing key people related to Kenney and the Lampoon. I have some misgiving about the cover. I understand the choice, given that Rick Meyerowitz was a key artist in the development of National Lampoon, but it makes the book seem just a bit slighter than what it is, which is a really thoughtful, intelligent biography. That said, I hope I'm wrong and the book get all the attention it deserves.