Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon

The story of American comedy as it is today is the story of the National Lampoon. It is as wild, bizarre, out of control, subversive, and intelligent as it gets, and this documentary more than serves the purpose of telling the story from the people who were there and are still around to tell the story. There’s no main narrator to frame the story. It’s all from the point of view of the various writers, editors, actors, directors, and other associated persons who made their name with a magazine that, at one time, was the biggest selling magazine in the United States. I think the one failing of the documentary is the last 20 minutes or so. As the brand becomes more important in movies than as a magazine, the movie shifts focus to the tragic end of founder Doug Kenney’s life. There is already a Doug Kenney biography, as well as the biopic A Futile And Stupid Gesture. And while I am not saying this topic shouldn’t be touched — he is inextricably linked to the magazine and vice versa — the story of the magazine’s downfall and the brand’s devaluing is lost. It’s pretty much summarized as “it lost advertising, so it died”, even though it died as a magazine in 1998, and lurched on as a comedy movie brand for years. There’s no discussion of the final years, other movies beyond Animal House and Vacation, or the selling of the brand. As such, the story feels incomplete. But if you want to know what it was like during the magazine’s rise and dominant period, this is the place to go. It’s funny, fascinating, and foundational to the fabric of American comedy.