From its first issue in April, 1970, the National Lampoon blazed like a comet, defining comedy as we know it today. To create this collection, former Lampoon illustrator Rick Meyerowitz selected the funniest material from the magazine and sought out the survivors of its first electrifying decade to gather their most revealing and outrageous stories. The result is a mind-boggling tour through the early days of an institution whose alumni left their fingerprints all over popular culture. Long before there was The Onion and Comedy Central news shows, there was the National Lampoon, setting the bar in comedy impossibly high.--From publisher description.

Includes index.

The founders. Doug Kenney ; Letters to the editors ; Henry Beard -- Present at the birth. Michael O'Donoghue ; George William Swift Trow ; Christopher Cerf ; John Weidman ; Rick Meyerowitz ; Michel Choquette -- The cohort. Arnold Roth ; Tony Hendra ; Sam Gross ; Sean Kelly ; Anne Beatts ; Charles Rodrigues -- The first save. Brian McConnachie ; Chris Miller ; Gahan Wilson ; Gerry Sussman ; Ed Subitzky ; P.J. O'Rourke ; Bruce McCall ; Stan Mack -- The second coming. M.K. Brown ; Ted Mann ; Shary Flenniken ; Danny Abelson & Ellis Weiner ; Wayne McLoughlin -- The end of the beginning. Ron Barrett ; Jeff Greenfield ; Ron Hauge ; Fred Graver -- The art directors. Cloud Studios ; Michael Gross & David Kaestle ; Peter Kleinman ; Skip Johnston -- Indextras -- Who is or was.