Film / National Lampoon

National Lampoon is the umbrella name for a long-running series of satirical and comedic works.

It all started with National Lampoon magazine, which launched in 1970. A Spin-Off of the Harvard Lampoon (a still-extant humor publication founded by Harvard undergraduates in 1876), National Lampoon established itself as a Darker and Edgier alternative to MAD and Cracked that was aimed at the counterculture. The sensibility of its humor, which made extensive use of Black Comedy, Refuge in Audacity and Crosses the Line Twice, was ideal for the chaotic social upheavals of the Richard Nixon/Vietnam War era, and it became a solid hit.

Not only was the magazine successful (it was published until 1998), it spawned a stage show (Lemmings, a Woodstock parody), a radio series (The National Lampoon Radio Hour ^note  which was only 30 minutes long) whose sketches were compiled on a series of albums, at least one parody novel (National Lampoon's Doon), and dozens of films. Along the way, the franchise helped launch the careers of an entire generation of American comedians and writers, including John Belushi, Richard Belzer, Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, and Harold Ramis. Through these creators and the people they've influenced, National Lampoon maintains a strong influence over pop culture.

Films produced under the National Lampoon banner:

National Lampoon

• Animal House (1978)
• Disco Beaver From Outer Space (1978)
• National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982)
• National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1982)
• National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
• National Lampoon's Joy of Sex (1984)
• National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
• O.C. and Stiggs (1985)
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

J 2 Communications

• Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)
• Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women (1994)
• National Lampoon's Last Resort (1994)
• National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995)
• Vegas Vacation (1997)
• Golf Punks (1998)
• National Lampoon's Men in White (1998)
• Repli-Kate (2002)
• National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)

National Lampoon, Inc.

• National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2003)
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)
• National Lampoon's Barely Legal (2003)
• National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze (2004)
• Going The Distance (2004)
• The Almost Guys (2004)
• National Lampoon's Adam & Eve (2005)
• National Lampoon Presents Cattle Call (2006)
• Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo (2006)
• Pucked (2006)
• National Lampoon's Pledge This! (2006)
• National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006)
• National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2 (2006)
• National Lampoon's TV: The Movie (2007)
• RoboDoc (2008)
• National Lampoon's College Road Trip (2008)
• The Legend of Awesomest Maximus (2009)
• National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year (2009)

Note that, for entries not in the Vacation series, the National Lampoon prefix is often omitted even if it's technically there.

---