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SFFILM Festival

DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: The Story of the National Lampoon

Directed by Douglas Tirola

USA | 93

24 Apr
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 9:30 pm PT

Description

They were bona fide misfits: Ivy-league eggheads, Age-of-Aquarius space cases, willful eccentrics and the sort of college geniuses who’d simply rather be cracking jokes. The group was led by Douglas Kenney and Henry Beard, two Harvard alumni who had this crazy idea: start a monthly magazine similar to the university’s famed humor rag. Together, this gang of brash young upstarts and burnouts formed the National Lampoon, a magazine that would turn bad taste into big laughs and big business. After these barbarians at the publishing gates branched into radio and theatrical ventures in the mid-70s and their performers started getting cherry-picked by TV producers—something about a program being developed by NBC to fill their late-night Saturday slot—the Lampooners turned their eyes toward Hollywood. American screen comedy would never be the same. Douglas Tirola’s hilarious, off-the-hook documentary charts the Lampoon’s meteoric rise and fall, from its early days pushing the boundaries of socially acceptable parody (jokes about the Holocaust, Chappaquiddick and My Lai) to discovering comic talent like Chevy Chase and John Belushi and entering the massive success of the Animal House era. It also delves into the dysfunctional culture that sprung up in the magazine’s occasionally misogynistic, often marijuana-scented offices and how, in Kenney’s case, success led to tragedy. Featuring tons of clips and testimonials—including a rare interview with the reclusive Beard—DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD is a wild ride through the glory days of gross-out comedy—a tour that’s both funny and twisted. —David Fear

Director Douglas Tirola

Having started his show business career as a production assistant on When Harry Met Sally, Douglas Tirola has done everything on film sets from scouting locations to serving as executive producer. Through his production company 4th Row Films, Tirola has overseen numerous documentaries and has made films on subjects ranging from poker (All In) to the cocktail-culture resurgence (Hey Bartender).

Film Details

LanguageEnglish

Year2014

Runtime93

CountryUSA

DirectorDouglas Tirola

ProducerSusan Bedusa, Douglas Tirola

EditorJoseph Krings, G. Jesse Martinez

CinematographerSean Price Williams

MusicBryce Jacobs