A Loving Look At A Comic Genius... "A Futile And Stupid Gesture"

A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018)

TV-MA

Starring Will Forte, Martin Mull, Joel McHale, Domhnall Gleeson,

Directed by David Wain

The Story:

With the success of the Harvard Lampoon and their impending graduations coinciding with one another, Doug Kenney (Forte) persuades Henry Beard (Gleeson) that instead of moving on with their lives as expected, they go National with the Lampoon brand. It wasn't easy, but it sure was funny.

When paired with the amazing documentary National Lampoon: Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead (Review:  http://talesfromthequeue.blogspot.com/2016/05/their-impact-on-pop-culture-cannot-be.html  )

The two pieces compliment each other very well. Both streaming on Netflix, this Netflix Original fictionalizes a lot of what (and who!) will be found in the documentary on the life and troubled times of Doug Kenney.

In this version, an older, wiser Doug (Mull) laments on what happened to him in his life.

The cast gets the daunting task of retelling the story as comedy legends of the 70s and 80s as they try and channel the styles and mannerisms of those they attempt to portray.

Joel McHale? He nails it. :)

The big revelation, at least to me, is Domhnall Gleeson in a comedy.

I'm racking my brain, but I don't think I've ever seen that yet, and he's got really good timing.

Anyway, it's a bittersweet tale of the man who helped shape generations of comedians and actors and helped redefine what was funny for the latter half of the 20th Century.

Final Grade:  B+

Their Impact On Pop Culture Cannot Be Denied..."National Lampoon: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead"

National Lampoon: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead  (2015)

Unrated

Directed by Douglas Tirola

The Story:

The rise and fall of the National Lampoon magazine, and the impact that magazine had on American pop culture.

Ooo.

That's actually rather profound, and also quite true.

What started out as a satirical magazine that poked holes in the establishment in the late 60s/early 70s, grew into an influential comedy machine in the mid to late 70s that established much of the humor that continues in movies and television today.

The brainchild of Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman, they created a little magazine that started slowly and then slowly built into a sales juggernaut. Parody and satire were the name of the game, and they enlisted a slew of talented writers to make the pages of the magazine must read material.

It proved so popular, they started a radio show and brought in even more comedic talent to make their skits take life. The majority of the original cast of Saturday Night Live passed through National Lampoon on their way to bigger things. Many from Lampoon were targeted by NBC to help create Saturday Night Live.

Then came the movies.

Animal House & Vacation.

So too could Caddyshack be added to the mix, as it was Lampoon in every way except billing.

While nearly everything else to bear the label of National Lampoon has been of variable quality, those two were the gold standards which made all of the others seem pale in comparison.

If it's any consolation, most movies that came after Vacation often licensed the National Lampoon name for an attempt to cash in with a built in audience.

So, while it wasn't National Lampoon being less funny, it was them being increasingly greedy. :)

The documentary does an excellent job of talking to just about everyone that was there and is still around and it's filled with lots of archival footage of the stage shows, radio shows, magazine and movie clips.

A very enjoyable documentary that is well worth your time.


Final Grade: B+