‘National Lampoon’ Documentary in the Works

According to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmakers Douglas Tirola and Susan Bedusa, who have won several previous awards for their documentaries “All in: the Poker Movie” and “An Omar Broadway Film,” are working on a film that chronicles the evolution of the National Lampoon comedy franchise.

The National Lampoon brand got its start as the Harvard Lampoon, an undergraduate humor publication and social organization at Harvard University.  It later became one of American’s foremost humor magazines known for its sharp satire and wit.  Popular articles from the publication became the most famous incarnations of the franchise, “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and “National Lampoon’s Animal House.”

It’s hard to imagine that a brand once responsible for creating comedy classics and launching the careers of actors such as John Belushi and Chevy Chase is presently known for releasing subpar, and often straight-to-video, comedies such as “Van Wilder.”  National Lampoon has clearly had its ups and downs over the years and as Triola tells the Hollywood Reporter this will certainly be highlighted in the documentary, “Our goal is to tell the story of National Lampoon in a way that takes audiences back to an era with all of the laughs and tragedies that came along with it.”

At this point it’s hard to say exactly what the effect of the documentary will be on the franchise.  It might cause National Lampoon to reconsider who their audience is and return to the films they were known for or just serve as another documentary to divulge the fall from grace of its subject.  Either way I think that Tirola and Bedusa have stumbled onto a superb topic and even if National Lampoon still continues to crank out frat boy comedies after the release of the film, we’re likely to at least get one awfully entertaining documentary.