By: Steven Heller | September 18, 2008
There was a time when the best day of every month was the day The National Lampoon hit the newsstands. Those are long gone. But for some of us, the memories linger (like the savagely prescient cover below). For Rick Meyerowitz, the satiric illustrator who brought us Mona Gorilla (above), the Lampoon legend is an everyday immersion. He is currently researching his book, DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon So Insanely Great (Harry N. Abrams). It’s a mouthful, but it promises to be trove of incredibly funny material (as well as recollections by Lampoon survivors).
Steve: How will the book be different from a conventional anthology?
Rick: It’s about the writers and artists who contributed brilliant pieces every month for years–who they were, what their work was like, where they went afterwards. Each artist and writer I select will get several pages to show his best work, which I am selecting: It’s my pick.
Steve: Is everyone being cooperative?
Rick: The writers and artists have agreed to contribute anecdotes and ephemera and to write short essays about each other. There will be some never-before-published work and much brilliant but forgotten work.
Steve: Ah, brilliant! I can’t wait.
Rick: Well, you’ll just have to.