Screenwriter Kenney (Animal House
; Caddyshack
), co-founder of National Lampoon
, was one of the gifted gagsters who ignited the 1970s revolution in American humor. Journalist Karp (Playboy
; Premiere
) delivers an iridescent, polychromatic portrait of the humorist, framed within an amusing anecdotal history of National Lampoon
. To chart the magazine's rise and fall, Karp conducted 150 interviews, mapping every avenue of business decisions, feuds, romances, cocaine use and bizarre pranks. It all began at Harvard, where wild wit Kenney and misanthropic Henry Beard became "symbiotic creative forces," revitalizing the Harvard Lampoon
. When they teamed with publisher Matty Simmons, National Lampoon
was born in 1970, filling the "gigantic void" between the New Yorker
and Mad
. Success led to heightened hilarity as the brand expanded with posters, products, theatrical productions and recordings. The 1973 National Lampoon Radio Hour
cast resurfaced in 1975 on Saturday Night Live
, but the anarchic Animal House
in 1978 catapulted Kenney to Hollywood—as Karp writes, "He had transformed himself from nerd to preppy to hippie and now to unassuming millionaire artiste." 16-page b&w photo insert not seen by PW
. (Sept. 1)
