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The Counterculture Success of Animal House, Vacation, and National Lampoon
National Lampoon began as a small comedy magazine founded in 1966 by Henry Beard
and Douglas Kenney, who were both writers for the Harvard Lampoon during their time at the
ivy-league school. ​National Lampoon Magazine​ was created as an extension of their time at the
Harvard Lampoon​, as they both felt as though the concept of a satirical magazine could extend
far past the campus of their alma mater. Author of ​Thank You For Smoking​, Christopher
Buckley, known for his biting satire, has stated that National Lampoon was, “defining part of the
zeitgeist”(Tirola) during the late 60s and 70s and from their endeavors on print to their eventual
filmmaking successes, there is one reason that drove National Lampoon to be one of the most
successful comedy projects ever: its full commitment to representing the counterculture of the
times.
Most comedy relies heavily on counterculture and satire, but at the time National Lampoon
revolutionized how these tools were used, especially within their onscreen endeavors. In order to
truly explain how National Lampoon captured the counterculture of the time, it is crucial to
examine how these films were viewed during the time of their release, as well as the process and
people behind the making of these now-iconic films.
The journey behind National Lampoon’s rise to stardom is one that is well documented, but
seldom explored on a deeper level. Luckily, most of the core group behind National Lampoon
are either still alive or gave numerous interviews prior to their deaths. When examining the
filmmaker’s intentions of representing the counterculture of the late 70s and early 80s, these are
the first sources that should be looked at. The National Lampoon crew have also published
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various memoirs and autobiographies about their times spent at the company, which are also of
high value when trying to explore the National Lampoon’s impact. But one aspect that is just as
important as the messages behind the film is how they are perceived by the audience, which can
be explored through reviews, as well as the film’s performance at the box office. Using these
tools, as well as the scripts and films themselves, the counterculture success story of the original
National Lampoon films can truly be studied.
As stated before, National Lampoon began as a satirical magazine, but their eventual journey
into filmmaking did not truly begin until the release of their first studio album, “Radio Dinner”.
Co-writer of the album, Tony Hendra, stated in an interview that this album, “showed that we
could do more than simply put out a magazine”(Tirola). This led an explosion of National
Lampoon media in different forms, including a stage show titled, National Lampoon: Lemmings,
that starred a young comedian named John Belushi. This show was a massive success, running
off-broadway for 350 performances and helped to establish John Belushi as a comedic force. A
review from NBC news called the show “a comic counterculture show” for its loud,
inappropriate, and energetic comedy, which are all aspects that would carry on to their films.
With the rising success of National Lampoon, co-founder Doug Kenney began to consider
leaving the company. In order to dissuade Kenney from leaving National Lampoon, the head of
the company, Matty Simmons, told him that National Lampoon was producing a film. Regarding
this statement, Simmons has said that “once [he] told Doug [they] were making a movie. [They]
had to make a movie.”(Tirola) This led to a 114-page treatment for a film that would eventually
become ​Animal House,​ the first National Lampoon film.
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Of the 5 films made by National Lampoon in its original form, ​Animal House​ and the first
Vacation f​ ilm are possibly the most heavily influenced by the counterculture of the time and
without the success of​ Animal House​, it is likely that National Lampoon would not have the
comedic film legacy that it does now. ​Animal House f​ ocuses on a group of wild, loud, and wacky
fraternity brothers, formula that seems predictable now, but not when the film was first
released.In his book, ​Fat, Drunk, and Stupid,​ Matty Simmons recalls how he was able to get
Animal House’s​ treatment to the president of Universal through his assistant, who read the
magazine. Simmons states that after the studio president, Ned Tanen, read the treatment, he
greeted Simmons the next day by saying that, “I hate this treatment! Everybody is drunk, or high,
or getting laid. I’d never make this movie—except you’re the National Lampoon.”(Simmons 65)
This statement is a prime example of how intertwined counterculture was with Lampoon’s work.
The idea of presenting college and young adults as loud, crude, and sexually-charged, was
simply not appealing to film executives at the time and for solid reasons. There was no proven
success for a comedy about vulgar college students, taking a risk on ​Animal House​ could prove
disastrous for studios. In Simmons’s book, Tanen’s assistant tells of how the executive would
hiss at the idea of making these “downtown drunks” the heroes of the story. This is another key
part of the counterculture behind National Lampoon. The characters in ​Animal House t​ ruly spit
in the face of what it means to be a film’s protagonist. But to some of the people below Tanen,
this was National Lampoon’s secret weapon.
Sean Daniel, a junior executive at the time, felt that the script was a hit waiting to happen and
has said that he, “tried to make [the studio] realize we were sitting on something that would
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speak to young people, in the way the magazine had, and the radio show, the comedy albums,
and Saturday Night Live, now only a year or so old, we're doing.”(Simmons 71) In the end, this
truly is what makes these films so ingrained in the counterculture of the 70s and 80s. This type of
comedy resonated with young people, who related to the deeply flawed protagonists, and
presented humor in a loud boisterous fashion that had never been done before by studios. The
film pokes fun at the college experience and the pressures of growing up that are being thrust
upon them. Every generation’s counterculture goes against social norms, and typically, it's these
young people who represent these movements. By creating films that are so deeply relatable to
this audience, National Lampoon found themselves at the forefront of counterculture media. This
reaction is something that can be clearly seen immediately following the film’s release.
Upon the release of ​Animal House,​ the film was met with massive box office success.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film’s total lifetime domestic gross was $141.6 million. In
today’s money that’s over $500 million dollars, making ​Animal House​ the most successful
comedy at the time of its release. Just like Sean Daniel had said, the film struck a nerve with its
audience, however, critics had a more mixed response to the film during its initial run. While
critics such as Roger Ebert loved the film through and through, saying “the movie is vulgar,
raunchy, ribald, and occasionally scatological. It is also the funniest comedy since Mel Brooks
made ​The Producers​,” while others, like Janet Maslin, did not enjoy it as much saying that it was
“by no means one long howl​.” Actor, Kevin Bacon, who starred in ​Animal House​ has since
commented on the legacy that the film has created in an interview for ​Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant,
Dead,​ saying that it “created a genre” of crude, unapologetic humor that would define comedy
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films for years to come. Harold Ramis, co-writer of ​Animal House,​ also responded to critics in an
interview saying that, “we’re in a class of films that aren’t made for critics,” he also states that
they don’t “follow the classic rules of filmmaking,” once again show that the very nature of
National Lampoon’s existence is rooted in counterculture. With each of these comedies that
have paid tribute to the style of National Lampoon, it is interesting to see just how influential this
gamble of a film turned out to be. With this film, National Lampoon truly leaned into the
counterculture scene in order to gain success by dissecting audience expectation and using
humor that shocked and delighted, without ever straying too far from relatability. By depicting
and questioning aspects of society such as the expectations of young adults and the unexplored
side of college life, the National Lampoon captivated a young audience and became part of the
counterculture, something that would continue in their next big film, ​National Lampoon’s
Vacation.​
When John Hughes published his short story “Vacation ‘58” in 1979, about a family vacation
he had, in the ​National Lampoon Magazine,​ Matty Simmons called him to tell him that he “was
going to make a movie out of this” according to an interview from ​Drunk, Stone, Brilliant, Dead​.
This promise was kept, as four years later, National Lampoon’s Vacation was released. Written
by John Hughes and directed by Harold Ramis, this films also lends itself to the counterculture
of the time by looking at a family vacation in an unflattering light, examining the perfection of
the “nuclear family.” Director of the film, Harold Ramis stated in an interview that the
“Lampoon comedy” featured in the film is a result of the Lampoon writers “[growing] up in the
years after World War II[...] where the country’s views on traditional values began to spoil,” also
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adding that America “loves rebels.” These ideas are clearly seen in the film as it takes a look at a
seemingly innocent family road trip through the lens of unfiltered, raunchy comedy. Posed as a
“family” comedy, the film tackles and satirizes issues such as adultery, masturbation, incest, and
elderly abuse, topics that stand as the complete opposite of what are seen as traditional family
values. The film takes a simple concept like a road trip and injects it full of commentary on
family and the perfect American household.
Like ​Animal House, Vacation​ was a financial success, earning $61 million in the box office
off of a $15 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. However, critical reaction to the film
was even more split than before, with critics such as Rita Kempley from the Washington Post,
who wrote that “​Vacation​ is missing a sense of direction. With Harold Ramis in the driver's seat,
it veers off course and sputters down a bumpy road.” Despite the somewhat lukewarm reception
from critics, ​Vacation​ found its audience and went on to spawn several sequels. Its messages on
the country’s ideals of family continued to be a running theme within each of the films, with the
last film made by the original National Lampoon film company being ​National Lampoon's
Christmas Vacation​, which criticized the commercialism tied to the Holiday, among other things.
National Lampoon started off as a small company publishing a poor-selling magazine but
eventually grew into a multi-platform comedic experience with their films being some of their
most successful ventures. The comedy behind the films relied so heavily on counterculture on
multiple levels that it be synonymous with the movements at the time. Whether it be completely
flipping both audiences and executive’s expectations on its head or taking aim at America’s
values about family life, growing up, and more, the National Lampoon films strove to subvert
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and promote counterculture by tapping into an audience that desperately needed films to relate
to. In the end, National Lampoon provided a voice to those who stood out against mainstream
ideas, showing that supporting the counterculture of the time is not a “stupid and futile gesture.”
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Bibliography
Chechik, Jeremiah, director. ​National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.​ Warner Bros., 1989.
Ebert, Roger. “National Lampoon's Animal House.” ​Chicago Sun-Times,​ 1 Jan. 1978.
Kempley, Rita. “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” ​Washington Post,​ 29 July 1983, p. 17.
Landis, John, director. ​National Lampoon's Animal House.​ Universal 8, 1978.
Simmons, Matty. ​Fat, Drunk, and Stupid: The Inside Story Behind The Making of Animal House.​
St. Martin's Griffin, 2014.
Maslin, Janet. “National Lampoon's Animal House.” ​New York Times​, 1978.
Meyerowitz, Rick. ​Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the
National Lampoon Insanely Great.​ Abrams, 2010.
“National Lampoon's Animal House (1978).” ​Box Office Mojo​,
www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=animalhouse.htm​.
“National Lampoon's Vacation (1983).” ​Box Office Mojo​,
www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nationallampoonsvacation.htm.
Ramis, Harold, director. ​National Lampoon's Vacation​. Warner Bros., 1983.
ReelinInTheYears66, director. ​Harold Ramis- Interview (National Lampoon's Vacation) 1983
[Reelin' In The Years Archives]​. ​YouTube​, YouTube, 31 July 2018,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mh_1daKjK8&t=203s​.
Tirola, Douglas, director. ​Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead.​ 4th Row Films, 2015.