# Where can I find archived old "National Lampoon" articles online? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046 "2012-05-25T04:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/1 "2012-05-25T04:54:45Z")
I can’t even seem to find a NatLamp website any more. [This site](http://www.marksverylarge.com/) by a fan is on hiatus, and only ever posted each issue’s cover and table-of-contents anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/2 "2012-05-25T05:40:52Z")
My guess is you won’t find it posted legally anywhere online. I’d reccommend picking up a copy of the [archive](http://www.amazon.com/GIT-Corp-90012-National-Lampoon/dp/B000VPNSJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337924345&sr=8-1). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/3 "2012-05-25T07:13:20Z")
They seem to be fairly well protected. You might find an article here or there. I wish I’d kept my old magazines. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/4 "2012-05-25T12:27:09Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > They seem to be fairly well protected. You might find an article here or there. I wish I’d kept my old magazines. Got all my old issues stored in the basement, starting with the famous [If you don’t buy this magazine, we’ll kill this dog](http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/61/6181/NQ31100Z/posters/national-lampoon-january-1973-if-you-don-t-buy-this-magazine-we-ll-kill-this-dog.jpg) issue. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/5 "2012-05-25T12:42:38Z")
I might have to buy those archives. I’d love to see all the old issues too. I had a subscription in college. In fact, my user name is derived from one of their little throw away articles. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/6 "2012-05-26T17:00:22Z")
The archive disc was very poorly done, especially the older issues. Also, you can’t print out any portion of it without a very visible and distracting watermark. Like the last dozen movies, it’s a cheap and unworthy ripoff of the original brand. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/7 "2012-05-26T18:47:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My guess is you won’t find it posted legally anywhere online. Why not? Who owns the copyright? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/8 "2012-05-26T18:56:36Z")
There is still a National Lampoon website, but it’s damn hard to find: [www.nationallampoon.com](http://www.nationallampoon.com) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/9 "2012-05-26T20:46:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > There is still a National Lampoon website, but it’s damn hard to find: [www.nationallampoon.com](http://www.nationallampoon.com) I’ve seen that before – figured it had gone dark when I couldn’t find it by googling. It **used** to have some archived old articles from the 'zine, but they are not there now and have not been there in years. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/10 "2012-05-26T21:35:59Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Why not? Who owns the copyright? National Lampoon, Inc. Seriously. They’re a publicly traded company. They don’t really produce anything anymore. They basically just hold the copyrights to the old material that appeared in the magazine and license the National Lampoon name. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/11 "2012-05-26T22:02:11Z")
This thread made me go looking for a National Lampoon story I read in high school, “My Vagina.” And darned if I didn’t find [it](http://www.tgfa.org/fiction/MyVagina.htm). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/12 "2012-05-29T03:11:10Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > This thread made me go looking for a National Lampoon story I read in high school, “My Vagina.” And darned if I didn’t find [it](http://www.tgfa.org/fiction/MyVagina.htm). Yes, I know you can find **some** of them, here and there, if you know the titles or authors. What I’d really like to find is a collection of the “Letters from the Editors” column. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/13 "2012-05-29T03:12:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > National Lampoon, Inc. > > Seriously. They’re a publicly traded company. They don’t really produce anything anymore. They basically just hold the copyrights to the old material that appeared in the magazine and license the National Lampoon name. Jeez, it should have all reverted to the [Harvard Lampoon!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Lampoon) I bet **they** wouldn’t sit on the articles! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/14 "2012-05-29T03:37:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Jeez, it should have all reverted to the [Harvard Lampoon!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Lampoon) I bet **they** wouldn’t sit on the articles! ☹ Is that a whoosh? National Lampoon had no legal connection with the Harvard Lampoon. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/15 "2012-05-29T03:45:31Z")
The price on that DVD-ROM seems to be creeping slowly upwards, so you might grab it while you can regardless of the watermarks. It was $18 a couple of years ago on Amazon, whereas now it’s up over $40. I bought a new, sealed copy on ebay for $25 a few months ago. Amazon added the “[Old version]” suffix to their listing fairly recently. Does anyone know the story behind that? When I first saw it I hoped it implied a cleaner unwatermarked version would be offered soon, but I’ve been unable to find any supporting evidence. It seems that the “old version” is still the only version. As flawed as the DVD archive is, though, it’s still well worth the investment. It’s just a disc full of non-DRM’ed pdf files, so even though the scans are sometimes ratty and coffee-stained, it’ll still outlive that cardboard box I have somewhere in the basement. And the watermarks aren’t nearly as obnoxious as some of the online reviews would lead one to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/16 "2012-05-29T03:50:26Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > This thread made me go looking for a National Lampoon story I read in high school, “My Vagina.” And darned if I didn’t find [it](http://www.tgfa.org/fiction/MyVagina.htm). And your post prompted me to look for Vacation '58, the story that John Hughes turned into the screenplay for the Chevy Chase film. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/17 "2012-05-29T03:55:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Is that a whoosh? National Lampoon had no legal connection with the Harvard Lampoon. I know, I know. It’s more in the nature of whooshful thinking. There’s no legal connection, but [there is a historical connection.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon_(magazine)#About_the_magazine) > [@](#): > > National Lampoon was started by Harvard graduates and Harvard Lampoon alumni Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman in 1969, when they first licensed the “Lampoon” name for a monthly national publication. The magazine’s first issue was dated April 1970. The company that owned the magazine was called Twenty First Century Communications. > > After a shaky start for a few issues, the magazine very rapidly grew in popularity. Like the Harvard Lampoon, individual issues had themes, including such topics as “The Future”, “Back to School”, “Death”, “Self-Indulgence”, and “Blight”. The magazine regularly reprinted material in “best-of” omnibus collections. > > \ > > 1985 > > In 1985, Matty Simmons (who had been working only on the business end of the Lampoon up to that point) took over as Editor-in-Chief. He fired the entire editorial staff, and appointed his two sons, Michael Simmons and Andy Simmons, as editors, Peter Kleinman as Creative Director and Editor, and Larry “Ratso” Sloman as Executive Editor. > > The magazine was on an increasingly shaky financial footing, and beginning in November 1986, the magazine was published six times a year instead of every month. > > [edit] 1989 > > In 1989, the magazine was acquired in a hostile takeover by a business partnership headed by actor Tim Matheson (who played “Otter” in the 1978 film National Lampoon’s Animal House). Matheson instituted a policy banning frontal nudity in the magazine, which had become a staple of the magazine’s content. After only two years, Matheson was forced to sell, in order to avoid bankruptcy due to mounting debts. > > [edit] 1991 > > In 1991 the magazine (and more importantly the rights to the brand name “National Lampoon”) were bought by a company called J2 Communications, headed by James P. Jimirro. (J2 was previously known for marketing Tim Conway’s “Dorf” videos.) > > J2 Communications’ focus was to make money by licensing out the brand name “National Lampoon”. The company was contractually obliged to publish at least one new issue of the magazine per year in order to retain the rights to the Lampoon name. However, the company had very little interest in the magazine itself; throughout the 1990s the number of issues per year declined precipitously and erratically. In 1991 there was an attempt at monthly publication; nine issues were produced that year. Only two issues were released in 1992. This was followed by one issue in 1993, five in 1994, and three in 1995. For the last three years of its existence, the magazine was published only once a year. > > [edit] 1998, last issue > > The magazine’s final print publication was November 1998, after which the contract was renegotiated, and in a sharp reversal, J2 Communications was then prohibited from publishing issues of the magazine. J2, however, still owned the rights to the brand name, which it continued to franchise out to other users. ---
**Author:** ![revjo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@revjo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/revjo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/18 "2014-09-27T06:21:49Z")
I found All the issues for fairly cheap. its like $10 They are right here: [National Lampoon Magazine All 246 Issues: Plus 36 Radio Show Episodes and Cover Art Gallery on 2 Disc Set](http://www.amazon.com/National-Lampoon-Magazine-All-Issues/dp/B00J5AHDL0?m=AEC2FQC3A4ONC&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&tag=fansho02-20) ---
**Author:** ![Nom\_de\_Plume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85f322/32.png) [@Nom\_de\_Plume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nom_de_Plume)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/19 "2014-09-27T11:13:04Z")
revjo, thank you for the link. I just ordered it. I already had the collection of magazines, but it was worth the $9.95 just for the radio shows. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046/20 "2014-09-27T12:27:03Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Got all my old issues stored in the basement, starting with the famous [If you don’t buy this magazine, we’ll kill this dog](http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/61/6181/NQ31100Z/posters/national-lampoon-january-1973-if-you-don-t-buy-this-magazine-we-ll-kill-this-dog.jpg) issue. 🆒 I had a box of old Lampoons in the basement for years. About ten years ago I tossed them, thinking “I never read these anymore, they’re just taking up space.” That was a really stupid thing to do. Every now and then I’ll think of an old cartoon or article and wish I could go back and look it up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-archived-old-national-lampoon-articles-online/623046.md?page=2)