This look at the birth and heyday of the National Lampoon and Saturday Night Live explores how this relatively obscure magazine ended up being the Big Bang of the contemporary comedy universe, setting the stage and influencing such phenomena as The Simpsons, the Letterman Show, and The Onion.

Out for Blood features never-before published interviews with many of the leading players including

• Lorne Michaels
• PJ O’Rourke
• Michael O’Donoghue
• Anne Beatts
• Bruce McCall
• Matty Simmons
• Harold Ramis
• Michael Shamberg
• Chevy Chase
• George Trow

The book was originally commissioned by publishers Harper & Row. However, by the time the manuscript was finished, Harper & Row had become Harper Collins and it fell victim to a mass cull of forthcoming projects inherited by the new owners.

Nevertheless, I believe there are readers out there interested not only in the National Lampoon and its descendants but also in how the 60s became the 80s. I have posted Chapter 1. If people let me know they are interested in seeing more, I will post Chapter 2, and so on. With enough feedback, eventually the whole book will be posted. If you’d like to read the next Chapter, click This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tell your friends!

NB: All information is sourced either from interviews with the author or published accounts.

Read Chapter 1 of Out For Blood.