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National Lampoon, Inc. is a company formed in 2002 in order to use the brand name "National Lampoon" in comedy and entertainment following the tradition of its magazine predecessor, The National Lampoon. In the words of its prospectus, the role of the company was to "develop, produce, provide creative services and distribute National Lampoon branded comedic content through a broad range of media platforms." Since 2002, the company has overhauled its corporate infrastructure several times. As of 2024, it appears to be moribund. History In 2002, Dan Laikin and Paul Skjodt bought J2 Communications, license holder of the National Lampoon brand, and renamed the company National Lampoon, Inc. J2 Communication CEO James P. Jimirro stayed on as National Lampoon, Inc. CEO until January 2005. In July 2017, PalmStar Media purchased all the assets of National Lampoon, Inc., including trademark and library of print, audio, film, and video content. In 2019, National Lampoon named Evan Shapiro, formerly of NBCUniversal Media Group, as their president, in hopes of resuscitating the brand. He was laid off in 2020. Scandals and lawsuits In December 2008, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia filed charges against National Lampoon, Inc. CEO Dan Laikin, with accusations that he and two third-party stock promoters attempted to artificially inflate the company's stock price. Laikin pleaded guilty on September 23, 2009, to his role in a conspiracy to manipulate the stock price from March through June 2008. In September 2010, a Philadelphia court sentenced Laikin to 45 months in prison. After Laikin resigned from his position as CEO, shareholder Tim Durham took over duties as CEO of National Lampoon Incorporated. However, the next year Durham was involved in a major Ponzi scheme for which in 2012 he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. In 2020, National Lampoon sued its then-president, Evan Shapiro, for fraud, alleging in New York federal court that he owed more than $3 million for surreptitiously funneling the company's intellectual property and money from deals with Quibi, Disney+, and Comedy Central Digital into companies he controlled. Shapiro later claimed that National Lampoon Co-CEO Kevin Frakes had bullied him out of a job. Properties of the company National Lampoon Press National Lampoon, Inc. releases humor books and material under the umbrella of National Lampoon Press. These include republished collections of old National Lampoon magazine material, including True Facts, Foto Funnies, cartoons etc. from the 1970s and 1980s. Feature films After its purchase by J2 Communications in 1991, the National Lampoon franchise became predominately a name-licensing company, in which the company was paid for use of its brand on titles such as Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995), National Lampoon's Golf Punks (1998), Van Wilder (2002), Repli-Kate (2002), National Lampoon's Blackball (2003), and National Lampoon Presents: Jake's Booty Call (2003). Although this enterprise salvaged the company from bankruptcy, some believe it damaged the reputation of National Lampoon as a source of respected comedy. When the company was purchased from J2 Communications, this practice was eventually discontinued. In June 2007, National Lampoon Inc. announced its intention to finance, produce, and distribute its own feature films. In an interview with the New York Times, Dan Laikin stated that, "the company really had just been a licensing company in the '90s. We were just licensing the name and we had no creative input. When I came in, we had to re-energize the brand and cut back on the licensing, because the only way to take control of the brand was to make sure that ultimately we put it on projects that we are proud of." Eventually, the company hoped to release four of its own films annually and acquire up to eight more for distribution. The first release was Ratko: The Dictator's Son (2010). National Lampoon, Inc. also began to purchase independent films and re-release them under the distinctive title of "National Lampoon Presents". The first in this series was National Lampoon Presents The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell, which was released in 2007. Stage shows In the fall of 2007, National Lampoon revived the live sketch comedy variety show, National Lampoon's Lemmings for a nationwide theatrical tour. The show consists of a multimedia presentation of live sketches written and performed by the cast, which are integrated with related comedy videos. In 2008, National Lampoon's Lemmings went into production with ManiaTV! on a half-hour web-based sketch comedy show. Notable cast members included Adam Devine, Blake Anderson, Kyle Newacheck and Anders Holm of Comedy Central's Workaholics fame, Jillian Bell, and Mark Gagliardi from Comedy Central's Drunk History and The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Both Lemmings and ManiaTV! were later discontinued. In 2020, the company rebooted Lemmings as "Lemmings: 21st Century", which was scheduled to debut in a two-night engagement at Joe's Pub in Manhattan in March of 2020 (right at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic). Instead of spoofing Woodstock, the new stage play "tackles modern festival culture through Downfall, a parody mash-up of corporatized events like Coachella and Bonnaroo." Podcasts The Final Edition The Final Edition was a National Lampoon podcast from November 2015 to August 2019. The show was first created by former Lampoon editor Tony Hendra and author Jeff Kreisler, and was later primarily run by Barry Lank. As of the time of its separation from National Lampoon, The Final Edition has been getting 1,000 downloads per episode, putting it in the top 10 percent of podcasts, as measured by estimates from Rob Walch, VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn. National Lampoon Radio Hour - The Podcast Replacing The Final Edition was the National Lampoon Radio Hour: The Podcast, which debuted in December 2019. It starred Megan Stalter, Brett Davis, Alex English, Aaron Jackson, Rachel Pegram, Lorelei Ramirez, and Martin Urbano. Comedy album Lampoon issued Are There Any Triggers Here Tonight in 2016, using material from its The Final Edition podcast. It was the first Lampoon album in 35 years. National Lampoon.com and the web The company's website, NationalLampoon.com, has been awarded "Best of the Web" from The Los Angeles Times, Forbes, USA Today, CNN and The Wall Street Journal, and was twice nominated by the Webby Awards for "Best Humor Site" in 2001 and 2005. In 2002, the content of National Lampoon.com was officially registered into the Smithsonian Institution for best exemplifying American satire in the weeks following the September 11 attacks. The website currently emphasizes original video content, both in-house and freelance, spread to viral video hosting sites such as YouTube. In September 2002, Lampoon website writers Steve Brykman, Joe Oesterle, Sean Crespo, and Mason Brown were laid off; the four men decided to "sell.... Discover the Rob Walch popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Rob Walch books.