Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead (Rick Meyerowitz) - Abrams - 2010 - 320 pages

This is the excellent tribute to the writers and artists of National Lampoon by one of the original artists.  Meyerowitz gives an insider's view of the personalities and quirks of the geniuses who created the humor magazine that ruled the newsstands for twenty years (1970-1990).. Although NL continued to publish sporadically through 1998, the latter product was unfortunately substandard.  Meyerowitz includes interviews and comments from living members of the gang as well as examples of the best works of each contributor.  The title of the book is apt since so many of the brilliant young contributors met an early demise including co-founder Doug Kenney (1947-1980), anti-humorist Michael O'Donoghue (1940-1994) and prolific writer Gerald Sussman (1933-1989).  Your humor library is incomplete unless it contains this four-pound volume. [JAM 3/18/2011]