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A Futile and Stupid Gesture
- How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever
- Narrated by: Chris Lutkin
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Entertainment & Celebrities
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Labor Day, 1969: Two recent college graduates move to New York to edit a new magazine called the National Lampoon. Over the next decade, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, along with a loose amalgamation of fellow satirists such as Michael O’Donoghue and P. J. O’Rourke, popularized a smart, caustic, ironic brand of humor that has become the dominant voice of American comedy. Ranging from sophisticated political satire to broad raunchy jokes, the National Lampoon introduced iconoclasm to the mainstream, selling millions of copies to an audience both large and devoted.
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Labor Day, 1969: Two recent college graduates move to New York to edit a new magazine called the National Lampoon. Over the next decade, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, along with a loose amalgamation of fellow satirists such as Michael O’Donoghue and P. J. O’Rourke, popularized a smart, caustic, ironic brand of humor that has become the dominant voice of American comedy. Ranging from sophisticated political satire to broad raunchy jokes, the National Lampoon introduced iconoclasm to the mainstream, selling millions of copies to an audience both large and devoted.
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- Written by: James Andrew Miller, Tom Shales
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine, Paul Woodson
- Length: 28 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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- By R. Whitlock on 2019-08-17
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 121
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Publisher's Summary
This ultimate biography of National Lampoon and its cofounder Doug Kenney offers the first complete history of the immensely popular magazine and its brilliant and eccentric characters. Relying on wonderful stories about the comedy scene in New York City in the 1970s and National Lampoon's place at the center of it, author Josh Karp chronicles how the magazine spawned a popular radio show and two long-running theatrical productions that helped launch the careers of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner and that went on to inspire Saturday Night Live.
That history along with interviews conducted with more than 130 people connected to Kenney and the magazine - including Chevy Chase, John Hughes, P. J. O'Rourke, Tony Hendra, Sean Kelly, Chris Miller, and Bruce McCall - and behind-the-scenes stories about the making of Animal House and Caddyshack help to capture the nostalgia, humor, and popular culture that National Lampoon still inspires.
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What listeners say about A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Steven Awalt
- 2018-02-07
Excellent History of Golden Age in American Comedy
Loved the book, wish it went even longer. Lutkin’s narration was clean, well-read, but every time he said the word “parody” as “parity”, I wanted to punch a nun. A book on comedy, you’ve gotta be sure your reader can pronounce a few key words, eh?
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Aug Stone
- 2018-07-22
Rich wonderful book
I loved listening to this. The story is great, Karp fills in lots of wide-ranging details about the many characters who made up National Lampoon and how humor and history moved through the strange times of the 60s and 70s. I found myself with tears in my eyes at the end dealing with Doug's death. The Netflix special piqued my interest but the story is much more vast and we get that all here. A word about the narrator - I had seen the other reviews talking about his pronunciation of "parody" as "parity" and I couldn't believe it. How right they are though, and since that word comes up many times in the book, someone really should have corrected Lutkin about this. He says ending 'd's as if they were 't's, we get this with "Kennedy" too.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hunter Kesey
- 2018-02-16
Great book despite the mispronounciations
The narrorator pronounces "parody" like "parroty" and calls Caddyshack's Judge Smails "judge Smalls," but his pronunciation aside this was an amazing book and a wonderful tribute to both Doug Kenney and National Lampoon. It's the basis for the Netflix movie of the same name which is also good.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joe Hill
- 2018-02-12
Forever Young, Brilliant, and Tragic
I love Doug Kenney. I never met him, but this book and subsequent movie makes me admire and venerate him. I’ve gone from this book looking to learn and read more about National Lampoon, and hope to see more of this brilliant young man that I just read about here. A great look back on Kenney’s life and I recommend it to anyone.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Stephen T. Cooksey
- 2020-08-09
Futile and stupid would have been a better title
I actually fell asleep while listening to this book. Unfortunally I was driving at the time.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Keith Gilbert
- 2018-12-19
wasnt for me
Hard to finish i beleave trying to understand the language or something made this book a slow read for myself. This book might be a better read for others I just find it to be slow and hard to keep an interest.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- David Wolpaw
- 2018-05-23
Movie was better
I bought this book because I loved the movie. Unfortunately the movie was better. The author of the book is obsessed with getting all the details right about the politics at National Lampoon. I did not find it very interesting. It is more of a history of doug and National Lampoon than an entertaining story. I recommend you see the movie and skip the book.
1 person found this helpful