Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to journalist Michael Simmons whose father, Matty Simmons was the Chairman of the Board and guiding force behind the National Lampoon empire. It’s tough to overstate just how important National Lampoon has been to American comedy and comedy they world over. Launching in the1970s and continuing throughout the 1980s, this satirical magazine begat radio shows, stage plays, television shows and films like Animal House and Vacation, National Lampoon was at the center of mass entertainment for two decades. In fact, National Lampoon is the connective tissue in our comedy DNA that links us to Saturday Night Live, Second City, This is Spinal Tap, The Credibility Gap and much more. So how is it that one of the founders of the very first credit card company, Diners Club and later the publisher of Weight Watchers magazine came to kick off the counter culture comedy quake in the latter half of the 20th century? Ah, therein lies the rub and Michael was there to see it all.
From being given rides on the shoulders of basketball star Wilt Chamberlain, to tour managing John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis on the road, to tripping on mushrooms with Rip Torn, Michael Simmons has been there for the good and the not so good times, as Matty Simmons son. Somehow we get around to talking about LA vice squad busts which won him an LA Press Club award, being the scapegoat in interoffice squabbles to playing in Kinky Friedman’s band. We get the lowdown on pretty much all things National Lampoon. Matty Simmons was the most mercurial of characters in the Lampoon story, but not anymore. Michael Simmons gives us a firsthand account of being at the genesis of a legendary comedy magazine that became a brand. It’s all right here, on this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Take a listen.
