49-616: (Redirected from Christopher Miller ) Chris or Christopher Miller may refer to: Arts and entertainment [ edit ] Chris Miller (writer) (born 1942), American comedy author and screenwriter Chris Miller (animator) (born 1968), American voice actor and director Christopher Miller (filmmaker) (born 1975), American filmmaker Chris J. Miller (born 1983), American actor, writer, director and composer in horror and other genres YC (rapper) (Christopher Miller, born 1985), American rapper Chris Miller, English lead guitarist in
98-458: A hostile bid " for the company. Ultimately, nothing came of these bids, and Simmons remained in control of the board. In 1989, the company produced National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation . In 1988–1989, the company was the subject of a hostile takeover . On December 29, 1988, film producer Daniel Grodnik and actor Tim Matheson (who played "Otter" in the magazine's first big hit, the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House ) filed with
147-433: A bimonthly schedule, publishing six issues a year instead of every month. J2 Communications bought the magazine and its properties in 1990. In 1991, an attempt at monthly publication was made; nine issues were produced that year, and cartoonist Drew Friedman come on board as comics editor, introducing the works of Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware to a wider audience. After this, J2 decided instead to focus on licensing
196-484: A calendar, a songbook, a collection of transfer designs for T-shirts, and a number of books. From time to time, the magazine advertised Lampoon-related merchandise for sale, including specially-designed T-shirts. The magazine sold yellow binders with the Lampoon logo, designed to store a year's worth of issues. It was also during this time that National Lampoon: Lemmings show was staged and The National Lampoon Radio Hour
245-456: A drawing of Minnie Mouse topless, wearing pasties . The magazine's finest period was from 1971 to 1975, when Beard, Hoffman, and a number of the original creators departed. The National Lampoon ' s most successful sales period was 1973–75: Its national circulation peaked at 1,000,096 copies sold of the October 1974 "Pubescence" issue. The 1974 monthly average was 830,000, which was also
294-812: A longtime contributor, broke down the magazine's talent in this fashion: Other important contributors included Chris Rush , Derek Pell , Chris Cluess, Al Jean , and Mike Reiss . The work of many important cartoonists, photographers, and illustrators appeared in the magazine's pages, including Neal Adams , John E. Barrett , Vaughn Bodē , Peter Bramley, Chris Callis , Frank Frazetta , Edward Gorey , Rich Grote , Robert Grossman , Buddy Hickerson , Jeff Jones , Raymond Kursar , Andy Lackow , Birney Lettick , Bobby London , Mara McAfee , David C. K. McClelland , Marvin Mattelson , Joe Orlando , Ralph Reese , Warren Sattler , Michael Sullivan, B. K. Taylor , Boris Vallejo , and Gahan Wilson . Every regular monthly issue of
343-438: A monthly schedule throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s, and did well during that time. A more serious decline set in around the mid-1980s: as described in a New York Times profile of the magazine from August 1984, "circulation of the magazine [had] fallen from a high of 638,000 to about 450,000. Publishing revenues were down to $ 9 million in 1983 from $ 12.5 million in 1981." In 1985, company CEO Matty Simmons took over as
392-678: A part of National Lampoon Comics , was published. The "Funny Pages" was a large section at the back of the magazine that was composed entirely of comic strips of various kinds. These included work from a number of artists who also had pieces published in the main part of the magazine, including Gahan Wilson, Ed Subitzky and Vaughn Bodē , as well as artists whose work was only published in this section. The regular strips included "Dirty Duck" by Bobby London , "Trots and Bonnie" by Shary Flenniken , "The Appletons" and "Timberland Tales" by B. K. Taylor , "Politeness Man" by Ron Barrett , and many other strips. A compilation of Gahan Wilson's "Nuts" strip
441-531: A peak. Although the glory days of National Lampoon ended in 1975, the magazine remained popular and profitable long after that point. As some of the original creators departed, the magazine saw the emergence of John Hughes and editor-in-chief P.J. O'Rourke , along with artists and writers such as Gerry Sussman, Ellis Weiner , Tony Hendra , Ted Mann , Peter Kleinman, Chris Cluess, Stu Kreisman, John Weidman , Jeff Greenfield , Bruce McCall , and Rick Meyerowitz . National Lampoon continued to be produced on
490-401: A shaky start, the magazine rapidly grew in popularity. Like The Harvard Lampoon, individual issues had themes, including such topics as "The Future", "Back to School", "Death", "Self-Indulgence", and "Blight". The sixth issue (September 1970), entitled "Show Biz", got the company in hot water with The Walt Disney Company after a lawsuit was threatened because of the issue's cover, which showed
539-552: A subsidiary of Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. The cover of the initial issue declared itself to be "From the people who bring you the National Lampoon ", and the issue primarily featured reprints from Métal hurlant , as well as material from National Lampoon . Since the color pages from Métal hurlant had already been shot in France, the budget to reproduce them in the US version
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#1732891717143588-566: A takeover bid in December of that year, but board members rejected the offer. A short time later, the company board "agreed to be acquired by a Los Angeles-based group of private investors in a deal valued at more than $ 12 million." The group, calling itself "N.L. Acquisitions Inc." offered a bid of $ 7.25 per share (the company stock at that point trading at $ 6.125 a share). A few days later, "Giggle Acquisition Partnership No. 1," whose members included actor Bruce Willis , "hinted ... that it might make
637-545: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Chris Miller (writer) American author and screenwriter [REDACTED] Chris Miller John Christian Miller (born 1942 in Brooklyn ) is an American author and screenwriter. He is best known for his work on National Lampoon magazine and the film Animal House , which he also acted in with co-writer/actor Douglas Kenney. The latter
686-654: The Mara McAfee covers done in a classic Norman Rockwell style. Kleinman designed the logos for Animal House and Heavy Metal. Kleinman left in 1979 to open an ad agency. He was succeeded by Skip Johnson, the designer responsible for the Sunday Newspaper Parody and the "Arab Getting Punched in the Face" cover of the Revenge issue. Johnson went on to The New York Times . He was followed by Michael Grossman, who changed
735-524: The SEC that their production company, Grodnick/Matheson Co., had acquired voting control of 21.3 percent of National Lampoon Inc. stock and wanted to gain management control. They were named to the company's board in January 1989, and eventually took control of the company by purchasing the ten-percent share of Simmons, who departed the company. Grodnik and Matheson became the co-chairmen/co-CEOs. During their tenure,
784-728: The masthead , it was one of the few parts of the magazine that was factual. As was explained in the introduction to the "True Facts" 1981 newsstand special, the "True Facts" column was started in 1972 by Henry Beard, and it was based on a feature called "True Stories" in the British publication Private Eye . It was essentially a column of funny news briefs. P. J. O'Rourke created the first "True Facts Section" in August 1977. This section included photographs of unintentionally funny signage, extracts from ludicrous newspaper reports, strange headlines, and so on. In 1981 and for many subsequent years John Bendel
833-464: The "National Lampoon" brand, exhibiting very little interest in the actual magazine, only publishing it sporadically and erratically. To retain the rights to the Lampoon name, J2 was contractually obligated to publish only one new issue of the magazine per year, so for the rest of the 1990s the number of issues per year declined precipitously. Only two issues were released in 1992. This was followed by one issue in 1993, five in 1994, and three in 1995. For
882-1501: The Hit Movie (1978) The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie (2006) Notes [ edit ] ^ Mark Leffler (16 November 2006). "House Rules: Chris Miller takes us back to the Real Animal House" . The Review . Retrieved 2018-06-02 . ^ Christopher Buckley, "Toga!" , The New York Times , 5 November 2006. External links [ edit ] Chris Miller at IMDb ] Authority control databases [REDACTED] International ISNI VIAF WorldCat National United States France BnF data Spain Korea Poland Belgium Other IdRef Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Miller_(writer)&oldid=1249903309 " Categories : 1942 births Living people American humorists American male screenwriters Tuck School of Business alumni National Lampoon people Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata National Lampoon (magazine) National Lampoon
931-614: The World's Most Critical Technology (2022) See also [ edit ] Christopher Millar (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Miller&oldid=1208211649 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
980-477: The attention of Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. president Leonard Mogel, who was departing for Germany and France to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon . Upon Mogel's return from Paris, he reported that the French publishers had agreed to an English-language version. Heavy Metal debuted in the US with an April 1977 issue, as a glossy, full-color monthly published by HM Communications, Inc. ,
1029-520: The boundaries of what was generally considered appropriate and acceptable. It was especially anarchic, satirically attacking what was considered holy and sacred. As Teddy Wayne described it, "At its peak, the [ National Lampoon ] produced some of the bleakest and most controlled furious humor in American letters." Thomas Carney, writing in New Times , traced the history and style of the National Lampoon and
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#17328917171431078-399: The experience years later: "There was this big door that said, 'Thou shalt not.' We touched it, and it fell off its hinges." National Lampoon was started in 1969 by Harvard graduates and Harvard Lampoon alumni Douglas Kenney , Henry Beard , and Robert Hoffman , when they first licensed the "Lampoon" name for a monthly national publication. While still with The Harvard Lampoon , in
1127-482: The first season, and Brian Doyle Murray later appeared as an SNL regular. Harold Ramis went on to star in the Canadian sketch show SCTV and assumed the role as its head writer, then left after season 1 to be a prolific director, writer, and actor, working on such films as Animal House , Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , Groundhog Day and many more. Brian Doyle Murray has had roles in dozens of films, and Belzer
1176-420: The impact it had on comedy's new wave. "The National Lampoon ", Carney wrote, "was the first full-blown appearance of non-Jewish humor in years—not anti-Semitic , just non- Jewish . Its roots were W.A.S.P. and Irish Catholic , with a weird strain of Canadian detachment.... This was not Jewish street-smart humor as a defense mechanism; this was slash-and-burn stuff that alternated in pitch but moved very much on
1225-923: The insiders who have chosen to stand in the doorway and criticize the organization. Our comic pose is superior. It says, "I’m better than you and I'm going to destroy you." It"s an offensive, very aggressive form of humor. The magazine was a springboard to the cinema of the United States for a generation of comedy writers, directors, and performers. Various alumni went on to create and write for Saturday Night Live , The David Letterman Show , SCTV , The Simpsons , Married... with Children , Night Court , and various films, including National Lampoon's Animal House , Caddyshack , National Lampoon's Vacation , and Ghostbusters . The characteristic humor of Spy magazine, The Onion , Judd Apatow , Jon Stewart , and Stephen Colbert were all influenced by National Lampoon . As co-founder Henry Beard described
1274-829: The last three years of its existence, the magazine was published only once a year. The final issue was published in 1998. In 2007, in association with Graphic Imaging Technology, Inc., National Lampoon, Inc. released a collection of the entire 246 issues of the magazine in PDF format. The cover of the DVD box featured a remake of the January 1973 "Death" issue, with the caption altered to read "If You Don't Buy This DVD-ROM, We'll Kill This Dog". The pages are viewable on both Windows (starting with Windows 2000 ) and Macintosh (starting with OSX ) systems. The magazine's original art directors were cartoonist Peter Bramley and Bill Skurski, founders of New York's Cloud Studio, an alternative-culture outfit known at
1323-584: The late 1980s and ceased publication in 1998. Projects that use the "National Lampoon" (NL) brand name continued to be produced, but under its production company successor, National Lampoon, Inc. The 50th anniversary of the magazine took place in 2020 and, to celebrate, the magazine was issued digitally for the first time by Solaris Entertainment Studio. National Lampoon writers joyfully targeted every kind of phoniness, and had no specific political stance (even though individual staff members had strong political views). The magazine's humor often pushed far beyond
1372-452: The logo and style of the magazine. In 1984, Kleinman returned as creative director and went back to the 1970s logo and style, bringing back many of the artists and writers from the magazine's heyday. He left four years later to pursue a career in corporate marketing. At that time, the National Lampoon magazine entered a period of precipitous decline. The magazine was an outlet for some notable writing and drawing talents. Rick Meyerowitz ,
1421-438: The magazine featured one or more "Foto Funny" or fumetti , comic strips that use photographs instead of drawings as illustrations. The characters who appeared in the Lampoon's Foto Funnies were usually the male writers, editors, artists, photographers, or contributing editors of the magazine, often cast alongside nude or semi-nude female models. In 1980, a paperback compilation book, National Lampoon Foto Funnies which appeared as
1470-472: The magazine had an editorial at the front of the magazine. This often appeared to be straightforward but was always a parody. It was written by whoever was the editor of that particular issue, since that role rotated among the staff; Douglas Kenney had been the main writer of them for the first few issues. Some issues were guest-edited. "True Facts" was a section near the front of the magazine that contained true but ridiculous items from real life. Together with
1519-415: The magazine's editor-in-chief. He fired the entire editorial staff, and appointed his two sons, Michael and Andy Simmons, as editors and Larry "Ratso" Sloman as executive editor. Peter Kleinman returned to the magazine as creative director and editor. That year, each monthly issue was devoted to a single topic, with the first being "A Misguided Tour of New York." In November 1986, National Lampoon moved to
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1568-563: The magazine, taking advantage of a buyout clause in their contracts for a shared total of $ 7.5 million (although Kenney remained on the magazine's masthead as a senior editor until about 1976). At about the same time, writers Michael O'Donoghue and Anne Beatts left NL to join Saturday Night Live , as did Chase, Belushi, and Radner, who left the troupe to join the original septet of SNL ' s Not Ready For Prime Time Players . Bill Murray replaced Chase when Chase left SNL after
1617-430: The magazine, which greatly enhanced its humorous appeal. A number of the National Lampoon 's most acerbic and humorous covers were designed or overseen by Gross, including: Michael Gross and Doug Kenney chose a young designer from Esquire named Peter Kleinman to succeed the team of Gross and David Kaestle. During his Lampoon tenure, Kleinman was also the art director of Heavy Metal magazine, published by
1666-403: The offensive. It was always disrespect everything, mostly yourself, a sort of reverse deism." P. J. O'Rourke , editor-in-chief of the magazine in 1978, went even further in his characterization of the magazine's humor: What we do is oppressor comedy.... " Woody Allen says, 'I'm just a regular shmuck like you." Our kind of comedy says, "I'm O.K.; you’re an asshole." We are ruling class. We are
1715-414: The publication's creative staff went on to contribute creatively to successful media of all types. The magazine often featured parody and surrealist content. Its issues often had long and short written pieces, a section of actual news items (dubbed "True Facts"), cartoons , and comic strips . Most issues also included "Foto Funnies" or fumetti , which often featured nudity. The magazine declined during
1764-792: The rock band You Me at Six Sports [ edit ] Chris Miller (quarterback) (born 1965), American football coach and former NFL quarterback Chris Miller (wide receiver) (born 1973), American football player Chris Miller (cricketer) , New Zealand cricketer Chris Miller (racing driver) (born 1989), American racing driver Other [ edit ] Christopher J. Miller (1916–?), English academic, head of The Doon School 1966 to 1970 Chris Miller (politician) (born 1954), American farmer and politician in Illinois Christopher C. Miller (born 1965), American politician, former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, economic historian, author of Chip War: The Fight for
1813-477: The same company. The best known of Kleinman's Lampoon covers were "Stevie Wonder with 3-D Glasses" painted by Sol Korby, a photographed "Nose to The Grindstone" cover depicting a man's face being pressed against a spinning grinder wheel for the Work issue, the "JFK's First 6000 Days" issue featuring a portrait of an old John F. Kennedy , the "Fat Elvis" cover which appeared a year before Elvis Presley died, and many of
1862-596: The stock went up from under $ 2 to $ 6, and the magazine was able to double its monthly ad pages. The company moved its headquarters from New York to Los Angeles to focus on film and television. The publishing operation stayed in New York. In 1990, Grodnik and Matheson sold the company (and more importantly, the rights to the brand name "National Lampoon") to J2 Communications (a company previously known for marketing Tim Conway 's Dorf videos), headed by James P. Jimirro. According to Jimirro, at that point, National Lampoon
1911-453: The time for its eclectic style. Bramley created the Lampoon 's first cover and induced successful cartoonists Arnold Roth and Gahan Wilson to become regular contributors. Beginning with the eighth issue, the art direction of the magazine was taken over by Michael C. Gross , who directed the look of the magazine until 1974. Gross achieved a unified, sophisticated, and integrated look for
1960-518: The years 1966 to 1969, Kenney and Beard had published a number of one-shot parodies of Playboy , Life , and Time magazines; they had also written the popular Tolkien parody book Bored of the Rings . The National Lampoon ' s first issue, dated April 1970, went on sale on March 19, 1970. Kenney (editor) and Beard (executive editor) oversaw the magazine's content, while Hoffman (managing editor) handled legal and business negotiations. After
2009-462: Was an Emmy Award -winning TV actor. After a European trip in 1975 by Tony Hendra expressing interest in European comics, NL's New York offices attracted significant European comics material. In September 1976 editor Sean Kelly singled out the relatively new French anthology Métal hurlant ( lit. ' Howling Metal ' , though Kelly translated it as "Screaming Metal") and brought it to
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2058-429: Was an American humor magazine that ran from 1970 to 1998. The magazine started out as a spinoff from The Harvard Lampoon . National Lampoon magazine reached its height of popularity and critical acclaim during the 1970s, when it had a far-reaching effect on American humor and comedy. The magazine spawned films , radio , live theater , various sound recordings, and print products including books. Many members of
2107-462: Was broadcast, bringing interest and acclaim to the National Lampoon brand with magazine talent like writer Michael O'Donoghue . Comedy stars John Belushi , Chevy Chase , Gilda Radner , Bill Murray , Brian Doyle Murray , Harold Ramis , and Richard Belzer first gained national attention for their performances in those productions. In 1975, the three founders Kenney, Beard, and Hoffman left
2156-454: Was controlled by Matty Simmons , who was chairman of the board and CEO of Twenty First Century Communications. The magazine was considered by many to be at its creative zenith in the period 1973–1975. During this period, the magazine regularly published "special editions" which were sold simultaneously on newsstands . Some of the special editions were "best-of" omnibus collections; others were entirely original. Additional projects included
2205-556: Was greatly reduced. In 1978, after the huge success of National Lampoon's Animal House , the company shifted focus from the magazine to NL-produced films. According to Tony Hendra , "... Matty Simmons decided this particular goose could lay larger, better quality gold eggs if it emulated what he saw as Animal House, by which he meant adolescent.... The significance of the choice that was made in 1978 cannot be underestimated." In late 1979, now only publishing National Lampoon and Heavy Metal , Twenty First Century Communications, Inc.
2254-408: Was in charge of the "True Facts" section of the magazine. Bendel produced the 1981 newsstand special mentioned above. Several "True Facts" compilation books were published during the 1980s and early 90s, and several all-True-Facts issues of the magazine were published during the 1980s. In the early 2000s, Steven Brykman edited the "True Facts" section of the National Lampoon website . Most issues of
2303-1226: Was inspired by Miller's own experiences in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth College , in which he went by the name "Pinto". Miller graduated from Dartmouth in 1963. Filmography [ edit ] Year Title Actor Writer Role(s) 1978 National Lampoon's Animal House Yes Yes Curtis "Hardbar" Wayne Fuller 1979 Delta House No Yes 1982 Square Pegs No Yes 1986 Club Paradise No Yes 1986 Sidekicks No Yes 1987 The New Gidget No Yes 1996 Multiplicity No Yes 1997 Perversions of Science No Yes 2003 Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update Yes No Curtis "Hardbar" Wayne Fuller 2015 Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead Yes No Himself 2020 Belushi Yes No Himself Bibliography [ edit ] Screw (1968) National Lampoon (1970) National Lampoon's Animal House: The Full-Color, Illustrated Novel from
2352-465: Was published in 2011. The "Funny Pages" logo header art, which was positioned above Gahan Wilson's "Nuts" in each issue, and showed a comfortable, old-fashioned family reading newspaper-sized funny papers, was drawn by Michael Kaluta . The company that owned and published the magazine was called Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. . At the outset, Gerald L. "Jerry" Taylor was the magazine's publisher, followed by William T. Lippe. The business side
2401-459: Was renamed National Lampoon, Inc. From 1982 to 1985, the company produced five more National Lampoon films: National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982), National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1982), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), National Lampoon's Joy of Sex (1984), and National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985). National Lampoon, Inc. made itself available for sale in late 1986. Upstart video distributor Vestron Inc. attempted
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