High Times is an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade . The magazine had its own book publishing division, High Times Books, and its own record label, High Times Records.
110-425: From 1974 to 2016, High Times was published by Trans-High Corporation (THC). Hightimes Holding Corp. acquired THC and the magazine in 2017. High Times covers a wide range of topics, including politics, activism, drugs, education, sex, music, and film, as well as photography. Like Playboy , each issue of High Times contains a centerfold photo; however, instead of a nude woman, High Times typically features
220-473: A cannabis plant. (The magazine, however, often featured women—occasionally crowned as "Ms. High Times"—on the cover to help newsstand sales.) In addition, the magazine "published writers like Hunter S. Thompson , William S. Burroughs , Charles Bukowski , Allen Ginsberg , and Truman Capote ." Forçade's previous attempt—via the Underground Press Syndicate /Alternative Press Syndicate—to reach
330-458: 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
440-646: A reverse merger deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp.—a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In February 2021, the stock of a combined company, PLBY Group, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange as "PLBY". In 1971, Playboy had a circulation rate base of seven million, which was its high point. The best-selling individual issue was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter of all American college men were buying or subscribing to
550-550: A $ 1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models ( Playmates ), Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group. The magazine has
660-433: 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
770-520: A bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the girl we made popular: the Playmate of the Month . She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl - the girl next door ... we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale , who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she
880-484: 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
990-467: A contributing writer for over 20 years. Bobby Black had a long association with High Times , from 1994 to 2015, including being a senior editor and columnist. His involvement at High Times included production director and associate art director; writing the monthly lifestyle and entertainment column "Almost Infamous"; writing feature articles and interviews; creator and producer of the magazine's annual Miss High Times beauty pageant; producer and host of
1100-489: A cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity. In March 2020, Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, announced that the spring 2020 issue would be the last regularly scheduled printed issue and that the magazine would publish its content online. The decision to close the print edition was attributed in part to the COVID-19 pandemic , which interfered with the distribution of the magazine. In autumn 2020, Playboy announced
1210-456: 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
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#17328511512701320-495: A former cartoonist, reportedly resisted dropping the cartoons more than the nudity, but ultimately obliged. Playboy ' s plans were to market itself as a competitor to Vanity Fair , as opposed to more traditional competitors GQ and Maxim . Playboy announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake. Furthermore, for its March/April issue, it reestablished some of its franchises, including
1430-501: A furor among staffers by putting Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne on the cover, and then leaking to the New York Post ' s Page Six gossip column that thousands of dollars of pot had gone missing from the photo shoot. After taking the magazine to new heights in sales and advertising, Edison was instrumental in producing High Times ' first feature film, High Times' Potluck . Edison left High Times in 2001. In 2000,
1540-567: A large part of the magazine's advertiser base. High Times founder Forçade committed suicide in November 1978. He bequeathed trusts to benefit High Times and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). (Forçade had been a supporter of NORML since the organization's founding in 1970.) Following Forçade's death, the magazine was controlled by "mostly by Forçade’s relatives" and lawyer Michael John Kennedy . Under
1650-472: A less inappropriate image in India and China, where the brand is a popular item on apparel and thus generates significant revenue. Other changes to the magazine included ending the popular jokes section and the various cartoons that appeared throughout the magazine. The redesign eliminated the use of jump copy (articles continuing on non-consecutive pages), eliminating most of the space for cartoons. Hefner, himself
1760-663: A liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities. After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity. By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949 University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for Esquire magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and Children's Activities magazine as circulation promotions manager —had planned out
1870-528: A long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke , Ian Fleming , Vladimir Nabokov , Saul Bellow , Chuck Palahniuk , P. G. Wodehouse , Roald Dahl , Haruki Murakami , and Margaret Atwood . With a regular display of full-page color cartoons, it became a showcase for cartoonists such as Jack Cole , Eldon Dedini , Jules Feiffer , Harvey Kurtzman , Shel Silverstein , Doug Sneyd , Erich Sokol, Roy Raymonde , Gahan Wilson , and Rowland B. Wilson . Art Paul designed
1980-812: 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
2090-438: 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
2200-483: A new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan", and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy". Published in December 1953, the first issue was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe , although the picture used initially was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy . Hefner chose what he deemed
2310-749: A number of U.S. cities. He also formed the High Times Freedom Fighters, the first hemp legalization group. The High Times Freedom Fighters were famous for dressing up in Colonial outfits and organizing hemp rallies across the United States . One rally, the Boston Freedom Rally, quickly became the largest marijuana-related political event in the country, drawing an audience of over 30,00 to the Boston Common in 2013. The magazine advocated for
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#17328511512702420-678: 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
2530-531: 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
2640-581: A publication date for over four decades was, "Really, really good lawyers, even though everybody knew I was talking about just one—Michael Kennedy." Kennedy served as the general counsel and chairman of the board for High Times for over 40 years until his death in 2016, when his wife and board member, Eleanora Kennedy, took the reins. In 1987, High Times was audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation as reaching 500,000 copies an issue, rivaling Rolling Stone and National Lampoon . In 1988, Steven Hager
2750-401: 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
2860-450: A single-issue lampoon of Playboy , substituting marijuana for sex. Brainstorming for the first issue's contents was conducted by a group that included Forcade, Rex Weiner, Ed Dwyer, Robert Singer, A. J. Weberman , Dana Beal , Ed Rosenthal , the underground cartoonist Yossarian a.k.a. Alan Shenker, and Cindy Ornsteen a.k.a. Anastasia Sirocco. The first issue, 50 pages in total, with the tagline, "The Magazine of High Society," appeared in
2970-464: A six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had stars printed in or around the letter. Urban legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing. In
3080-413: A spin-off of Playboy ) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos ; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim , FHM , and Stuff . In response, Playboy attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to the content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in
3190-552: 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
3300-515: 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
3410-401: A wide counterculture audience of underground papers had failed, even though he had the support of several noteworthy writers, photographers, and artists. Through High Times , Forçade was able to get his message to the masses without relying on mainstream media. Forçade was quoted as saying, "Those cavemen must've been stoned, no pun intended." High Times was originally meant to be a joke:
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3520-484: Is naked, well washed with soap and water, and she is happy. The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a lucrative source of merchandizing revenue for the company. In the 1950s, it was adopted as the military aircraft insignia for the US Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4). Besides its centerfold, a major part of Playboy for much of its existence has been
3630-454: The Woodstock film program booklet). The magazine was initially distributed by Homestead Book Company and Big Rapids Distribution . High Times was at the beginning funded by drug money from the sale of illegal marijuana, But the magazine found an audience, becoming a monthly publication with a growing circulation, and the staff quickly grew to 40 people. Marijuana hydroponics growers were
3740-496: The CD High Volume: The Stoner Rock Collection . Hager was rehired, first as the creative director , and then in 2006, back to the position of editor-in-chief, but by 2009 he had returned to the role of creative director. In November 2009, High Times celebrated its 35th anniversary. In the period 2010–2013, the magazine put out a standalone publication that advocated for medical marijuana . Hager
3850-654: 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
3960-548: The Playboy Interview, an extensive (usually several-thousand-word) discussion between a publicly known individual and an interviewer. Writer Alex Haley served as a Playboy interviewer on a few occasions; one of his interviews was with Martin Luther King Jr. ; he also interviewed Malcolm X and American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell . The magazine interviewed then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in
4070-623: The Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles) for $ 18 m ($ 10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon , and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $ 1 billion in 2000 to $ 84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $ 300 million. In December 2009, the publication schedule
4180-524: 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,
4290-728: 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
4400-444: The " Playboy Interview". In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973). Christie Hefner , daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988. She announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009. She said that
4510-464: 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
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4620-402: The "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open. The heavy promotion centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new Playboy magazine a success. The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991. The cover price
4730-521: The 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included gay rights, women's rights, censorship, and the First Amendment. Playboy was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970. From 1966 to 1976, Robie Macauley was the fiction editor at Playboy . During this period
4840-552: The Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) has published a braille edition of Playboy since 1970. The braille version includes all the written words in the non-braille magazine, but no pictorial representations. Congress cut off funding for the braille magazine translation in 1985, but U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan reversed the decision on First Amendment grounds. Europe North America Oceania South America National Lampoon (magazine) National Lampoon
4950-491: The July/August 2018 issue a reader asked if the print magazine would discontinue, and Playboy responded that it was not going anywhere. Following Hefner's death and his family's financial stake in the company, the magazine changed direction. In 2019, Playboy was relaunched as a quarterly publication without adverts. Topics covered included an interview with Tarana Burke , a profile of Pete Buttigieg , coverage of BDSM , and
5060-433: The November 1976 issue, in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my heart many times." David Sheff 's interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January 1981 issue, which was on newsstands at the time of Lennon's murder; the interview was later published in book format. Another interview-type section, entitled "20Q" (a play on the game of Twenty Questions ), was added in October 1978. Cheryl Tiegs
5170-593: The Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved. The company's chief creative officer made the announcement on Twitter with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal. In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times , Playboy was reportedly "considering killing the print magazine", as the publication "has lost as much as $ 7 million annually in recent years". However, in
5280-407: The United States. The 1975 average circulation was 5.6 million; by 1981, it was 5.2 million and by 1982 down to 4.9 million. Its decline continued in later decades and reached about 800,000 copies per issue in late 2015, and 400,000 copies by December 2017. In 1970, Playboy became the first gentleman's magazine printed in braille . It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format
5390-526: The annual High Times Doobie Awards for music; lead reporter, judge, and competition coordinator for the Cannabis Cup and the High Times Medical Cannabis Cup ; and A&R, producer, liner notes and art director for High Volume: The Stoner Rock Collection CD (High Times Records). At age 19, Zena Tsarfin started as an intern for the magazine. She later returned to High Times , serving as
5500-477: 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. ,
5610-520: 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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#17328511512705720-474: The bunny logo. Leroy Neiman drew the Femlin characters for Playboy jokes. Patrick Nagel painted the headers for Playboy Forum and other sections. Playboy features monthly interviews of public figures, such as artists, architects, economists, composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians, athletes, and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects
5830-416: The decision. The redesigned Playboy , however, would still feature a Playmate of the Month and pictures of women. Still, they would be rated as not appropriate for children under 13. The move would not affect PlayboyPlus.com (which features nudity at a paid subscription). Josh Horwitz of Quartz argued that the motivation for the decision to remove nudity from the magazine was to give Playboy Licensing
5940-449: The editorship of Larry Sloman (from 1979 to 1984), the magazine consistently struggled against marijuana prohibition laws, and fought to keep itself alive and publishing in an anti-cannabis atmosphere. Reflecting the time period, High Times began to feature positive coverage of cocaine as a recreational drug. The magazine's former associate publisher, Rick Cusick, said the only way High Times managed to stay in business and never miss
6050-411: The election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said. Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran Jerome H. Kern as interim CEO, who
6160-501: The elements of his magazine, that he would call Stag Party . He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. Hefner eventually raised just over $ 8,000, including from his brother and mother. However, the publisher of an unrelated men's adventure magazine, Stag , contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek
6270-399: 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
6380-556: The feminist Miss America protest , symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines. One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan , which listed ten characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women; it compared the pageant to Playboy ' s centerfold as sisters under
6490-482: 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
6600-420: 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
6710-867: 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
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#17328511512706820-829: 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
6930-584: 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
7040-452: 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 ,
7150-620: The magazine and Hager founded the Counterculture Hall of Fame , with inductions held annually on Thanksgiving as part of the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup event. In the late 1980s Mike Edison began writing "Shoot the Tube," a featured column about television and politics for High Times . In 1998 Edison was named the magazine's publisher, and later took control of the editorial side of the magazine as well. As editor and publisher, he caused
7260-592: The magazine as managing editor in 1987, was soon promoted to executive editor, and in 1991 was promoted to publisher and president. In 1996 he stepped aside to launch and oversee the High Times website, and left the magazine for good in 2000. Andrew James Parker, a.k.a. Chewberto420, is a cannabis photographer and author, based out of the Western United States (predominantly Huntington Beach, California and Pagosa Springs, Colorado ), who has made contributions to
7370-406: The magazine celebrated its 40th anniversary with a party attended by celebrities such as Susan Sarandon . In 2014, the High Times website was read by 500,000 to five million users each month. In January 2017, the magazine announced it would be permanently relocating from New York to Los Angeles. This followed the legalization of marijuana in several West Coast states, including California. In
7480-670: The magazine established the Stony Awards to recognize and celebrate notable stoner films and television episodes about cannabis . Six High Times Stony Awards ceremonies were held in New York City beginning in 2000, before the Stonys moved to Los Angeles in 2007. Award winners received a bong -shaped trophy. Starting in 2002, the Stonys presented the Thomas King Forçade Award for "stony achievement" in film. In 2003, Steven Hager
7590-414: The magazine every month. On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman . Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Söderberg ) became a de facto standard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the " Lenna " (also "Lena") image in that field. In 1972, Playboy was the ninth highest circulation magazine in
7700-438: 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
7810-472: 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
7920-495: The magazine published fiction by Saul Bellow , Seán Ó Faoláin , John Updike , James Dickey , John Cheever , Doris Lessing , Joyce Carol Oates , Vladimir Nabokov , Michael Crichton , John le Carré , Irwin Shaw , Jean Shepherd , Arthur Koestler , Isaac Bashevis Singer , Bernard Malamud , John Irving , Anne Sexton , Nadine Gordimer , Kurt Vonnegut and J. P. Donleavy , as well as poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko . In 1968, at
8030-441: The magazine since 2016. Parker is known for his images based in macro photography . He discovered naturally occurring purple hash through experimentation with anthocyanins within cannabis. Playboy Playboy (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and online since 2020. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by
8140-415: 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
8250-565: The magazine's managing editor until 2001 and then again from March 2006 to January 2007. From 2014 to 2016, Tsarfin was High Times ' director of digital media. Danny Danko is the magazine's former Senior Cultivation Editor. The careers of a number of writers/editors from the comics industry overlapped with High Times , including Tsarfin, Josh Alan Friedman ( High Times managing editor, 1983), Lou Stathis ( High Times editor, late 1980s), Ann Nocenti ( High Times editor, 2004), and most significantly, John Holmstrom , who began to work for
8360-563: 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
8470-430: 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
8580-437: The magazine. On July 15, Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. offered $ 210 million (the company is valued at $ 185 million). However, Hefner, who already owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell. In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $ 6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading. The buyout
8690-594: The most popular was its annual ranking of the top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. In 2009, the magazine used five criteria—bikini, brains, campus, sex, and sports—to develop its list. The top-ranked party school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami . In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 yearly issues, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to
8800-403: 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
8910-414: 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
9020-583: The rabbit for its "humorous sexual connotation" and because the image was "frisky and playful". In an interview, Hefner explained his choice of a rabbit as Playboy ' s logo to the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci : The rabbit, the bunny, in America has a sexual meaning; and I chose it because it's a fresh animal, shy, vivacious, jumping - sexy. First it smells you then it escapes, then it comes back, and you feel like caressing it, playing with it. A girl resembles
9130-477: 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
9240-403: The skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination". Macauley contributed all of the popular Ribald Classics series published between January 1978 and March 1984. After reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from Penthouse , then from Oui (which was published as
9350-596: 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
9460-512: The summer of 1974. Advertising for the first issue had been pre-sold at that year's National Fashion and Boutique Show. " High Times #1 made its debut at the June 1974 show and was an instant success, selling out its first run of 10,000 copies and getting reprinted twice." The magazine's first editor was Ed Dwyer, who had earlier written the text of the Woodstock music festival program booklet (as well as
9570-401: The summer of 2017, High Times was sold to a group of investors led by Adam Levin of Oreva Capital for an amount estimated from $ 42 million to $ 70 million. High Times acquired cannabis media company Green Rush Daily, Inc. on April 5, 2018. The deal was valued at $ 6.9 million. Green Rush Daily founder Scott McGovern joined the magazine as senior executive vice president. By 1976, High Times
9680-453: 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
9790-666: The widespread use of hemp in the 1990s, publishing a quarterly magazine called Hemp Times and operating a retail location in Manhattan called Planet Hemp. In 1991, the magazine began featuring celebrities on the cover of the magazine. Over the years, these included Cypress Hill , The Black Crowes , Ziggy Marley , Beavis and Butt-Head , Milla Jovovich , Ice Cube , Wu-Tang Clan , George Carlin , Ozzy Osbourne , Kevin Smith , Frances McDormand , Pauly Shore , Sacha Baron Cohen , Willie Nelson , Woody Harrelson , and Snoop Dogg . In 1997,
9900-518: 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
10010-537: The years. This list is only a small portion of those who have posed. Some of them are: Film: Music: Sports: Television: The success of Playboy magazine has led PEI to market other versions of the magazine, the Special Edition s (formerly called Newsstand Special s), such as Playboy's College Girls and Playboy's Book of Lingerie , as well as the Playboy video collection. The National Library Service for
10120-449: Was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $ 5,000 in 2002. The novel Fahrenheit 451 , by Ray Bradbury , was published in 1953 and serialized in the March, April and May 1954 issues of Playboy . An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for
10230-459: Was a regular contributor to High Times from 1975 to 1983. For a time, William Levy served as the magazine's European editor. In 1976, Bruce Eisner became a contributing editor for the magazine. Chip Berlet was the magazine's Washington, D.C. bureau chief in the Seventies. Jeff Goldberg was an editor in 1978–1979. Kyle Kushman is a former cultivation reporter for High Times and has been
10340-462: Was again let go by the magazine in 2013, eventually successfully suing High Times for defrauding him of his ownership shares in the company. Hager subsequently released a 20-part series on YouTube , titled The Strategic Meeting , showing the internal machinations inside the company. The video series asserts that Michael Kennedy stole the company from the rightful employees and subverted the original mission for his own private gain. In October 2014,
10450-462: 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
10560-429: 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
10670-462: 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
10780-639: Was completed in March 2011. This is what I always intended Playboy Magazine to look like. — Hugh Hefner , when asked about ending nudity in Playboy In October 2015, Playboy announced the magazine would no longer feature full-frontal nudity beginning with the March 2016 issue. Company CEO Scott Flanders acknowledged the magazine's inability to compete with freely available internet pornography and nudity; according to him, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture". Hefner agreed with
10890-454: 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
11000-433: Was fired, and High Times ' board of directors shifted the magazine's focus from marijuana to more literary content, hiring John Buffalo Mailer as executive editor. As a result, the magazine "lost a third of the circulation in nine months." Mailer left the magazine within a year—a succession of editors followed, including David Bienenstock, Rick Cusick, and Steve Bloom. In 2004, High Times returned to its roots, releasing
11110-556: 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.
11220-507: Was hired as the magazine's editor. He changed the focus from the promotion of hard drugs (e.g., cocaine and heroin ), and instead concentrated on advocating personal cultivation of cannabis. Hager became the first editor to publish and promote the work of hemp activist Jack Herer . In 1988, under Hager's leadership, the magazine created the Cannabis Cup , a cannabis awards ceremony held every Thanksgiving in Amsterdam that later expanded to
11330-408: 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
11440-416: Was in color, not black and white. Playboy ' s enduring mascot, a stylized silhouette of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie , was created by Playboy art director Art Paul for the second issue as an endnote , but was adopted as the official logo and has appeared ever since. A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said he chose
11550-581: Was in turn succeeded by publisher Scott Flanders . The magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas , Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. Playboy also launched limited-edition products designed by fashion houses such as Versace , Vivienne Westwood and Sean John . As a homage to the magazine's 50th anniversary, MAC Cosmetics released two limited-edition products: lipstick and glitter cream. The printed magazine ran several annual features and ratings. One of
11660-465: 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
11770-624: Was publishing comics in its pages, by the likes of underground comix creators such as Gilbert Shelton (" The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers "), Kim Deitch , Josh Alan and Drew Friedman , Bill Griffith (" Zippy the Pinhead "), Paul Kirchner ("Dope Rider"), Milton Knight ("Zoe"), Spain Rodriguez (" Trashman "), Dave Sheridan , Frank Thorne , and Skip Williamson (" Snappy Sammy Smoot "). Later, artists like Bob Fingerman and Mary Wilshire contributed comics to High Times as well. Andrew Weil
11880-454: Was reduced to 10 issues per year, with a combined January/February issue. On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Hefner's $ 5.50 per share offer ($ 122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derived much of its income from licensing rather than from
11990-459: 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
12100-1221: Was the first interviewee for the section. "Rock the Rabbit" was an annual music news and pictorial feature published in the March edition. The pictorial featured images of rock bands photographed by music photographer Mick Rock . Fashion designers participated in the Rock the Rabbit event by designing T-shirts inspired by Playboy ' s rabbit head logo for each band. The shirts were sold at Playboy ' s retailers and auctioned off to raise money for AIDS research and treatment at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS. Bands who were featured include: MGMT , Daft Punk , Iggy Pop , Duran Duran , Flaming Lips , Snow Patrol , and The Killers . The photographers who have contributed to Playboy include Mario Casilli , Ana Dias , Richard Fegley , Arny Freytag , Ron Harris , Tom Kelley , Annie Leibovitz , Ken Marcus , David Mecey , Russ Meyer , Helmut Newton , Pompeo Posar , Suze Randall , Herb Ritts , Ellen von Unwerth , Stephen Wayda , Sam Wu , and Bunny Yeager . Many celebrities (singers, actresses, models, etc.) have posed for Playboy over
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