National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody

by P.J. O'Rourke, John Hughes

The sequel to "National Lampoon's 1964 High School Yearbook "and considered the Rosetta stone of news parody, "National Lampoon's Sunday Newspaper" is a cult classic of puerile genius.
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"Dateline: "
Dacron, Ohio, Sunday, February 12, 1978 (Motor Home Capital of the World)
Now in a vibrant tabloid format, the Dacron, Ohio "Republican-Democrat," one of America's newspapers, returns with a complete Sunday edition of all the news that's unfit to print. With stories and photos that are as remarkably plausible today as they were in 1978, the "Republican-Democrat" is littered with grade-A-quality humor.
Including National News, Local News, and More Local News, a Sports Section, Entertainment, Television Listings, Travel, Real Estate, Gardening, Your Pet, Women's Pages, Classified Ads, a Swillmart Discount Store Advertising Supplement, a Parade Magazine Parody, a Sunday Week Local Magazine, and Eight Pages of Comics, it will take you back in time even if you were never there to begin with.
Any fan of "The Onion" will discover its recipe for success-take "National Lampoon's Sunday Newspaper," rejigger the news to reflect today's absurdity, and maintain the "National Lampoon's" pitch-perfect mimicry of editorial and design. Ask any comedy writer at work today, and she or he will tell you that "National Lampoon's 1964 High School Yearbook "and "National Lampoon's Sunday Newspaper" are the sine qua non of written humor.

Genres: Humor, Fiction

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Patrick Jake "P. J." O'Rourke is an American political satirist, journalist, writer, and author. O'Rourke is the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute and is a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator, and The Weekly Standard, and frequent panelist on National Public Radio's game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. Since 2011 O'Rourke has been a columnist at The Daily Beast. In the United Kingdom, he is known as the face of a long-running series of television advertisements for British Airways in the 1990s.

He is the author of 20 books, of which his latest, The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way (And It Wasn’t My Fault) (And I’ll Never Do It Again), was released January 2014. This was preceded on September 21, 2010, by Don't Vote! – It Just Encourages the Bastards, and on September 1, 2009, Driving Like Crazy with a reprint edition published on May 11, 2010. According to a 60 Minutes profile, he is also the most quoted living man in The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations.

Reviews

[Chuck]

It really doesn't deserve five stars, but I roll on the floor every time I pick it up.

[David Ward]

National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody edited by P.J. O'Rourke and John Hughes (Rugged Land 2004) (623.1). This is the direct descendant of the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook which I found to be absolutely hilarious. Sadly, this Sunday parody is nowhere near as funny as the 1964 yearbook. At least it completes my collection! My rating: 6/10, finished 6/16/15.

[Margot Copeland]

Pure Hilarity. Just a stunning portrait of a middle American Sunday Paper. 40 years later, I still chuckle inside...it's a parody, but also a treasure...when National Lampoon ruled the written comedy world!

[Andrew]

A sequel to the legendary yearbook parody, though that 1974 classic is a hard act to follow.

[TalkinHorse]

The Funniest Parody Ever!

This is my favorite kind of humor. It looks like a local newspaper, divided into the usual sections. It reads like a local newspaper. But it's insanity sliced and diced in every possible way. The more you read, the more you'll find. Here's an advertisement from a local barber shop; look closely and you'll notice the special service is free ear and nose trim for senior citizens. There's an article advising how to use your golf gear to repel burglars, and which iron to select. There are comics and classified ads and movie listings and contests. If you keep reading, you'll find how the stories connect to each other to build to a higher level of absurdity. It's funny at a glance and funnier in depth.

This was originally published in newsprint in 1978, back when National Lampoon was at the height of its power. I've got the original, which has become brittle with age. Should have used acid-free paper! Anyway, this reprint is a large bound volume. It's not as realistic as the original, but it's more durable, and it's complete. Grab it!

[Mark]

Classic parody and humor as only p.j. o'Rourke, Douglas Kenney, and John Hughes could do back in the day.
The youth of today would just be crying and whining about it as not funny and offensive. But they doubt have the ability to laugh.

Great stuff