Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Stand Up Sit Down Book Club meets this Monday! Obama unavailable for comment!” From “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN” to “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”, the long tradition of illegitimate journalism has culminated in this – the Monday January 26th meeting of the Stand Up Sit Down Book Club at BookPeople at 7:00 p.m. Grab your X-ray specs and your genuine, imitation vomit and take a sophomoric trip through the offices of the National Lampoon as we discuss That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick by Ellin Stein. Together we can fabricate all the news you need to fake your way through any conversation.
The influence of the National Lampoon on the comedy world specifically and popular culture as a whole is undeniable and insidious. This whimsical and frequently inflammatory magazine launched the careers of countless comedy titans, and its take-no-prisoners approach to humor has infiltrated the public consciousness through such unlikely avenues as The Simpsons, The Breakfast Club, The Onion, and The New York Times. Begun as a lark when a pair of Harvard graduates dismissed the expectations of the professional world, National Lampoon erupted out of an undergraduate humor periodical in 1970, and its aftershocks are still being felt four decades later. In her comprehensive investigation into this phenomenon That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream, author Ellin Stein discloses the camaraderie, creativity, dependencies, and not-so-secret rivalries that alternately grease and clog the machinations of the publishing and entertainment industries.
Join the Stand Up Sit Down Book Club on Monday January 26th at 7:00 p.m. in the cafe at BookPeople to discuss That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick by Ellin Stein, as well as anything else (and we mean anything) you feel like chatting about. The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club meets on the last Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m. to commend and condemn comedy and comedic literature in all its incarnations. Bring some intriguing palaver this Monday, and maybe you’ll get to yell, “Stop the presses!”.
– Steve(n) W.
BookPeople 