National Lampoon Inc
Encyclopedia
National Lampoon, Incorporated is a company formed in 2002 in order to use the brand name "National Lampoon" in comedy and entertainment. In the words of its prospectus, the role of the company is to "develop, produce, provide creative services and distribute National Lampoon branded comedic content through a broad range of media platforms." Since its start in 2002, the company has overhauled its corporate infrastructure several times. The "National Lampoon World Headquarters" is currently located in West Hollywood, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

The CEO of the company was originally Dan Laikin, who was prosecuted in 2008 for illegal stock manipulation. After this Laikin resigned and Tim Durham took over, but in 2009 Durham was investigated for a different set of financial scandals.

2008 and 2009 prosecutions

In December 2008, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia filed charges against Dan Laikin, the former CEO of National Lampoon Incorporated, with accusations that he and two third-party stock promoters attempted to artificially inflate the company's stock price. Prosecutors say the company manipulated prices by paying kickbacks to said stock promotors to buy and hold stock, an activity which created the illusion of market interest. Prosecutors charged a total of seven people with conspiracy and securities fraud.

Since the incident, Laikin has resigned from his position as CEO. Businessman Tim Durham, a dominant shareholder who claimed to have had no involvement in the stock scandal, took over duties as CEO of National Lampoon Incorporated However the next year Tim Durham was involved in his own financial scandals, including what was alleged to be a mini Ponzi scheme
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...

.http://www.investorprotection.com/blog/2009/11/27/tim-durham-embattled-financier-tied-to-more-scandals/

Daniel Laikin, 47, of Indianapolis and Los Angeles, the former CEO of National Lampoon, Incorporated (National Lampoon), pleaded guilty on September 23, 2009 to his role in a conspiracy to manipulate the company's stock price from March through June 2008. National Lampoon is a company based in Los Angeles that is involved primarily in media projects including feature films, television programming, online and interactive entertainment, home video and book publishing. National Lampoon owns interests in all major National Lampoon properties, including the movies Animal House and the Vacation series. National Lampoon also operates a college television network and humor website. At the time of the crime, National Lampoon was publicly traded under symbol "NLN" on the American Stock Exchange. Once this scheme became public, National Lampoon's share price lost approximately 80 percent of its value over three days. As a result, National Lampoon was removed from its listing on the American Stock Exchange and now trades as an over-the-counter or "penny stock."

As part of this conspiracy, Laikin enlisted a number of other individuals to help him artificially inflate the price of the stock. Specifically, Laikin paid kickbacks to individuals to generate buying in the stock, that was not based on free market forces, to make it appear as if there was significant interest in the stock when, in fact, there was little or no such interest. Laikin also provided non-public information to his co-conspirators, including information regarding the company's unannounced financial results. He also coordinated press releases to provide a pretext for their increased buying. Laikin's goal was to induce real buying from the public so as to artificially increase the price of the stock. As part of his plea, Laikin acknowledged that he intended to cause between $2.5 million and $7 million in losses through this scheme.

Laikin faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment when sentenced on Jan. 13, 2010. Laikin also faces separate civil charges from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Derek A. Cohen and Louis D. Lappen.

National Lampoon Press

National Lampoon Inc releases humor books and material under the umbrella of National Lampoon Press. These include republished omnibuses of old National Lampoon magazine articles.

National Lampoon on radio

National Lampoon Comedy Radio was a 24/7 all comedy radio network that was made available to XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...

, AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...

-FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...

, HD
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...

, Cable Radio
Cable radio
Cable radio or cable FM is a concept similar to that of cable television, bringing radio signals into homes and businesses via coaxial cable. It is generally used as cable TV was in its early days when it was "community antenna television", to enhance the quality of terrestrial radio signals that...

 and Podcast
Podcasting
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

.

Affiliated with Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

, National Lampoon Comedy Radio was first added to XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...

, and began airing on the satellite radio service on October 1, 2006. Much of the programming is broadcast from National Lampoon World Headquarters in West Hollywood, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The station has had stand-up performances from famous comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...

, Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

, George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....

, D. L. Hughley
D. L. Hughley
Darryl Lynn "D. L." Hughley is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is perhaps best known as the star of the ABC/UPN sitcom The Hughleys, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy. Additionally, he has been the host of CNN's D. L...

, and Bob Saget
Bob Saget
Robert Lane "Bob" Saget is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Although he is best known for his roles as Danny Tanner in Full House, host of America's Funniest Home Videos and Future Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, Saget is also known outside of television for his blue...

. The station also plays prank calls from Crank Yankers
Crank Yankers
Crank Yankers is an American TV show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison that featured actual prank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, and re-enacted onscreen by puppets for a visual aid to show the viewer what is happening in the call...

.

As of March 6, 2009, National Lampoon radio was dropped from the Sirius-XM line-up, replaced by talk programming.

National Lampoon.com and the web

The company's website, NationalLampoon.com, has been awarded "Best of the Web" from the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 and the Wall Street Journal, and was twice nominated by the Webby Awards
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....

 for "Best Humor Site" in 2001 and 2005. In 2002, the content of National Lampoon.com was officially registered into the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

 for best exemplifying American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 in the weeks following the 9-11 attacks. The website currently emphasizes original video content, both in-house and freelance, spread to viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...

 hosting sites such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

.

In addition to the content created by The National Lampoon staff, The National Lampoon Humor Network is an affiliation of almost fifty comedy websites owned or partnered with National Lampoon. Collectively, they drew approximately 5 million monthly viewers in May 2007. This format has given it a consistent Comscore
ComScore
comScore is a Internet marketing research company providing marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses. comScore tracks all internet data on its surveyed computers in order to study online behavior....

 rating of #1 amongst comedy websites, barely beating out Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

's web presence at #2.

On August 19, 2008 National Lampoon issued a press release stating they have bought AllModelZone.com, AllModelZone which hosts models and photographers portfolios. The purchase created a fiasco throughout the modeling industry as National Lampoon, Incorporated did nothing with the website causing many to outcry their dismissal of the new owners and demanding the old company Alle Von Technologies LLC to take it back.

During 2011, the website was redesigned to resemble the classic National Lampoon magazine format. NationalLampoon.com staff-writers and contributors include: Sandy Danto, Jessica Gottlieb, Phil Haney, Seth Herzog, Kevin McCaffrey, Nadine Rajabi, Travis Tack and Matt Zaller http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1487766/.

National Lampoon on television

Originally formed in 2002, the National Lampoon College Network was revived in 2006 as a two-hour block of weekly television programming that is broadcast to colleges and universities. The format is similar to MTVu
MtvU
mtvU is a division of Viacom's MTV Networks which produces a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States, as well as several digital cable packages...

, the college-focused division of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

.

Feature films

After its purchase by J2 Communications in 1991, the National Lampoon franchise became predominately a name-licensing company, in which the company was paid for use of its brand on titles such as National Lampoon's Senior Trip
National Lampoon's Senior Trip
National Lampoon's Senior Trip is a 1995 teen movie directed by Kelly Makin.- Plot :The film follows the story of a group of rude and obnoxious seniors from Fairmont High, an Ohio high school. After a typing class, the seniors cut school and throw a party at the home of Principal Moss...

, Dorm Daze, Blackball
Blackball (film)
Blackball is a 2003 British comedy sports film, borrowed from the Australian film, Crackerjack about Cliff Starkey , a fictional rebellious young bowls player. His dream is to play for his country, but always preferred to play by his own rules, much to the disapproval of the local bowls club...

, and Barely Legal
National Lampoon's Barely Legal
__FORCETOC__National Lampoon's Barely Legal is a 2003 comedy film about three male high school students who decide to make money by selling pornographic videos, in the hopes of gaining both women and standing among their peers...

. Although this enterprise salvaged the company from bankruptcy, some believe it damaged the reputation of National Lampoon as a source of respected comedy. When the company was purchased from J2 Communications, this practice was eventually discontinued in 2007, with the last "licensed" film being TV: The Movie starring Steve-O
Steve-O
Steve-O is an American stunt performer and television personality. His entertainment career is mostly centered around his performance stunts on the American TV series Jackass and accompanying movies....

.

In June 2007 National Lampoon Inc announced its intention to finance, produce and distribute its own feature films. In an interview with the New York Times, Dan Laikin stated that "the company really had just been a licensing company in the ’90s. We were just licensing the name and we had no creative input. When I came in, we had to re-energize the brand and cut back on the licensing, because the only way to take control of the brand was to make sure that ultimately we put it on projects that we are proud of." Eventually, the company hopes to release four of its own movies annually and acquire up to eight more for distribution. The first released was Ratko: The Dictator's Son
Ratko: The Dictator's Son
Ratko: The Dictator's Son also known as National Lampoon's Ratko: The Dictator's Son is a 2009 teen comedy directed by Savage Steve Holland. The film was produced by Intermedia Films and Cinetel Films and was distributed by National Lampoon Inc...



National Lampoon has also begun to purchase independent films and re-release them under the distinctive title of "National Lampoon Presents". The first in this series was National Lampoon Presents The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell
The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell
The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell is an independently made dark comedy directed by Jonny Gillette, written and co-directed by Kevin Wheatley and produced by Jamie Bullock and Ryan Turi. The film stars Kevin Wheatley and Jamie Bullock, amongst others....

, which was released in 2007.

National Lampoon on the stage

In the fall of 2007, National Lampoon revived the live sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

 variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

, National Lampoon's Lemmings
National Lampoon's Lemmings
National Lampoon's Lemmings, a spinoff of the humor magazine National Lampoon, was a 1973 stage show which helped launch the performing careers of John Belushi, Christopher Guest, and Chevy Chase. The show was co-written and co-directed by a number of people including Sean Kelly...

for a nationwide theatrical tour. The show consists of a multimedia presentation of live sketches written and performed by the cast, are integrated with related comedy videos.

National Lampoon's Lemmings is currently in production with ManiaTV.com on a half-hour web-based sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

 show.

Other media

National Lampoon's Strip Poker: Released on pay-per-view in 2005 after being filmed at the Hedonism II
Hedonism Resorts
Hedonism II and Hedonism III are vacation resorts in Jamaica, operated by SuperClubs. SuperClubs is the operating name of Village Resorts Ltd. The stock holders of Village Resorts Ltd...

 nudist resort in Negril, Jamaica. The one-hour episodes featured various Playboy, WWE, and pin-up models competing in strip poker match-ups.
National Lampoon's Knucklehead Video: A video-sharing and social networking site featuring viral video content of extreme sports bloopers, "drunken debauchery" and the self-explanatory 'show us your butts'.
National Lampoon's Eye for an Eye: A syndicated television program that provides a variation on popular thirty minute courtroom reality shows.
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1: A video game from the early 1990s for the PC platform. It was a 3-D chess game with animated battle scenes between the pieces when you attacked another piece, in the style of Battle Chess
Battle Chess
Battle Chess is a computer game version of chess in which the chess pieces come to life and battle one another when capturing. It was released for the Commodore Amiga and subsequently on the 3DO, MS-DOS, Apple IIGS, Apple IIe, Commodore 64, Amiga CDTV, CD32, Atari ST, Apple Macintosh, Acorn...

.

The GSN cable television network in 2003 produced a comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 National Lampoon's Funny Money, hosted by Jimmy Pardo
Jimmy Pardo
Jimmy Pardo is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the popular comedy podcast Never Not Funny.He is married to fellow comedian Danielle Koenig. They live in Los Angeles with their son Oliver...

. The game featured guest comedians and the more laughs in the "funny zone" were registered, the more points were earned. The winner went on to play for a National Lampoon vacation.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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