In his 2006 book A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever, Josh Karp characterizes the staff of the magazine Kenney founded as “a group of brilliant, overeducated skeptics and their leader [Kenney] who came together by providence and changed the dialogue and content of American humor forever while paving the way for Saturday Night Live, The Onion, The Simpsons, and nearly everything funny that has happened since 1975.”

Less heralded but equally important is the imprint the magazine made on comedy recordings. The early '70s were a breakthrough period for comedy albums, with the counterculture spinning out seemingly as many comedians as rock bands, and everyone from the Firesign Theater to Albert Brooks took advantage of post-Beatles studio trickery to spice up their routines. One of the most prominent albums of the era was National Lampoon's Radio Dinner, issued on Blue Thumb in 1972, the first in a series that included 1973's Lemmings, a recording of a stage show parodying Woodstock; 1977's That's Not Funny, That's Sick; and 1982's White Album.

As you'd probably expect, most of the National Lampoon albums are audio routines. “Mister Roberts,” originally issued on That's Not Funny, That's… read more »