Lemmings (National Lampoon)

National Lampoon: Lemmings
The poster for the 1973 show.
MusicChristopher Guest
Paul Jacobs
LyricsSean Kelly
BookDavid Axlerod
John Belushi
Christopher Guest
Tony Hendra
Paul Jacobs
Sean Kelly
Chevy Chase
Gary Goodrow
Productions1973 Off-Broadway

National Lampoon: Lemmings, a spinoff of the humor magazine National Lampoon, was a 1973 stage show that helped launch the performing careers of John Belushi, Christopher Guest, and Chevy Chase.[1][2][3][4] The show was co-written and co-directed by a number of people, including Sean Kelly.

Lemmings opened at The Village Gate on January 25, 1973, and ran for 350 performances.

The songs from the show were subsequently issued as a record album. A video of one of the original performances, National Lampoon: Lemmings: Dead in Concert 1973, was eventually made available several decades later.

The show was revived in 2007–2008, and an attempted reboot was to be staged in March 2020.

Plot

The first half of the show was sketch comedy; the second half was a mock rock festival, "Woodshuck: Three Days of Peace, Love and Death", a parody of "Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music." "Woodshuck" featured spoofs of Woodstock performers, including Joe Cocker and Joan Baez, as well as parodies of John Denver, Bob Dylan and James Taylor, plus songs performed by fictional groups (e.g., the "Motown Manifestoes" singing "Papa was a Running Dog Lackey of the Bourgeoisie").

Acts

Title Act being parodied Lampoonist Description
Welcome to the Woodshuck Festival: Three Days of Peace, Love, and Death John Belushi Plus band introductions throughout
"Lemmings Lament" Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Paul Jacobs as David Crosby Freud, Marx, Engels, and Jung (also referred to in performance as Freud, Pavlov, Adler, and Jung), parodying the songs "Woodstock," "Long Time Gone", and others
"Positively Wall Street" Bob Dylan Christopher Guest Parody of several of Dylan's styles, with the title taken from "Positively 4th Street"
"Pizza Man" by Goldie Oldie 1950s-style performers Alice Playten Parody of teenage tragedy songs
"Colorado" John Denver Chevy Chase
"Pull the Triggers, Niggers" Joan Baez Mary Jenifer Mitchell (later replaced by Rhonda Coullet) A parody of Baez's protest songs and of Dylan's song "George Jackson," in particular. Listed on the album cover as "Pull the Tregroes, Negroes"
"Lonely at the Bottom" Joe Cocker John Belushi With Paul Jacobs as Leon Russell on piano
"Highway Toes" James Taylor Christopher Guest Parody of Tylor's heroin abuse referencing Taylor's "Highway Song"
"Papa was a Running Dog Lackey of the Bourgeoisie" The Temptations Paul Jacobs Parody of "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", with most of its lines taken from The Communist Manifesto
"Nirvana Banana" Donovan Peter Elbling Later addition to the show
"I Do for You" Joni Mitchell Alice Playten (later replaced by Rhonda Coullet)
Farmer Yassir Max Yasgur Garry Goodrow Parody of the owner of the land on which Woodstock was held, greeting the audience
Megadeath Heavy metal groups John Belushi and Paul Jacobs Band ends their act by turning the amps so loud that the audience dies
"Jackie Christ, Superstar" Belushi, et al. Parody of Jesus Christ Superstar; Jesus as a stand-up comedian, with Belushi as King Herod
"Deteriorata" Les Crane Tony Hendra Parody of Crane's recording of "Desiderata"
"Resounding Defeat Day" Parody of America's first military defeat in the Vietnam War. "Put all your troubles in a nickel bag and smile, smile, smile."
The Rolling Stones Alice Playten as Mick Jagger

Cast

The cast included:[5]

Later cast replacements:

Production

Writers

The writers included:[5]

Reception

A Time magazine reviewer called Lemmings "an uproariously funny spoof of the rock scene and its counterculture folk heroes," writing that the show's second half was "a brilliantly sustained rock parody," and predicting that, "Lemmings will slay many many more with its high-voltage humor."[6] Reviewers for The New York Times initially gave the play lukewarm reviews,[7][8] but a subsequent Times mention of the show lauded its "gleeful... desanctifi[cation of the] hallowed touchstones of the rock counterculture."[9] And in 2005, Jake Tapper of the Times called Lemmings National Lampoon's "most famous live performance," writing that, "the team devastatingly satirized Woodstock attendees and performers as mindless masses running off to engage in trendy generational suicide."[1]

Awards

Revivals

In the fall of 2007, National Lampoon, Inc. revived National Lampoon's Lemmings for a nationwide theatrical tour. The show consisted of a multimedia presentation of live sketches written and performed by the cast, which were integrated with related comedy videos.[11]

In 2008, National Lampoon's Lemmings went into production with ManiaTV! on a half-hour web-based sketch comedy show.[4] Notable cast members included Adam Devine, Blake Anderson, Kyle Newacheck and Anders Holm of Comedy Central's Workaholics fame, Jillian Bell, and Mark Gagliardi from Comedy Central's Drunk History and The Thrilling Adventure Hour.

In 2020, the company rebooted Lemmings as "Lemmings: 21st Century", which was scheduled to debut in a two-night engagement at Joe's Pub in Manhattan in March 2020 (right at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic).[12][13] Instead of spoofing Woodstock, the new stage play "tackle[d] modern festival culture through Downfall, a parody mash-up of corporatized events like Coachella and Bonnaroo."[2]

Cast recording

National Lampoon's Lemmings
Live album by
the cast of Lemmings
Released1973
GenreComedy, Parody, Rock, folk rock
LabelBlue Thumb Records, MCA Records, Decca Broadway
ProducerTony Hendra
National Lampoon chronology
National Lampoon Radio Dinner
(1972) 		National Lampoon's Lemmings
(1973) 		The Missing White House Tapes
(1974)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic link

A cast recording of the show was released in 1973, with album cover art by Melinda Bordelon.

Track listing

Side One

  1. Stage Announcements
    Performed by John Belushi
  2. "Lemmings Lament"
    Lead vocal by Paul Jacobs (as David Crosby); instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Paul Jacobs and Sean Kelly.
  3. Stage Announcements
    Performed by John Belushi
  4. "Positively Wall Street"
    Lead vocal by Christopher Guest (as Bob Dylan); instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Paul Jacobs, Christopher Guest, and Sean Kelly.
  5. Weather Person
    Performed by Garry Goodrow
  6. "Pizza Man"
    Lead vocal by Alice Playten (as Goldie Oldie); instruments and back-up vocals by the cast; written by Christopher Guest, Sean Kelly, and Tony Hendra
  7. Stage Announcements
    Performed by John Belushi
  8. "Colorado"
    Lead vocal by Chevy Chase; instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Christopher Guest, Sean Kelly, and Tony Hendra
  9. Richie Havens
    Performed by Christopher Guest (as Richie Havens)
  10. Crowd Rain Chant
    Performed by John Belushi

Side Two

  1. Stage Announcements
    Performed by John Belushi
  2. "Papa Was a Running Dog Lackey" of the Bourgeoisie
    Lead vocal by Paul Jacobs; instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Paul Jacobs and Tony Hendra
  3. All-Star Dead Band
    Performed by John Belushi
  4. Stage Announcements
    Performed by John Belushi
  5. "Highway Toes"
    Lead vocal by Christopher Guest (as James Taylor); instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Christopher Guest and Sean Kelly
  6. Hell's Angel
    Performed by Chevy Chase
  7. Stage Announcements
    Performed by John Belushi
  8. Farmer Yassir
    Performed by Garry Goodrow
  9. "Lonely at the Bottom"
    Lead vocal by John Belushi (as Joe Cocker); instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Paul Jacobs and John Belushi
  10. Megagroupie
    Performed by Alice Playten
  11. "Megadeath"
    Lead vocal by John Belushi; instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Paul Jacobs and Sean Kelly

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Tapper, Jake (July 3, 2005). "National Lampoon Grows Up By Dumbing Down". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b Aridi, Sara (Jan 28, 2020). "'National Lampoon: Lemmings' Reboot Coming to New York: 'Lemmings: 21st Century,' a satire on modern festival culture, will have a two-night engagement in March". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "National Lampoon's Lemmings Comedy Troupe". Archived from the original on 2008-09-07. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "National Lampoon's Lemmings Take Internet TV by Storm". Reuters. May 20, 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-09-08.
  5. ^ a b National Lampoon Lemmings (1973) Archived 2002-10-21 at the Wayback Machine (accessed June 26, 2009)
  6. ^ T.E.K. (19 February 1973). "Megadeath by Laughter". Time. Archived from the original on December 14, 2008.
  7. ^ Kerr, Walter (Feb 4, 1973). "Less Sharp Than Olsen & Johnson". The New York Times.
  8. ^ Alterman, Loraine (Sep 9, 1973). "'Lemmings' Is No Giggle". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Holden, Stephen (June 25, 1989). "POP VIEW; For Pop, Comedy May Be The Sincerest Form of Flattery". The New York Times. Pop debunking perhaps reached its zenith in the early '70s with albums like 'Goodbye Pop' ... and 'National Lampoon''s 'Lemmings', in which Christopher Guest, Sean Kelly, Tony Hendra, and others gleefully desanctified hallowed touchstones of the rock counterculture.
  10. ^ 1972–1973 Obie Awards accessed 27 November 2009
  11. ^ "Lemmings Comedy Troupe". National Lampoon. Archived from the original on Aug 9, 2007.
  12. ^ Sokol, Tony (January 28, 2020). "National Lampoon's Lemmings Rebooted for a New Generation: National Lampoon finds corporate sponsors for its Downfall Festival in Lemmings: 21st Century". Den of Geek.
  13. ^ Handy, Bruce (March 16, 2020). "A National Lampoon Reboot Takes On Cancel Culture: Combining 'wokeness' with 'outrageousness,' a new crew updates the 1973 hit 'Lemmings' for the Béyonce and Billie Eilish era". The New Yorker.