Customer Reviews

National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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 probably more durable, and it's complete. Grab it!

Of course, the Dacron Republican-Democrat is an all-time classic of parody, and on that basis alone, this is well worth a purchase.

But something that hasn't been mentioned yet -- this edition has been "restored" by the folks at Rugged Land, and it's obvious that they did not have access to the original 1978 printing plates. Nearly all of the text has been re-typeset, and it's not fully 100% accurate; I found at least one place where text "went to Courier" in the typesetting process -- something that didn't happen back then. And I found a couple of typos that might not have been in the original -- I don't have my newsprint copy anymore, so it's tough to tell.

Also, most of the simpler ads have been re-typeset, but the more complex ones have apparently been scanned from an original copy of the Republican-Democrat, giving them a noisy, low-res quality that stands out painfully on these high-gloss pages. The Swillmart circular, in particular, is of particularly low reproduction quality, but still mostly readable.

Don't let these goofs stop you from buying, but be aware that you're not getting the original product.

This is a re-issue of the companion to the 1964 Yearbook Parody. An entire edition of the Dacron, Ohio Sunday Newspaper. Ads, Comics, Classifieds, Sports, TV Guide ... the whole enchalada.
You'll find something new each time you look at it. Be sure to read the fine print on every page. There's a joke to be found everywhere you look.
A true classic

I remember when this first came out years ago and it is still just as funny. This is a complete Sunday paper from a boring town in Ohio. It includes local and national news, wedding annoucements, comics, classifieds and a sunday magazine as well as complete TV listings!

I laughed out loud at several pages. For any humor book there are some duds but they are few and far between with this excellent parody. You want to read this out loud to friends.

Some poor taste and not PC which is what makes it great. For example, this newspaper not only lists births but also lists abortions.

You'll enjoy reading this over and over.

Unlike some of the other Rugged Land re-issues, this one is in softcover, which is somewhat regrettable. Still, it's a vast improvement over the original, which was on newsprint (my old copy is quite aged). It is politically incorrect (very incorrect, in fact) but wickedly funny. It pokes fun at small-town politics, along with NL favorites like Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, JFK and Jackie. A sequel to the High School Yearbook parody, all of the graduating class show up in various ways and in their 1978 professions -- Larry Kroger as a guidance counsellor, Herb Weisenheimer as a car salesman, Amana Peppridge as a porn star, etc. While some of the jokes are childish, much of the humor is laugh-out-loud funny. Overall, the humor is a bit meaner than the yearbook parody but much of it is spot-on -- particularly some of the jokes about the newspaper and local business being far too cozy. I particularly liked the City section's profile of the "Powder Room Prowler."

There are some good gags in this book, but you have to wade through it all to get them and they aren't enough of them. Quite funny, quite distracting, quite worth buying.

Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys

This just might be one of the funniest things EVER written. You owe it to yourself to buy this. Buy this parody or we'll shoot the dog.

The humor has stood the test of time. A great companion to the National Yearbook.

Why do the publishers of these National Lampoon reissues even bother if they are not going to do it right? One of the great things about the original National Lampoon is that they knew how to do a PARODY....That means that the object that is the PARODY should appear as if it were the object being parodied! A High School Yearbook Parody should look like a High School Yearbook, and a Parody of a Sunday Newspaper should look like a real Sunday Newspaper, not a book...that is the point...Maybe I'm too hung up on the design, but that's a major aspect of the title and the project...Also, as mentioned in other reviews, this edition has been re-typset with mistakes inherent! If you can find an original edition, trust me, you're better off in the long run paying the extra bucks...for the overall package it's much more worth it than this ugly travesty! 2 stars though, for the content!