The American Bystander
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The American Bystander
''The American Bystander'' is a quarterly humor magazine in trade paperback book format. Edited and published by Michael Gerber, it features contributions from many notable comedy writers, illustrators and cartoonists. ''The Bystander'' is designed to provide a classic print humor magazine experience similar to that delivered by '' National Lampoon'', ''SPY'', Harold Hayes-era ''Esquire'' and many others in the pre-internet era. Yet according to ''The New York Times'', ''The American Bystander'' "does not just belong to the tradition of defunct magazines like ''The National Lampoon'' and ''Spy''. Its nostalgic, lightly witty style evokes influences that have been dead even longer, like the raconteur Jean Shepherd and the sophisticated stylist Robert Benchley." ''The Bystander'' emerged after several years of planning by Gerber, head writer Brian McConnachie, and Alan Goldberg. Issue #1 was successfully funded on Kickstarter on November 13, 2015. This 146-page softcover book featu ...
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Michael Gerber (parodist)
Michael Gerber (born June 14, 1969) is best known as the author of the Barry Trotter series, ''Sunday Times'' best-selling parodies of the Harry Potter books. Before becoming a novelist, Gerber contributed humor to ''The Yale Record'', ''The New Yorker'', ''The Atlantic'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''Slate'', NPR and ''Saturday Night Live'', among many other venues. He is an alumnus of Yale and Oak Park River Forest High School. In October 2015, Gerber launched '' The American Bystander'', an all-star print humor quarterly. The magazine was an immediate hit, garnering strongly positive reviews in ''The New York Times'' and ''Newsweek'', which hailed ''Bystander'' as "the last great humor magazine." As of January 2020, ''Bystander'''s thirteen issues have raised over $290,000 via crowdfunding and subscriptions on Patreon. Gerber currently serves as Editor & Publisher, personally handling all aspects of the venture. This auteurist method is somewhat unique ...
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Mimi Pond
Mimi Pond is an American cartoonist, comics artist, illustrator, humorist, and writer. Career and awards Pond spent much of the ‘80s and ‘90s writing for television, magazines, and creating cartoons and comic strips for both mediums. She briefly worked on ''The Simpsons'', writing the first full-length broadcast episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" in 1989, which was nominated for two Emmy awards. Pond, however, did not become a regular member of the writing team, and she alleged it was because the showrunner at the time did not want a woman on the team. She is primarily a cartoonist and illustrator and she got her first big break as a weekly cartoonist with ''Spectator Magazine''. Some of her other early work during the 1980s included creating for publications such as, the '' National Lampoon'', ''The Village Voice'', ''The New York Times'', ''Adweek'', and others. She is the author and illustrator of five humor books and currently contributes to the ''Los Angel ...
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Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' Late Night'' series (since 1993), ''The Kids in the Hall'' (from 1989 to 1995) and '' The Tonight Show'' (since 2014). He has received 21 Primetime Emmy Awards from 98 nominations, holding the record for being the most nominated individual in the award show's history. Early life Lorne Michaels was born on November 17, 1944, to Florence (née Becker) and Henry Abraham Lipowitz. His place of birth is disputed; multiple sources have said he was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, while others state he was born on a kibbutz in the then British mandate of Palestine (now Israel) and that his Jewish family immigrated to Toronto when he was an infant. Michaels and his two younger siblings were raised in Toronto; he attended Forest Hill Collegiate In ...
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Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), known professionally by his stage name as Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, voice-actor and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several movies, including ''Caddyshack'', ''Scrooged'', '' Ghostbusters II'', '' Groundhog Day'', and ''The Razor's Edge''. He co-starred on the TBS sitcom ''Sullivan & Son'', where he played the foul-mouthed Hank Murphy. He also appeared in the Nickelodeon animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' as The Flying Dutchman, the Cartoon Network original animated series ''My Gym Partner's a Monkey'' as Coach Tiffany Gills, ''The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack'' as Captain K'nuckles, a recurring role as Don Ehlert on the ABC sitcom '' The Middle'', and Bob Kruger in the AMC dramedy ''Lodge 49''. Doyle-Murray has been nominated for three Emmy Awards in 1978, 1979, and 1980 for his work on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the category Primetime Emmy Award for ...
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John Belushi
John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his career, Belushi had a personal and artistic partnership with his fellow ''SNL'' star Dan Aykroyd, whom he met while they were both working at Chicago's Second City comedy club. Born in Chicago to Albanian-American parents, Belushi started his own comedy troupe with Tino Insana and Steve Beshekas, called "The West Compass Trio". After being discovered by Bernard Sahlins, he performed with The Second City and met Aykroyd, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Harold Ramis. In 1975, Chevy Chase and Michael O'Donoghue recommended Belushi to ''SNL'' creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels, who accepted him as a new cast member of the show after an audition. Belushi developed a series of characters on the show that reached great success, including his performa ...
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Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'', Aykroyd appeared in a recurring series of sketches about the Coneheads, and the Blues Brothers. For his work on the show he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations winning for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1977. After his departure, he has since returned in guest roles. Aykroyd gained prominence for writing, and starring as Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), which spawned an entire media franchise, reprising the role in '' Ghostbusters II'' (1989), ''Casper'' (1995), '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife'' (2021), and an upcoming sequel (2023), cameoing as a different character in '' Ghostbusters: Answer the Call'' (2016). He also is known for his comedic roles in ''Trading Places'' (1983), ''Spies Like U ...
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Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves as the program's showrunner. The show premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show. In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was r ...
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Second City Television
''Second City Television'', commonly shortened to ''SCTV'' and later known as ''SCTV Network'' and ''SCTV Channel'', is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's The Second City, Second City troupe. It is an example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to American TV, where it aired for three years on NBC and American Broadcasting Company, ABC simultaneously. Premise The show's premise is the broadcast day of a fictitious TV station (later network) in the town of Melonville. Melonville's location is left unspecified; the earliest episodes imply it is in Canada, but most later episodes place it in the U.S. A typical episode of ''SCTV'' presents a compendium of programming seen on the station throughout its broadcast day. A given episode could contain SCTV news broadcasts, sitcoms, dramas, movies, talk shows, children's shows, advertising send-ups hawking fictitious products, and gam ...
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Trump (magazine)
''Trump'' was a glossy magazine of satire and humor, mostly in the forms of comics features and short stories. It was edited by Harvey Kurtzman and published by Hugh Hefner, with only two issues produced in 1957. The first issue appeared in January 1957. The magazine's mascot was a trumpeter herald in the style of John Tenniel's ''Alice in Wonderland'' illustrations. Kurtzman began work on ''Trump'' shortly after leaving '' Mad'' following a break with its publisher William M. Gaines. ''Mad'' also lost two of its top cartoonists in the dispute's aftermath, when Will Elder and Jack Davis chose to follow Kurtzman. Wally Wood was also recruited for the ''Trump'' team in the form of an either-or option, but he chose to stay at ''Mad''. Other notable artists, including Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth, appeared in ''Trump''. Production Sales were reportedly good for ''Trump'', especially for a new title with a 50-cent cover price, then considered high. But the project was ill-fated. The mag ...
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Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Annie Fanny'' strips in ''Playboy'' from 1962 until 1988. His work is noted for its satire and parody of popular culture, social critique, and attention to detail. Kurtzman's working method has been likened to that of an auteur, and he expected those who illustrated his stories to follow his layouts strictly. Kurtzman began to work on the New Trend line of comic books at EC Comics in 1950. He wrote and edited the ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat'' war comic books, where he also drew many of the carefully researched stories, before he created his most-remembered comic book, ''Mad'', in 1952. Kurtzman scripted the stories and had them drawn by top EC cartoonists, most frequently Will Elder, Wally Wood, and Jack Davis; the earl ...
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Doug Kenney
Douglas Clark Francis Kenney (December 10, 1946 – August 27, 1980) was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV and film who co-founded the magazine ''National Lampoon'' in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its early material. He went on to write, produce and perform in the influential comedies ''Animal House'' and ''Caddyshack'' before his sudden death at the age of 33. Early life Douglas Clark Francis Kenney was born in West Palm Beach, Florida to Estelle "Stephanie" (Karch) and Daniel Harold "Harry" Kenney, both originally from Massachusetts. His paternal grandparents, Daniel J. Kenney and Eleanor Agnes (Noonan), were of Irish origin. His maternal grandparents, Anthony Karczewski and Victoria Lesniak, were Polish. He was named for General Douglas MacArthur. His family moved to Mentor, Ohio, in the early 1950s, before settling in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Kenney lived in Chagrin Falls from 1958 to 1964 and attended Gilmour Ac ...
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Henry Beard
Henry Nichols Beard (born June 7, 1945) is an American humorist, one of the founders of the magazine '' National Lampoon'' and the author of several best-selling books. Life and career Beard, a great-grandson of 14th Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close." He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humor writer after reading ''Catch-22''. He then went to Harvard University (from which he graduated in 1967) and joined its humor magazine, the ''Harvard Lampoon'', which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid-1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody ''Bored of the Rings''. Henry and Ke ...
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