''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
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...
, and
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
. The show was co-written and co-directed by a number of people including Sean Kelly. The show 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.
Plot
The first half of the show was
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
; the second half was a mock rock festival, "Woodshuck: Three Days of Peace, Love and Death", a parody of "
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
: Three Days of Peace and Music." "Woodshuck" featured spoofs of Woodstock performers, including
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...
and
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
, as well as parodies of
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...
,
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
and
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...
* Welcome to the Woodshuck Festival: Three Days of Peace, Love, and Death; plus band introductions throughout - John Belushi
*
Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...
Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
Pavlov Pavlov (or its variant Pavliv) may refer to:
People
*Pavlov (surname) (fem. ''Pavlova''), a common Bulgarian and Russian last name
*Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist famous for his experiments in classical conditioning
Places Czech Republic
*Pavlo ...
, Adler, and Jung)
* Bob Dylan, performing "Positively Wall Street," a parody of several of his styles, with the title taken from " Positively 4th Street" - Christopher Guest
* Goldie Oldie, a parody of old, 1950s-style performers, performing "Pizza Man," a parody of the "teen tragedy" songs - Alice Playten
* John Denver, performing "Colorado" - Chevy Chase
* Joan Baez, performing "Pull the Triggers, Niggers," a parody of her protest songs and of Dylan's song "George Jackson," in particular. Listed on the album cover as "Pull the Tregroes, Negroes." - Mary Jenifer Mitchell (later replaced by Rhonda Coullet)
* Joe Cocker, "Lonely at the Bottom" - Belushi as Cocker, Paul Jacobs as
Leon Russell
Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...
on piano.
* James Taylor, "Highway Toes," a parody of his
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
abuse - Christopher Guest
* Motown Manifestoes singing "Papa was a Running Dog Lackey of the Bourgeoisie" (parody of " Papa Was a Rollin' Stone"), with most of its lines taken from '' The Communist Manifesto''.
* Donovan, "Nirvana Banana" - Peter Elbling (later addition to the show).
* Joni Mitchell, "I Do for You" - Alice Playten (replaced by Rhonda Coullet).
* Farmer Yassir (parody of Max Yasgur, owner of the land on which Woodstock was held), greeting the audience - Gary Goodrow
* Megadeath, a parody of heavy metal groups, who end their act by turning the amps so loud that the audience dies.
* "Jackie Christ, Superstar." Parody of "Jesus Christ, Superstar." Jesus is a stand-up comedian, while John Belushi played King Herod.
* "
Deteriorata
"Deteriorata" is a comedy record released as a single in 1972. It is a parody of Les Crane's 1971 spoken word recording of "Desiderata", the early 20th-century poem by Max Ehrmann. ("Desiderata" is Latin for "desired things"; "deteriorata" is a p ...
." A Tony Hendra parody of Les Crane's recording of "
Desiderata
"Desiderata" (Latin: "things desired") is an early 1920s prose poem by the American writer Max Ehrmann. Although he copyrighted it in 1927, he distributed copies of it without a required copyright notice during 1933 and , thereby forfeiting his ...
."
* "Defeat Day" - a parody of America's first military defeat in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. "Put all your troubles in a nickel bag and smile, smile, smile."
* The Rolling Stones Parody, with Alice Playten playing "Mick Jagger."
Cast
The cast included:National Lampoon Lemmings (1973) (accessed June 26, 2009)
* John Belushi - bass guitar
*
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
- drums
*
Garry Goodrow
Garry Goodrow (November 4, 1933 – July 22, 2014) was an American actor known for his role in the original stage production of the Obie Award-winning play ''The Connection'' (1959) and its 1961 film version, and as one of the original memb ...
- sax
*
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...
- guitar
* Paul Jacobs -guitar, piano
* Mary Jenifer Mitchell
*
Alice Playten
Alice Playten ('' née'' Plotkin; August 28, 1947 – June 25, 2011) was an American actress known for her high-pitched, child-like voice.
Life and career
Born in New York City, Playten began her career at age 11 in the Broadway musical ''Gyp ...
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...
Tony Hendra
Anthony Christopher "Tony" Hendra (10 July 1941 – 4 March 2021) was an English satirist, actor and writer who worked mostly in the United States. Educated at St Albans School (where he was a classmate of Stephen Hawking) and at St John's Col ...
Alice Playten
Alice Playten ('' née'' Plotkin; August 28, 1947 – June 25, 2011) was an American actress known for her high-pitched, child-like voice.
Life and career
Born in New York City, Playten began her career at age 11 in the Broadway musical ''Gyp ...
– 1973
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
A cast recording of the show was released in 1973, with
album cover
An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...
# Stage Announcements ''Performed by John Belushi''
# "Lemmings Lament" ''Lead vocal by Paul Jacobs (as David Crosby); instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Paul Jacobs and Sean Kelly.''
# Stage Announcements ''Performed by John Belushi''
# "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.''
# Weather Person ''Performed by Garry Goodrow''
# "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''
# Stage Announcements ''Performed by John Belushi''
# "Colorado" ''Lead vocal by Chevy Chase; instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Christopher Guest, Sean Kelly, and Tony Hendra''
# Richie Havens ''Performed by Christopher Guest (as Richie Havens)''
# Crowd Rain Chant ''Performed by John Belushi''
Side Two
# Stage Announcements ''Performed by John Belushi''
# "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''
# All-Star Dead Band ''Performed by John Belushi''
# Stage Announcements ''Performed by John Belushi''
# "Highway Toes" ''Lead vocal by Christopher Guest (as James Taylor); instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Christopher Guest and Sean Kelly''
# Hell's Angel ''Performed by Chevy Chase''
# Stage Announcements ''Performed by John Belushi''
# Farmer Yassir ''Performed by Garry Goodrow''
# "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''
# Megagroupie ''Performed by Alice Playten''
# "Megadeath" ''Lead vocal by John Belushi; instruments and backup vocals by the cast; written by Paul Jacobs and Sean Kelly''
Lemmings
A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...
Lemmings
A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...