Harvard Lampoon - Definition and Overview

The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor organization founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its erratically-produced eponymous magazine, originally modelled on the former British satirical periodical Punch, has outlived it and is now the world's longest-running humor magazine. The organization also produces occasional humor books (the best known being the 1969 J.R.R. Tolkien parody Bored of the Rings) and parodies of national magazines. Much of the organization's capital is provided by the licensing of the "Lampoon" name to National Lampoon, begun by Harvard Lampoon graduates in 1970.

Notable Harvard Lampoon alumni include John Reed, William Randolph Hearst, George Plimpton, Fred Gwynne, John Updike, Conan O'Brien and innumerable writers and producers for The Simpsons, Futurama, Late Night with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, News Radio and many other television comedies.

The organization is housed in a small mock-Flemish castle at 0 Freedom Square.

External link

• The Harvard Lampoon (http://www.harvardlampoon.com/)