Lemmings (National Lampoon)

{{More citations needed section|date=August 2021}}

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").

The cast included:[http://www.marksverylarge.com/recordings/lemmings.html National Lampoon Lemmings (1973)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021021122133/http://www.marksverylarge.com/recordings/lemmings.html |date=2002-10-21 }} (accessed June 26, 2009)

• John Belushi - bass guitar
• Chevy Chase - drums
• Garry Goodrow - sax
• Christopher Guest - guitar
• Paul Jacobs -guitar, piano
• Mary Jenifer Mitchell
• Alice Playten

Later cast replacements:

• Rhonda Coullet
• Nate Herman
• Bob Hoban
• Zal Yanovsky
• Tony Scheuren
• Peter Elbling
• Archie Hahn
• John Wall

The writers included:

• Christopher Guest – music, musical arrangements
• Paul Jacobs – music, musical arrangements, musical director
• John Belushi
• Sean Kelly
• Tony Hendra
• David Axlerod

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."{{cite magazine |author=T.E.K. |date= 19 February 1973 |title= Megadeath by Laughter |magazine= Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906887,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214084008/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906887,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 14, 2008 }} Reviewers for The New York Times initially gave the play lukewarm reviews,{{cite news|title=Less Sharp Than Olsen & Johnson|work=The New York Times|

date=Feb 4, 1973|first=Walter|last=Kerr|author-link=Walter Kerr|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/04/archives/kerr-on-lemmings-less-sharp-than-olsen-johnson.html}}{{cite news|title='Lemmings' Is No Giggle|first=Loraine |last=Alterman|date=Sep 9, 1973|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/09/archives/lemmings-is-no-giggle-about-lemnmings.html}} but a subsequent Times mention of the show lauded its "gleeful... desanctifi[cation of the] hallowed touchstones of the rock counterculture."{{cite news|quote=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.|first= Stephen |last=Holden|author-link=Stephen Holden|work=The New York Times|date=June 25, 1989|title=POP VIEW; For Pop, Comedy May Be The Sincerest Form of Flattery|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/25/arts/pop-view-for-pop-comedy-may-be-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery.html}} 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."

• Alice Playten – 1973 Obie Award for Distinguished Performance[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0153563.html 1972–1973 Obie Awards] accessed 27 November 2009

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationallampoon.com/lemmings/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809113223/https://nationallampoon.com/lemmings/ |archive-date=Aug 9, 2007|website=National Lampoon|title=Lemmings Comedy Troupe}}

In 2008, National Lampoon's Lemmings went into production with ManiaTV! on a half-hour web-based sketch comedy show. 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).{{cite web|title=National Lampoon's Lemmings Rebooted for a New Generation: National Lampoon finds corporate sponsors for its Downfall Festival in Lemmings: 21st Century|first=Tony|last=Sokol|website=Den of Geek|date=January 28, 2020|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/national-lampoons-lemmings-reboot/}}{{cite magazine|title=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.|first=Bruce |last=Handy|date=March 16, 2020|magazine=The New Yorker|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/arts/national-lampoon-grows-up-by-dumbing-down.html}} 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."{{cite news|title='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|first=Sara |last=Aridi|date=Jan 28, 2020|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/arts/television/national-lampoon-lemmings-reboot.html}}

{{Infobox album

| name = National Lampoon's Lemmings

| type = live

| artist = the cast of Lemmings

| cover = NL_Lemmings.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1973

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Comedy, Parody, Rock, folk rock

| length =

| label = Blue Thumb Records, MCA Records, Decca Broadway

| producer = Tony Hendra

| chronology = National Lampoon

| prev_title = National Lampoon Radio Dinner

| prev_year = 1972

| next_title = The Missing White House Tapes

| next_year = 1974

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}} [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r546026|pure_url=yes}} link]

| noprose = yes

}}

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

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

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

• List of National Lampoon films

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101028125348/http://www.greenmanreview.com/cd/cd_va_nationallampoon_lemmings.html Original Off-Broadway Cast, National Lampoon's Lemmings] (Blue Thumb, 1973; Decca Records, 2002)
• [http://www.iobdb.com/Production/2887 National Lampoon's Lemmings] at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

{{National Lampoon}}

Lemmings

Lemmings

Category:Off-Broadway musicals

Category:1970s comedy albums

Category:1973 soundtrack albums

Category:1973 musicals

Category:Blue Thumb Records albums