Josh Karp (Author)

"Josh Karp has informed us well about one of the funniest and innovative humorists of the last century. Doug Kenny was a great friend of mine and it is a good read." —Chevy Chase, actor, Caddyshack

"Josh Karp achieves the unthinkable—he's written an essential American excavation of comedy that is, of itself, very, very, very, very, very, very funny. Doug Kenney would be extremely proud and humbled, if he weren't dead." —Bill Zehme, author, Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman

"The definitive profile of Kenney's brilliant comic mind and his too-short life." —Richard Roeper, film critic, Chicago Sun-Times


"A must-read for the curious, comedy aficionados, and subversively shy teenagers everywhere." —Mark McKinney, actor, Kids in the Hall

"I got my first copy of National Lampoon and saw that comedy could be smart, scary, challenging, important, strange, and beautiful. . . . This book is as close as I'll come to meeting Doug Kenney. It's close enough." —Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller


"[This] is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of the man and publication that all but defined the comedy zeitgeist of the last 35 years." —Rob Siegel, former editor, The Onion

"Fun, fast, and furious." —Library Journal

"Karp’s account of Kenney’s death is as moving as the excerpts from excellent NL articles are hilarious." —Booklist

"Karp makes a persuasive case for Kenney to be considered among the key architects of post-World War II humor." —American Way

"Jammed with personalities and capsule histories." —The New York Times

"The sharpest analysis yet of how success, self-doubt and drugs led one of his generation’s wittiest minds down a blind path." —Philadelphia Citypaper

"A story that sheds welcome light on some of the funniest material of our age." —The Capital Times

"Filled with anecdotes that will send tears streaming down the readers’ cheeks." —Steve Goddard’s History Wire