Douglas Kenney
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Douglas C. Kenney (December 10, 1947 – August 27, 1980) was an American writer who co-founded National Lampoon magazine in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its early material (see [1]).
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Childhood
Douglas C. Kenney was born on December 10, 1947 in West Palm Springs, Florida. His older brother, Daniel, was incredibly well liked, particularly by Kenney's parents, which made Kenney feel somewhat inferior. Still Kenney admired his older brother, and Daniel's death at 29 years old had a profound effect on him. Kenney was also an outstanding student in high school. The level of tolerance he got from his teachers varied on whether they appreciated Kenney's somewhat sophomoric sense of humour. One teacher that particularly warmed to Kenney was his English teacher, John "Ivo" Reagen, who became something of a mentor to him.
[edit] Harvard
While at Harvard Kenney was a member of the Signet society and editor of the Harvard Lampoon. There Kenney was part of the first wave of young newcomers who infused new life into the then stagnant college humor magazine. Another one of these writers was Henry Beard, whom Kenney frequently collaborated with and became a lifelong friend. Together with Beard, he wrote Bored of the Rings, which was published in 1969. Another one of Kenney's friends while at Harvard was musician Peter Ivers. Kenney graduated in 1968. Soon after, he and Beard met up with fellow Harvard alumni Robert Hoffman, and they began work on National Lampoon.
[edit] National Lampoon
Kenney was one of the originating forces of what was to become known during the 1970's as the "new wave" of comedy, a dark, irreverent style of humor Kenney used as the basis for his magazine. Kenney was Editor-in-Chief from 1970 to 1972, Senior Editor 1973 to 1974, and editor from 1975 to 1976.
Kenney wrote much of the early material, such as "Mrs. Agnew's Diary", a regular column written as the diary of Spiro Agnew (or "Spiggy")'s wife, chronicling her life among Richard Nixon (or "Dick") and other famous politicians. The feature was an Americanized version of Private Eye's long-running column "Mrs. Wilson's Diary," written from the viewpoint of Prime Minister Harold Wilson's wife.
Kenney had a 5 year buyout contract with the Lampoon's publisher, 21st Century Communications. Kenney, Beard, and Hoffman took advantage of this, dividing a sum of 7 million dollars among them. Kenney remained on staff until 1977. He quit to co-author the screenplay to National Lampoon's Animal House, along with Chris Miller and Harold Ramis.
[edit] Animal House
Kenney had a small but key role in Animal House as the frat brother called "Stork," whose most memorable line of dialogue was the combative "Well, whut the hell we s'posed to do, yuh mo-ron?" Shot quickly on a low budget, National Lampoon's Animal House was the most profitable comedy film in Hollywood history, making Kenney one of the most sought-after writers in Hollywood.
Unfortunately, the sense of self-satisfaction and happiness that Kenney felt following the premiere of Animal House faded in direct proportion to the attention and praise he received. He longed to be doing what he considered to be serious work—writing the great American novel or the movie-of-movies—and increasingly thought of himself as a failure. A manuscript for his novel, Teenage Commies from Outer Space, was never completed.
[edit] Caddyshack
Kenney co-wrote Caddyshack with Brian Doyle-Murray and Harold Ramis. When it opened to negative reviews in July, 1980 (Ramis joked that the film was "a six-million-dollar scholarship to film school"), Kenney became extremely depressed. At a press conference, he verbally abused reporters and then fell into a drunken stupor. Concerned friends began asking Kenney to seek professional help, but by that time he was spinning out of control, joking about previous suicide attempts, driving recklessly, and using increasing amounts of cocaine.
[edit] Death
After the incident at the Caddyshack press conference, it became very clear that all was not well. Kenney's close friend Chevy Chase tried taking him to Kauai, Hawaii, hoping the relaxing environment would help him, but had to leave to get back to work. After Chase left, Kenney's girlfriend, Kathryn Walker, came to keep him company, but she also had to leave to get back to work. Kenney had called Chase and invited him to come back out, and Chase was getting ready to leave when he got a call that his friend was missing.
Kenney died on August 27, 1980, aged 32, after falling from a thirty-foot cliff called the Hanapepe Lookout. Police found his abandoned vehicle the following day, but it wasn't until three days later that Kenney's body was discovered. Found in Kenney's hotel room were notes for projects he had been planning, jokes, and an outline for a new movie. "We also found," Chevy Chase told Rolling Stone magazine, "written on the back of a hotel receipt, a bunch of random thoughts that included the reasons why he loved Kathryn, and a gag line: 'These last few days are among the happiest I've ever ignored.'"
[edit] References
[edit] Biography
- Josh Karp. A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever ISBN 1-55652-602-4 (2006)
