National Lampoon delivers ‘Retorter’

About 4,000 people in entertainment industry circles are receiving a holiday surprise from National Lampoon in their mailboxes this week. “The Hollywood Retorter” looks, at first glance, like a copy of the Hollywood Reporter but on closer inspection turns out be a 16-page parody of the trade paper with some biting jokes aimed at celebrities and show business executives.

The cover stories include a report about a new CNN reality series called “The Kennedys” that features “hard-drinking” Sen. Edward Kennedy and his family in a forum inspired by “The Osbournes.”

Another story is about Mike Ovitz launching Artist’s Valet and Parking Group, “which the onetime Hollywood super-agent promised would reinvent how parking was conducted in this town.”

Doug Bennett, executive vice president of the Westwood-based National Lampoon, says the mailing signals a rejuvenation of the brand name.

“National Lampoon is back in action. We have a lot of plans for the brand and this is the start of things,” Bennett said Tuesday.

National Lampoon, known for the ribald magazine of the same name and for its affiliation with films such as “Animal House” and the “Vacation” franchise, put a new management team in place in May and will be making a push in 2003 into book publishing, radio, television and film, Bennett said. There also are plans for content tailored to a television network on college campuses, he said.

Howard Burns, editor of the Hollywood Reporter, said some of the stories in the parody display “questionable taste” that will offend some sensibilities, but that overall it was a sensation in his newsroom. “We found it hysterical,” Burns said. “And that they chose to imitate us is most flattering.”

Geoff Boucher