National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody

National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody

First edition (1978)
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	comedy, parody
Publisher	National Lampoon
Publication date	1978, reissued as a book in 2004
Media type	Print
Pages	208 (when in book form)
ISBN	978-1-59071-037-1

National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody is an American humor "book", a parody that was first published in 1978 by National Lampoon magazine. In the first printing, this publication had exactly the same form and apparent content as that of an American regional Sunday newspaper, of which it was a parody. In many ways a sequel to the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody, published in 1973, the authors of the piece were P. J. O'Rourke and John Hughes.

Physical format

The National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody was originally printed in many different sections, some on the paper stock known as newsprint, and some on other cheap paper, like that used in a real Sunday newspaper of that period.

The (originally separate) sections within the newspaper included: National News, Local News, More Local News, Sports Section, Entertainment, Television Listings, Travel, Real Estate, Gardening, Your Pet, Women's Pages, Classified Ads, a "Swillmart Discount Store" Advertising Supplement, a Parade magazine parody, and eight pages of comics.

The Newspaper Parody was reissued, but in book form, in 2004.

Dacron, Ohio

The newspaper's name is the "Dacron, Ohio Republican–Democrat", with the fictional town of "Dacron" being a three-part reference to Akron, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; and to the cheap polyester fabric Dacron. Use of the imaginary city "Dacron, Ohio" links the Newspaper Parody to the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody because "C. Estes Kefauver High School" was supposedly situated in the same city.

In the newspaper, Dacron is described as "The Motor Home Capital of the World". However, many of the street and location names in the parody actually reference Toledo, Ohio, which was O'Rourke's hometown.

Contents

As described by writer Ellin Stein, "the parody succeeds in creating its own universe through an accumulation of interrelated detail.... [f]rom the classifieds to the obituaries to the movie ads":

The big headline of the Republican-Democrat refers to yet another attack by a notorious local criminal, the Powder Room Prowler, a menace still at large after several months despite his trademark high heels and bag over his head. This local story is given far more attention than such minor (and faraway) events like “30,000 Feared Dead in India” and “Japan Destroyed” (which receives a bit more play because the tragedy “has marred the vacation plans of Miss Frances Bundle and her mother, Olive”).

The parody also brought readers up to date with characters featured in the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody (who were now almost 15 years older):

Rich kid Woolworth Van Husen III is, unsurprisingly, in the family trailer business, while artistic Forrest Swisher is director of the “Dinner Theater in the Dell.” Elsewhere we learn that lone African-American student Madison Avenue Jones is a city councilman, class clown Herb Weisenheimer is now proprietor of “Hollerin’ Herb’s Psychopathic Chevrolet and Lunatic Used Cars,” and former beatnik and Dickinson grad Faun Rosenberg heads up a conservation group that is trying to stop hunters from shooting the wildlife that flocks to the warm (160 degrees centigrade) waters of the Lake Muskingum nuclear cooling pond. Meanwhile, Everystudent Larry Kroger, now a Kefauver High guidance counselor, has attempted suicide by jumping from the second story of his parents’ home.