A&E Wants to Make a Dramedy Inspired by “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead” But National Lampoon Isn’t on Board Yet
(via Deadline)
Maybe go the “unauthorized biography” route?
In this current comedy boom, there’s a particular fascination with the story behind comedy (just listen to most comedy podcasts and remember that Showtime’s doing a show about The Comedy Store in the 1970s). The documentary National Lampoon documentary Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of National Lampoon shows the glory days of the National Lampoon brand, when it used to be one of the biggest things in comedy.
It should go without saying that some network would want to adapt the documentary into a televised series.
A&E wants to be that network to make a show like that, but they’re opting to develop a series that’s only inspired by the documentary, offering up a fictionalized account of what happened at National Lampoon without referencing National Lampoon (a retro Studio 60?).
However, no one at A&E has contacted National Lampoon and this has National Lampoon rallying against the project until they’re involved.
Hopefully, they’ll settle their differences and not have to be “inspired by” as the National Lampoon origin story is plenty enticing on its own.