In 1974, producer George Schlatter — relatively fresh off Laugh-In — produced a not-all-that-dissimilar comedy-variety pilot for ABC called Lampoon. Now, you may be wondering about that name because at the time, National Lampoon was a pretty popular magazine. Apparently, lawyers had advised Schlatter that National Lampoon didn't own the word "lampoon" so he could use it.
There was legal action which you can read about here and not only did the show not become a series but the pilot never aired. The word "Lampoon" was just too prominent in the show to edit it out.
But now, here we have it. The comedy troupe included Desi Arnaz Jr., Harry Secombe, Brenda Vaccaro, Marshall Efron, Wayland Flowers and Madame, Marion Ramsey, Lonnie Schorr and some other folks whose names I can't understand in the opening intros. If you can identify any of 'em, let me know. There were also some cartoons in the show, one of which was drawn by my amigo, Sergio Aragonés. If you just want to see Sergio's cartoon and hear his name mispronounced, click here to start watching the show at that point. If you want to watch the whole thing, click below…