“Animal House was groundbreaking because it was one of the first, if not the first, feature film to reflect the comedic sensibilities of the National Lampoon/Saturday Night Live generation,” says film critic Richard Roeper, “It was edgier, sexier and much more offensive (in a good way) than simple slapstick or the joke-driven comedy of someone like Neil Simon. The script is vastly underrated. Animal House produced about a dozen memorable characters, many of whom appeared in one or two scenes. That’s a testimony to the strength of the screenplay and the talent of the actors.”

“As for the film’s cultural impact – yes, there was the anti-establishment theme, but of course we’d experienced that in dozens of films from the 60s and 70s, from Bonnie and Clyde to Easy Rider to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” But, this was an anti-establishment comedy, and that was something new. Also, it was one of the first comedies aimed squarely at the teen and twenty something audience. I was 18 when it came out and I remember waiting in line to see it in Chicago on Friday – and coming back to see it again two days later.”

In Greenfield, Massachusetts, Penn Jillette had actually engaged in a screaming match with a classmate over whether National Lampoon was just trying to get laughs or had content, with Jillette arguing the latter. “Teachers had to come in,” Jillette recalls, “that fight really escalated. Nothing [in the Lampoon] ever felt even slightly watered down.”

Today, Jillette remembers several Lampoon pieces nearly word for word, not having read them for over 30 years. “It’s like Catch-22, but I read that twice. Or Catcher in the Rye. I remember it that well…“[The Lampoon] is deeply influential [on Jillette’s act], but from the outside you can’t track it. What we do is entirely different, and you’d have to work hard to see what of the Velvet Underground or National Lampoon ended up in Penn and Teller. But, the answer is a whole fucking lot.”

“The Lampoon was absolutely fearless about their targets, viciously mocking not only the Establishment (an easy and popular target) but also the lame-o vacuities of the Flower Power people. Those guys broke all kinds of rules, and that changed everything — you saw the effects not just in print, but on TV and the movies. You still see it now, — the Onion, for example, is a descendant of the Lampoon. It inspired me. I knew these guys were close to my age, and while I was writing stories about the zoning board for a small-town newspaper, they were doing this amazing stuff, and I thought, I want to do THAT.” - Dave Barry