Douglas Kenney Movies and Career Information

Douglas C. Kenney (December 10, 1946–August 27, 1980) was an American writer who co-founded National Lampoon magazine in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its early material. Douglas C. Kenney was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, and attended Gilmour Academy, near Cleveland, Ohio, for high school. The death of his older brother, Daniel, at 29, had a profound effect on him. While at Harvard University, Kenney was a member of the Signet society and editor of the Harvard Lampoon. There he was part of the first group of newcomers who restyled the college humor magazine. Another of these writers was Henry Beard, with whom Kenney frequently collaborated, and who became a lifelong friend. Together with Beard, he wrote Bored of the Rings, which was published during 1969. Kenney graduated in 1968. Soon after, he, Beard and fellow Harvard alumnus Robert Hoffman began work on founding the humor magazine National Lampoon. Kenney was one of the originating forces of what was to become known during the 1970s as the "new wave" of comedy, a dark, irreverent style of humor Kenney used as the basis for his magazine. Kenney was Editor-in-Chief from 1970 to 1972, Senior Editor 1973