(JULY 2011) I always knew of Tony Hendra’s magazine work, being of the generation who were teens and then college students during the best years of both the National Lampoon and Spy. But I never real knew Hendra until I read Rick Meyerowitz’s book, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great.
TONY HENDRA audio excerpt: "With the (New York Times) struggling — with a moron as its publisher, numerous scandals over the past ten years — it remains the Old Grey Lady and the Old Grey Lady is as constipated as ever... and we've been having great fun with the corpse of the Times."Meyerowitz wrote that Hendra was one of the “brilliant” guys in the book’s title. He was also very good at holding his alcohol, apparently.“Often, reading the magazine, you can’t tell who wrote what, but Tony’s prose has a specific gravity. You can feel its weight on the page. His sentences, like shiny steel, fit together with a metallic sound, like the business parts of a Gatling gun locking in place. And his words ring like bullet casings hitting a steel deck after being fired.”
Am I intimidated talking to someone that clever? Of course; why else do you think I’m relying on Rick Meyerowitz’s words to carry me here? Hendra is back in the spotlight with the launch of TheFinalEdition.com, a broad parody of The New York Times, Fox News and media in general. You might argue that on any given day, The New York Times itself is but a parody of The New York Times, but that won’t deter the likes of Tony Hendra. He has the Old Grey Lady in his sights and his trigger finger is ready to squeeze.
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