Henry Beard co-founded the National Lampoon in 1970 then insisted on a buyout in 1975 and never contributed again. He has almost never spoken publicly about the NatLamp years – but here’s a great interview from Spltsider.
On advertisers:
The people who started the National Lampoon were very fortunate. We came along at a very particular time. All the restraints were coming loose, it was probably one of the last times when you could start a monthly magazine… For a long time we couldn’t get advertising. The advertisers would say, “I’m not going to advertise in that disgusting magazine.” But that soon changed. At 295,000 it was disgusting. At 305,000 it was an important audience that needed to be reached on its own terms.