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Sean Kelly | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1940-07-22)July 22, 1940 Cushing,Quebec, Canada |
| Died | July 11, 2022(2022-07-11) (aged 81) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, Humorist |
| Education | Loyola College |
| Employer | National Lampoon (1971–1984) |
| Notable works | Lemmings Diamonds |
| Notable awards | Drama Desk Award Emmy Award |
| Spouse | Patricia Todd |
| Children | 5 |
Seán Kelly (July 22, 1940 – July 11, 2022) was a Canadian humorist and writer.
Sean was born on a farm in Cushing,Quebec, on July 22, 1940.[1][2] After graduating fromLoyola College he worked as a radio actor, advertising copywriter, schoolteacher and on a quiz show.[2]
In 1967 he co-wroteExpo Inside Out, a bestselling but highly unofficial guide to theMontreal World's Fair. In 1972, he migrated to New York City to co-write the infamous off-Broadway mock rock musicalLemmings.[3] He received theDrama Desk Award for his lyrics.[2][4]
He worked atNational Lampoon from 1971 until 1978,[5] becoming an editor and later co-editor-in-chief in 1975.[2] While at theNational Lampoon, he co-wrote withMichel Choquette the satirical comic stripSon-O-God,[6] about "a WASP superhero who fights Catholicism", illustrated byNeal Adams.
In 1977 Kelly was a founding editor of the "adult fantasy magazine"Heavy Metal (which was published by National Lampoon), lasting as editor until August 1979.[7][8] Kelly returned toNational Lampoon as a senior editor in 1981 and until 1984 he guided its staff.[2]
As a freelancer, he was eclectic; published inHarper's Bazaar,Benetton'sColors,Interview,Irish America, theOld Farmer's Almanac,Playboy,Spy,The Village Voice, andThe Quarterly of Joyce Studies.[9] He reviewed many children's books forThe New York Times.
Of his contribution to the Off-Broadway musicalDiamonds (1984),Christian Science Monitor critic John Beaufort wrote, "Certainly the most exotic parody of the occasion is Sean Kelly's hilariousKasi Atta Batt, which turns out to be a JapaneseKabuki version, complete with lion dancer and samurai, of the lament known to untutored Western ears asCasey at the Bat."[10]
He worked extensively in children’s television: for CBS'sYoung People's Concerts andDrawing Power, for the Fox seriesGoosebumps andThe Magic School Bus, and for the PBS seriesShining Time Station andNoddy and Friends. His onlyEmmy (2004) was for the early literacy PBS series,Between the Lions.
He also participated in "adult television" – including a brief stint onSaturday Night Live,[citation needed] two attempted baseball/variety shows, a sit-com series, a couple of crime dramas, and the re-re-cycling ofWoodstock; he appeared on the small screen hosting a PBS arts show, trying to swim in a suit of armor, and dressed as a beaver.[citation needed] He created material forJohn Candy,George Carlin,Jane Curtin,Robert Klein,Steve Martin,Martin Mull,Gilda Radner, andJonathan Winters.
He contributed lyrics to music bySteve Goodman,Christopher Guest, Paul Jacobs,Joe Raposo,Paul Shaffer, andJim Steinman.
He wrote (or co-wrote) many books, only one of which has been translated into Japanese,[citation needed] including a number of collaborations with Rosemary Rogers.
He was married to Patricia Todd; they had five children and lived inBrooklyn.[2] He died from heart and renal failure on July 11, 2022, at the age of 81 in a hospital inManhattan.[2][11]
Pop debunking perhaps reached its zenith in the early '70s with albums like 'Goodbye Pop' ... and 'National Lampoon''s 'Lemmings', in whichChristopher Guest, Sean Kelly,Tony Hendra, and others gleefully desanctified hallowed touchstones of the rock counterculture.
Sean Kelly . . . broke his own record for obscurantism several times, reaching an apotheosis with a dense parody ofFinnegans Wake.
'Boom Baby Moon' is unlikely— despite the lulling rhythm of Sean Kelly's poetizing and the innocent-looking illustrations of Ron Hauge — to con the densest of grown-ups into thinking it's a simple children's book. I suspect it will be banned shortly after it appears in our nation's bookstores, that it will never have a chance of making the libraries, and that its creators will be speedily investigated by a Senate committee.
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