Sean Kelly (writer)

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Seán Kelly was born in July 1940 on a farm outside Montreal, Quebec. After graduating from (now-extinct) Loyola College he worked as a radio actor, newspaper reporter, advertising copywriter, television scriptwriter, quiz show judge & schoolteacher -- but not all at the same time.

In 1967 he co-wrote Expo Inside Out, a bestselling but highly unofficial guide to the Montreal World’s Fair. In 1972, he migrated to NYC to co-write the infamous off-Broadway mock rock musical “Lemmings.” He received the Drama Desk Award for his lyrics (but so far not a penny in royalties.) “Pop debunking perhaps reached its zenith in the early ‘70s with albums like “Goodbye Pop” … and “National Lampoon’s Lemmings,” in which Christopher Guest, Sean Kelly, Tony Hendra and others gleefully desanctified hallowed touchstones of the rock counterculture.” - Stephen Holden, The New York Times, June 25, 1989.

He was an editor of the National Lampoon magazine when it was funny – from 1971 until 1978. “Sean Kelly . . . broke his own record for obscurantism several times, reaching an apotheosis with a dense parody of Finnegans Wake.” - Nathaniel Stein, The Daily Beast. July 1, 2013.

In 1975 he was a founding editor of Heavy Metal, the ‘adult fantasy magazine.’

As a freelance, he has been eclectic; published in Bazaar, Benneton’s Colors, Interview, Irish America Magazine, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Playboy, SPY, The Village Voice, & the Quarterly of Joyce Studies. He reviewed a great many children’s books for the New York Times.

Of his contribution to the Off-Broadway musical Diamonds,” Christian Science Monitor critic John Beaufort wrote, “Certainly the most exotic parody of the occasion is Sean Kelly's hilarious Kasi Atta Batt, which turns out to be a Japanese Kabuki version, complete with lion dancer and samurai, of the lament known to untutored Western ears as Casey at the Bat. CSM, December 28, 1984.

He worked extensively in children’s television: for CBS Young People’s Concerts & Drawing Power, for the FOX series Goosebumps & The Magic School Bus, & for the PBS series Shining Time Station & Noddy and Friends. His only Emmy (2004) was for the early literacy PBS series, Between the Lions. He has participated in ‘adult television’ – including a brief stint on SNL, two attempted baseball/variety shows, a sit-com series, a couple of crime dramas, and the re-re-cycling of Woodstock; he appeared on the small screen hosting a PBS arts show, trying to swim in a suit of armor, and dressed as a beaver. He created material for John Candy, George Carlin, Jane Curtin, Robert Klein, Steve Martin, Martin Mull, Gilda Radner, & Jonathan Winters.

He contributed lyrics to music by Steve Goodman, Christopher Guest, Paul Jacobs, Joe Raposo. Paul Shaffer, & Jim Steinman.

He has written (or co-written) very many books, only one of which has been translated into Japanese. They include: Saints Preserve Us! (1993) & How to Be Irish (1999, both with Rosemary Rogers); Irish Folk and Fairy Tales (editor, 1982); Not the Bible (with Tony Hendra, 1983); Grosseries (with Trish Todd, illustrated by Rick Meyerowitz, 1987); Boom Baby Moon (illustrated by Ron Hauge, 1993) & Bush Photo Oops (with Chris Kelly) 2004. ”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.” - Gahan Wilson, NY Times Book Review, Dec. 5, 1993.

He has five grown-up children and nine grand daughters and lives in Brooklyn.

List of books[]

• Slightly Higher in Canada, Sean Kelly and Ted Mann, 1978
• The Secret: A Treasure Hunt, Sean Kelly and Ted Mann, 1982
• Irish Folk and Fairy Tales, Edited by Sean Kelly, 1982
• Not the Bible, Sean Kelly and Tony Hendra, 1983
• A Book Called Bob, Sean Kelly, 1984
• Grosseries, Sean Kelly and Trish Todd, 1987
• Nicknames/Unusual Monikers, Secret Identities, Remarkable Aliases, Hilarious Histories, Sean Kelly and Ron Hauge, 1987
• Spitting Images, Sean Kelly, 1987
• 101 Ways to Answer the Request: "Would You Please Put Out That #(!&)", Sean Kelly, Warren Leight, and Charles Rubin
• The Book of Sequels, Henry Beard, Christopher Cerf, Sarah Durkee, & Sean Kelly, 1990
• Boom Baby Moon, Sean Kelly and Ron Hauge, 1993
• Saints Preserve Us!: Everything You Need to Know About Every Saint You'll Ever Need, Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers, 1993
• Herstory: Lisa Marie's Wedding Diary: Shamelessly Concocted, Sean Kelly, Chris Kelly, and Ron Barrett, 1996
• Who in Hell...: A Guide to the Whole Damned Bunch, Sean Kelly, Rosemary Rogers, and I. Clement, 1996
• How to Be Irish (Even If You Already Are), Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers, 1999
• The Birthday Book of Saints: Your Powerful Personal Patrons of Every Blessed Day of the Year, Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers, 2001
• The Saint-a-Day Guide: A Lighthearted but Accurate Compendium, Sean Kelly, 2003
• Bush Photo Oops: Presidential Photo Ops Gone Awry, Sean Kelly and Chris Kelly, 2004

References[]

This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

• Son-o'-God comics at Dial B for Blog [1]
• Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Artists and Writers who made National Lampoon Insanely Great, 2010, Rick Meyerowitz, Abrams Books, New York, ISBN 978-0-8109-8848-4