I revere under-appreciated and relatively unknown geniuses. I like the people who either flamed out in obscurity or who stayed in a scene just doing the work. For example, I’m much more interested in Richard Farina and Dave Van Ronk than I am in Bob Dylan.

Everyone already knows and reveres Dylan. Richard Farina wrote a novel called Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me, a novel based on a fictionalized Cornell, where he went. He studied under Nabakov and was friends with Thomas Pynchon while there. He was in a folk duo with Mimi Baez, Joan’s sister. And he died early, at 29, in a motorcycle accident.

Dave Van Ronk was one of Dylan’s early mentors and a constant in the West Village coffee house folk scene. His autobiography was apparently part of the inspiration for the Coen Brothers’ movie Inside Llewyn Davis. I saw him speak in the Union Square Barnes and Noble for the release of Positively Fourth Street, about the sixties folk scene. He was an old man then and a few years from passing on but he seemed cool to me, someone who had lived and seen a lot.

This is a pattern of mine. I find a lesser known figure through a book and become a little obsessed with them.

That’s how I came to find out about Doug Kenney, by reading A Futile and Stupid Gesture. I bought the book on kindle and read it on my phone during downtime while I was an extra on the show Billions two summers ago.

Here’s what I find engrossing. Doug Kenny played the character of Stork in Animal House. Even for a Delta, that character always seemed odd and out of place in a fraternity or, hell, a college. He looked like he was 35. I had no idea that the actor playing that guy was the writer of Animal House. Not only that, he was the co-founder of The National Lampoon, which produced the show Lemmings and the National Lampoon Radio Hour, both of which contained most of the original Saturday Night Live cast.

Why hadn’t I heard of this guy before? I’m a comedy geek for Christ’s sake.

The reason, most likely is that he died at 33 in 1980, from a fall while hiking in Hawaii. John Belushi would also die at 33 two years later. I think his death probably overshadowed Kenney’s and became the tragic wake up call of the early eighties.

I was surprised to find out that Kenney was this brilliant, charming, hilarious guy who was pretty universally beloved. And in old pictures, he looks kind of handsome and cool, unlike Stork who I always though looked like a walking Amber Alert.

He was also tortured. He came from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a prototypical American town where the quarterback marries the head cheerleader and he was neither. And during his time at The National Lampoon, after the breakdown of a marriage, he just left without giving anyone any real reason or explanation. He went to Martha’s Vineyard and stayed there for months writing an insane novel.

Animal House or, rather, National Lampoon’s Animal House (I finally understand what the hell that pre-cursor means) was a huge hit and made Kenney a star and the success of The National Lampoon magazine made him a millionaire. So, he was able to indulge in the worst recreational activities of the day.

Cocaine. He did a lot of cocaine.

I was really surprised to learn that he wrote Caddyshack and that he hated it. He hated the gopher and thought it was incredibly cheap. Caddyshack’s inability to measure up to Animal House practically broke him, which is ironic considering that it’s a comedy classic today.

He was incredibly insulted when Lorne Michaels asked him to come write for SNL, as Lorne was saying his career needed a boost. I thought that was one of the more badass passages in the book.

He went to Hawaii with, of all people, Chevy Chase for a vacation and to relax. People were worried about him and I think Chase went with him partly to keep an eye on him. While on that vacation, he went missing for a few days. They eventually discovered his body beneath a particularly dangerous trail on a mountain. As Chase or Michael O’Donoghue or someone quipped, “He fell while he was looking for a place to jump.”

I’m thinking about all of this because I’m watching the Netflix movie A Futile and Stupid Gesture. I’m watching it in pieces because I already know the story. It was buzzed about before it came out because it was going to be directed by David Wain and feature a huge amount of today’s best comedians. But it seems to have passed us all by. I’m the demographic for this movie and I haven’t heard any buzz about it. I wonder what happened.

Even his biopic directed by and starring comedy royalty is difficult and under-appreciated.

These are the people I like to remember. Everyone remembers Belushi. Everyone reveres Dylan. Everyone else has that covered. I can focus on the lesser known brilliant ones, the Richard Farnias, the Dave Van Ronks, the Louise Brookses, the John Cazales, the Doug Kenneys.