Thomas Lennon Joins Will Forte, Joel McHale in Netflix's National Lampoon Origins Movie (Exclusive)

The feature is heading towards a start later this month with David Wain in the director’s chair.

Thomas Lennon, who stars opposite Matthew Perry on CBS’ remake of The Odd Couple, has joined the cast of Netflix’s tragic story of National Lampoon co-founder Douglas Kenney, A Futile and Stupid Gesture.

Will Forte is starring as Kenney with a call sheet that sees Domnhall Gleeson as fellow National Lampoon co-founder Henry Beard and Joel McHale as Chevy Chase.

The feature is heading towards a start later this month with David Wain, the co-creator of Wet Hot American Summer, in the director’s chair.

Kenney was the editor of the Harvard Lampoon when he met Beard and Robert Hoffman, which, soon after graduation, resulted in the creation of National Lampoon, the humor magazine that became a major force and brand in 1970s comedy. Kenney ended up going Hollywood and succumbed to drug and alcohol issues before falling off a cliff in Hawaii under mysterious circumstances.

Lennon will play Michael O’Donoghue, one of the first writers at the magazine who later became an editor. He was the first head writer on Saturday Night Live and appeared in the first-ever skit on the show. O’Donoghue possessed an anarchic streak and frequently got into trouble due to his outspoken nature.

The writer, who co-penned the screenplay to the Bill Murray vehicle Scrooged (1988), died in 1994.

Lennon’s Odd Couple returns for season 2 on Thursday, and he also has Paramount’s Monster Trucks in the can. The comic actor co-created the comedy Reno 911! and co-wrote Night at the Museum. He previously worked with Wain on the 1990s MTV series The State.

Lennon is repped by UTA and Principato-Young Entertainment.