After dropping out of the <!-- DO NOT CHANGE TO ASU. CONTRADICTS WP:RS -->[[University of Arizona]]<!-- DO NOT CHANGE TO ASU. CONTRADICTS WP:RS -->, Hughes began selling jokes to well-established performers such as [[Rodney Dangerfield]] and [[Joan Rivers]].<ref name="John Wilden Hughes, Jr">{{cite web |title=John Wilden Hughes, Jr. |url=http://www.biography.com/people/john-hughes-476258#death |website=Biography.com |publisher=A&E Television Networks |access-date=September 12, 2014}}</ref> Hughes began selling jokes to well-established performers such as [[Rodney Dangerfield]] and [[Joan Rivers]].<ref name="variety">{{cite news |url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006975 |work=Variety |first=Pat |last=Saperstein |title=Director John Hughes dies at 59 |date=August 6, 2009}}</ref> Hughes used his jokes to get an entry-level job at [[DDB Worldwide|Needham, Harper & Steers]] as an advertising [[copywriter]] in Chicago in 1970 and later in 1974 at [[Leo Burnett Worldwide]].<ref name="latimes">{{cite news |last=McLellan |first=Dennis |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-john-hughes7-2009aug07,0,6955065.story |title=John Hughes dies at 59; writer-director of '80s teen films |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 7, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2011}}</ref> and later in 1974 at [[Leo Burnett Worldwide]]. During this period, he created what became the famous Edge "Credit Card Shaving Test" ad campaign.
Hughes's work on the [[Virginia Slims]] account frequently took him to the [[Philip Morris USA|Philip Morris]] headquarters in New York City, which allowed him to visit the offices of ''[[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]]'' magazine.<ref name="bardofyouth"/> Soon thereafter, Hughes became a regular contributor; editor [[P. J. O'Rourke]] recalled that "John wrote so fast and so well that it was hard for a monthly magazine to keep up with him."<ref name="orourke20150322">{{cite web |last=O'Rourke |first=P.J. |author-link=P. J. O'Rourke |title=Don't You Forget About Me: The John Hughes I Knew |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/22/how-john-hughes-made-conservatism-funny |website=The Daily Beast |date=March 22, 2015 |access-date=April 26, 2019}}</ref> One of Hughes's first stories, inspired by his family trips as a child,<ref name="variety" /> was "Vacation '58", later to become the basis for the film ''[[National Lampoon's Vacation]]''.<ref name="variety" /> Among his other contributions to the ''Lampoon'', the [[April Fools' Day]] stories "My Penis" and "My Vagina" gave an early indication of Hughes's ear for the particular rhythm of teenspeak, as well as for the various indignities of teenage life in general.
