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Harvey Kurtzman's cover for the first issue of the comic book Mad

Mad is an American humor magazine founded by publisher William Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman in 1952.

Offering satire on all aspects of American pop culture, the monthly publication deflates stuffed shirts and pokes fun at common frailties. It is the last surviving title from the notorious and critically acclaimed EC Comics line. Publisher Gaines had suffered greatly from targeted industry censorship, the enmity of his fellow publishers, and a weak distributor, which had driven his prior line of EC horror comics from the stands.

History

With the first issue (October-November, 1952), Mad was a comic book, part of the line of EC Comics published from the Lower East Side in New York City. Mad's subtitle, "Tales Calculated To Drive You" above the title Mad, referenced radio's Suspense which each week used the opening, "Tales well calculated to keep you in... Suspense!" The vertical subtitle, "Humor in a Jugular Vein," indicated the possiblity of a sinister edge to the satire.

Written almost entirely by Harvey Kurtzman, the first issue displayed the cartoon talents of Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Will Elder, Jack Davis and John Severin. Wood, Elder and Davis were the main three illustrators throughout the 23-issue run of the comic book, as Severin, a mainstay of Kurtzman's EC war comics, was phased out of Mad by the tenth issue. Kurtzman included his own cartooning only sporadically, primarily on the covers. However, he was known as an exceedingly "hands-on" editor and a visual master, and thus many Mad articles were illustrated in strict accordance with Kurtzman's layouts. A handful of other artists contributed to the original run, including Bernard Krigstein, Russ Heath, and most conspicuously among the non-regulars, Basil Wolverton. Wolverton's grotesque faces made a striking impression despite only appearing in two issues of the comic book.

The first two issues of Mad spoofed only comic book genres of romance, horror, sports and science fiction without overly specific references. However, with the third issue, Kurtzman turned to direct parodies, targeting well-known radio programs ("Dragged Net!"), newspaper comic strips ("Little Orphan Melvin!"), comic books ("Superduperman!"), movies ("Ping Pong!") and television ("Howdy Dooit!"). By the summer of 1953, the success of Mad was apparent, and Gaines made plans for expansion. After nine bi-monthly issues, Mad became a monthly with the April, 1954 issue. At that same time, EC Comics launched another satirical bi-monthly, Panic, edited by Al Feldstein. Since this new title used the same trio of artists (Davis, Elder, Wood), along with the addition of Joe Orlando, Kurtzman felt that Panic sapped and diminished the creative energy necessary to meet Mad's monthly deadlines.

With issue 24 (July, 1955), Mad switched to a magazine format. The "extremely important message" was "Please buy this magazine!"

In 1955, with issue 24, the comic book was converted into a magazine. The popular myth is that this was done to escape the strictures of the Comics Code Authority, which was imposed in 1955 following United States Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency. Actually, Kurtzman received a lucrative offer from another publisher (of Pageant), and only stayed when Gaines agreed to convert Mad to a similarly "slick" magazine. The immediate practical result was that Mad acquired a broader range in both subject matter and presentation. Magazines had wider distribution than comic books, and a more adult readership.

Though there are antecedents to Mad's style of humor in print, radio and film, the overall package was a unique one that stood out in a staid era. Throughout the 1950s Mad featured groundbreaking parodies combining a sentimental fondness for the familiar staples of American culture—such as Archie and Superman—with a keen joy in exposing the fakery behind the image. The approach was described by the New York Times' Dave Kehr:

  • "Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding on the radio, Ernie Kovacs on television, Stan Freberg on records, Harvey Kurtzman in the early issues of Mad: all of those pioneering humorists and many others realized that the real world mattered less to people than the sea of sounds and images that the ever more powerful mass media were pumping into American lives."

Appropriately, Bob and Ray, Kovacs and Freberg would all contribute to Mad Magazine.

After founding editor Kurtzman left in 1956 following a business dispute with Gaines, he was replaced by Feldstein, who oversaw the magazine during its greatest heights of circulation. Taking over with issue #29, Feldstein set to work assembling a phalanx of talented humor writers and cartoonists. Feldstein's first issue as editor coincided with the debut of Don Martin; crucial longterm contributors like Frank Jacobs and Mort Drucker quickly followed. Before the classic Mad staff was assembled, Feldstein also relied on celebrity "guest" contributions. Some of these pieces, attributed to Bob and Ray, were actually the work of their main writer Tom Koch, who would flourish in Mad for decades. By the early 1960s, with notables such as Antonio Prohias and Dave Berg well in hand, editor Feldstein had fully established the format that was a commercial success for decades.

Al Feldstein joined Mad in the same year that Time described it as a "short-lived satirical pulp." By the time he left, 28 years later, the magazine was commonly cited as one of the three greatest publishing successes of the 1950s, along with Playboy and TV Guide. The magazine's circulation more than quadrupled during Feldstein's tenure, peaking at 2,132,655 in 1974, although it declined to a third of this figure by the end of his time as editor.

When Feldstein retired in 1984, he was replaced by the team of Nick Meglin and John Ficarra, who co-edited Mad for the next two decades. Meglin retired in 2004. Ficarra continues to edit the magazine today.

Mad is often credited by social theorists with filling a vital gap in political satire in the 1950s to 1970s, when Cold War paranoia and a general culture of censorship prevailed in the United States, especially in literature for teens. The rise of such factors as cable television and the Internet have diminished the influence and impact of Mad, although it remains a widely distributed magazine. In a way, Mad's power has been undone by its own success; what was subversive in the 1950s and 1960s is now commonplace. However, its impact on three generations of humorists is incalculable, as can be seen in the frequent references to Mad on the animated series The Simpsons.

File:Mad30.JPG
Mad 30 (December 1956), the first issue to prominently feature Norman Mingo's paintings of Alfred E. Neuman on the cover.

Mad was long noted for its absence of advertising, enabling it to skewer the excesses of a materialist culture without fear of advertiser reprisal. For decades, it was by far the most successful American magazine to publish ad-free. (In its earliest days, the comic book had run the same advertisements as the rest of EC's line, and the magazine later made a deal with Moxie soda that involved inserting the Moxie logo into various articles. Other than that, the only promotions were house ads for Mad's own books and specials, subscriptions, and so forth.)

Mad's satiric net was cast wide. The magazine often featured parodies of ongoing American advertising campaigns, the nuclear family, the media, big business, education, publishing, and other concerns. In the 1960s and beyond, it satirized such burgeoning topics as the sexual revolution, hippies, psychoanalysis, gun control, pollution, the Vietnam War, and drug abuse. The magazine gave equal time, generally negative, to counterculture drugs such as cannabis as well as taking a savage approach towards mainstream drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. Although one can detect a generally liberal tone, Mad always slammed Democrats as mercilessly as Republicans. The magazine also ran a good deal of less topical material on such varied topics as fairy tales and nursery rhymes, greeting cards, sports, small talk, poetry, marriage, comic strips, awards shows, cars and many other areas of general interest.

For tax reasons, Gaines sold his company in the early 1960s to the Kinney National Company, which also acquired Warner Bros. by the end of that decade. Though technically an employee for 30 years, the fiercely independent Gaines was largely permitted to run Mad without corporate interference. Following Gaines' June 3, 1992 death, Mad became more ingrained within the Time Warner conglomerate. Eyeing the merchandising possibilities, Time Warner made plans to market Mad products through the chain of Warner Stores, and they turned the magazine over to DC Comics' publishers Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz. Kahn and Levitz, in turn, appointed DC Vice President Joe Orlando as the magazine's new Associate Publisher, since Orlando was closely involved with DC licensing. Further, Orlando had been a prolific contributing artist to Mad during the 1960s. Eventually, the magazine was obliged to abandon its long-time home at 485 Madison Avenue, and in the mid-1990s, it moved into DC Comics' offices at the same time DC relocated to 1700 Broadway.

In 2001, the magazine broke its long-standing taboo and began running advertising. Today, the magazine is published by a branch of DC Comics and in recent years has used its advertising revenue to increase the use of color and improve the magazine's paper stock.

The Mad logo has remained virtually unchanged since 1955, save for the decision to italicize the lettering beginning in 1997. The title is sometimes seen in all uppercase letters, but Maria Reidelbach, in her comprehensive, authorized study, Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine (Little, Brown, 1991), makes it clear that the title is correct in upper and lowercase. For many years, the mysterious letters "IND" appeared in small type within the logo, between the M and the A. Sometimes the Mad logo included cavorting centaurs within the lettering, one of whom would be pointing directly at the IND. Though some fans speculated about the secret meaning of the "M-IND" message, the truth was more prosaic: from 1957 on, the magazine was handled by Independent News Distribution.

Recurring features

Mad fold-ins

In a parody of Playboy's "fold-out" centerfolds, each issue of Mad from 1964 on featured a "fold-in" on its inside back cover, designed by artist Al Jaffee. A question would be asked, which apparently was illustrated by a picture taking up the bulk of the page. When the page was folded inwards, the inner and outer fourths of the picture combined to reveal a surprising answer in both picture and words. With over 350 Fold-Ins to date, Jaffee has appeared in more issues of Mad than any other artist.

The Lighter Side of...

From 1961- 2002, Dave Berg produced "The Lighter Side of..." which often satirized the suburban lifestyle, capitalism and the generation gap. Subjects commonly lampooned include medicine, office life, parties, marriage, psychiatry, shopping and other everyday activities.

Although this feature eventually became notorious for its corny gags and garishly outdated fashion choices, the Mad editors, over decades, claimed it was the magazine's most popular feature. It was quite sharp in its early years, providing the sort of Americana-based humor that standups like Shelley Berman and Alan King performed successfully onstage. "The Lighter Side of..." feature was retired with Berg's death.

Four months after the last Berg artwork was published, his final set of gags, which Berg had not pencilled, appeared as a tribute. These last "Lighter Side" strips were divided among 18 of MAD's regular artists.

Spy vs. Spy

Main Article: Spy vs. Spy

Antonio Prohías's wordless "Spy vs. Spy", the never-ending battle between the iconic Black Spy and White Spy, has outlasted the Cold War which inspired it. The strip was a silent parable about the futility of mutually-assured destruction, with various elaborate deathtraps designed in Prohías' thick line. Almost always, these traps would boomerang back on whichever Spy had originally concocted it; there was no pattern or order to which Spy would be killed in which episode. A female "Gray Spy" occasionally appears, the difference being that she never loses. Although Prohías eventually retired from doing the strip, "Spy vs. Spy" continues in newer hands. (It is currently being drawn by Peter Kuper.) The morse-coded "by Prohias" remains in each strip's title, however, paying tribute to the beloved originator.

Don Martin gags

Don Martin, billed as "Mad's Maddest Artist", drew regular gag cartoons, generally one page but sometimes longer, featuring lumpen characters with apparently hinged feet. Martin's absurd sight gags were frequently punctuated by an array of bizarre sound effects such as GLORK, PATWANG-FWEEE, or GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA, coined by Martin himself (or ghost writer Don Edwing).

When Martin first joined Mad, he employed a nervous, scratchy art style, but this developed into a rounder, more cartoony look. Martin's wild physical comedy would eventually make him the signature artist of the magazine. Many of his cartoons used similar titles (e.g. "One Exceedingly Fine Day at the Beach"), and as this became a trademark, the titles sometimes became increasingly elaborate (i.e. "One Night in the Acme Ritz Central Arms Waldorf Plaza Statler Hilton Grand Hotel," "One Hot Sunny Afternoon in the Middle of the Ocean," or "One Fine Day at the Corner of South Finster Boulevard and Fonebone Street "). Mad has occasionally used the conceit for other cartoonists' one-page gag titles.

However, Martin's long 31-year association with Mad ended in some rancor over the ownership of his work. Not long after leaving Mad, Martin ended up working at Mad's competitor Cracked, who, unlike Mad, allowed creators to keep the copyright on their work. After a few years, Martin also left Cracked, and published a handful of issues of his own eponymous magazine.

A Mad Look At...

Sergio Aragones has written and drawn his "A Mad Look At..." feature for over 40 years. He is known for his remarkable speed and cartooning facility. In addition to his regular slot, Aragones also provides the "Mad Marginals": tiny gag images that appear throughout the magazine in the corners, margins or spaces between panels. Aragones debuted in Mad #76 (January 1963), and has appeared in every issue of the magazine but one since. Aragones' Mad cartooning is notable for its silence. He uses virtually no words; speech balloons, when they occur at all, will merely feature a drawing of whatever is being discussed. Aragones will periodically bend this rule for a store window sign, or a stray "Gesundheit," or some other item necessary to the punchline.

Monroe

"Monroe" is an ongoing storyline about a prototypical, angst-filled, teenaged loser. It depicts his travails in school, his dysfunctional home and his unending troubles elsewhere. It is written by Anthony Barbieri and was illustrated by Bill Wray, and passed its 100th episode in 2005. Monroe is a gawky, ugly kid with extreme cowlicks that resemble bug-like antennae. The series has perplexed a handful of fans; an occasional "explanation" has been offered that 'Monroe' is an open-ended parable of the 1905 Sino-Russian War, and if one reads it with that in mind, it all makes sense. The black-and-white feature went on hiatus for much of 2006; when it returned, it was printed in color with artwork by Canadian artist Tom Fowler; Barbieri remains the writer.

Movie and TV show parodies

A typical issue will include at least one full parody of a popular movie or television show. The titles are changed to create a play on words; for instance, "The Addams Family" became "The Adnauseum Family." The character names are generally switched in the same fashion.

These articles typically run 5 pages or more, and are presented as a sequential storyline with caricatures and word balloons. The opening page or two-page splash usually consists of the cast of the show introducing themselves directly to the reader; in some parodies, the writers sometimes attempt to circumvent this convention by presenting the characters without such direct exposition. Many parodies end with the abrupt deus ex machina appearance of outside characters or pop culture figures who are similar in nature to the movie or TV series being parodied, or who comment satirically on the theme. For example, Dr. Phil arrives to counsel the psychologically damaged "Desperate Housewives", or the former cast of "Sex and the City" are hired as the new hookers for another HBO series, "Deadwood".

The parodies frequently make comedic use of the fourth wall, breaking character, and meta-references. Within an ostensibly self-contained storyline, the characters may refer to the technical aspects of filmmaking, the publicity, hype, or box office surrounding their project, their own past roles, any clichés being used, and so on.

Several show business stars have been quoted to the effect that the moment when they knew they'd finally "made it" was when they saw themselves thus depicted in the pages of Mad. Over a hundred of them have posed for photographs which were printed in Mad's letters column, holding up the copy of the magazine they appeared in, and reacting in some comical way.

Others

Several Mad premises have been successful enough to warrant additional installments, though not with the regularity of the above. Other recurring features which have appeared in Mad include:

  • Advertising parodies--too numerous to catalog, though many have been written by Dick DeBartolo; these have ranged from TV ad spoofs to national print campaigns to home marketing, and have long provided one of the most durable sources of Mad's humor. A separate paperback of original material titled Madvertising was published.
  • Alfred's Poor Almanac--written by Frank Jacobs, this text-heavy page featured quick one-liners, lame puns, faux anniversaries and other arcana, supposedly matched to each day of that month.
  • Badly-Needed Warning Labels for Rock Albums--written by Desmond Devlin, this series of articles mocked both the ongoing Parental Advisory labelling controversy, as well as the musicians of the day, with specifically-written warning labels for particular recordings.
  • Behind the Scenes at ____-- written and illustrated by various, these frequently take an "eye in the sky" approach. Various vignettes and conversations play out simultaneously, showing the reader how the participants "really" think and behave.
  • Believe It Or Nuts!--written and illustrated by various (though most often drawn by Wally Wood or Bob Clarke), this parody of the print version of Ripley's Believe It Or Not depicted alleged marvels and mundanities of the world.
  • Celebrity Cause-of-Death Betting Odds--written by Mike Snider, this long-running feature listed and "ranked" possible methods of future death for one well-known person at a time. It usually contained a tombstone with an "engraved" caricature of the celebrity. A shorter version later ran in the "Findalini" section.
  • Celebrity Wallets--usually written by Arnie Kogen, this was a series of peeks at the notes, photographs and other memorabilia being carried around in the pockets of the famous.
  • Cents-less Coupons--written by Scott Maiko, these imitate the giveaway coupon packets found in Sunday newspapers but promote ludicrous products such as "Inbred Valley Imitation Squirrel Meat".
  • Chilling Thoughts--written by Desmond Devlin and illustrated by Rick Tulka, these featured observations or predictions about both the culture and everyday life that had supposedly dire implications.
  • A Day in the Life of...-- written by Scott Maiko, these articles depict the purported hour-by-hour activities of a particular celebrity, such as George Lucas, Dick Cheney, or Adam Sandler.
  • Mad Deconstructs Talk Shows--written by Desmond Devlin, these take on one show at a time and purport to reveal the minute-by-minute format breakdown of America's not too spontaneous chat programs.
  • Disposable Camera Photos That Didn't Make the Album--written by Butch D'Ambrosio and illustrated by Drew Friedman, these showed "candid" photographs from events like proms, bar mitzvahs or weddings, with descriptive commentary.
  • Do-It-Yourself Newspaper Story--written by Frank Jacobs, these are short text news items containing a number of blank spaces. Each space has a corresponding list of numbered fill-in-the-blank options, which grow increasingly absurd. The premise is that with appropriate mixing and matching, the article can be read in a vast number of permutations. The same format has also been applied by Jacobs to other areas as poetry, press releases, or speechmaking.
  • Duke Bissell's Tales of Undisputed Interest--written and illustrated by P.C. Vey, these absurdist one-page strips presented a series of non sequiturs and bizarre references in the guise of a linear storyline.
  • Ecchbay Item of the Month--laid out to mimic a computer screen linked to eBay, these purport to sell weird and topical collectables.
  • 15 Minutes of Fame--written by Frank Jacobs, it consists of short poems about lesser celebrities and news figures.
  • The 50 Worst Things About ____--written and illustrated by various, this is an annual article format which has thus far dealt with large catch-all topics such as "TV," "comedy," or "sports."
  • The Mad Hate File--written and illustrated by Al Jaffee, these contained a series of observational one-liners about common irritations.
  • Hawks & Doves--written and illustrated by Al Jaffee, this was a shortlived series of cartoons in which a major is exasperated by a rebellious private who keeps finding ways to create the peace symbol on his military base.
  • Horrifying Cliches--illustrated by Paul Coker Jr. and often written by Phil Hahn, these articles visually depicted florid turns of phraseology such as "tripping the light fantastic", "racking one's thoughts" or "laboring under a misconception"; the verbs are taken literally, and all the nouns are characterized as bizarre horned, scaled or otherwise unusual creatures; Mad also published a separate paperback of these.
  • How Many Mistakes Can You Find In This Picture?--these articles showed a widespread area such as a rock concert or a fast food outlet, and then revealed 20 visual "mistakes," which would typically be people behaving in moral or competent ways.
  • Mad's ____ of the Year--written and illustrated by various, these 4-to-6-page articles would enact an interview with a fictional representative of a particular practice or element of society (i.e. "MAD's Summer Camp Owner of the Year"; "MAD's Movie Producer of the Year").
  • The Mad Nasty File--typically written by Tom Koch and illustrated by Harry North or Gerry Gersten, these insult articles caricatured a variety of public figures and proceeded to abuse them verbally.
  • Melvin and Jenkins' Guide to _____--written by Desmond Devlin and illustrated by Kevin Pope, these "guides" present the behavioral or attitudinal "do's and don'ts" on a variety of topics, as demonstrated by the titular pair. This is meant to be a parody of Goofus & Gallant. An abbreviated version now runs in the "Fundalini" section.
  • Movie Outtakes--these are screen captures of upcoming films (generally taken from the movie trailer), given new word balloons; MAD typically times these pieces to coincide with the movie's general release, either in advance of the full parody or in lieu of it.
  • Obituaries for ____ Characters--generally written by Frank Jacobs, these alleged newspaper clippings detail the appropriate demises for fictional characters from a genre such as comic strips, advertising, or television.
  • People Watcher's Guide to ____--often written by Mike Snider and illustrated by Tom Bunk, these articles used a scenario such as "the mall" or "a cemetery" to mock specific observed behaviors.
  • Planet Tad!!!!!-- written by Tim Carvell and illustrated by Brian Durniak, this purports to be the LiveJournal-like webpage of a teenaged loser's blog, which inadvertently reveals his various personal traumas and general idiocy.
  • Pop-Off Videos--written by Desmond Devlin and illustrated with actual music video screen captures, these one-page articles mimicked the VH1 series "Pop-Up Video," which enhanced music videos with small bits of information; MAD also published a separate standalone special issue of these.
  • The Mad _____ Primer--written and illustrated by various, Mad Primers aped the singsong writing style of Dick and Jane and dealt with a wide variety of subjects from bigotry to hockey to religion; Mad also published a "Cradle to Grave Primer" as a separate paperback, showing the complete misery-filled life of one man.
  • Scenes We'd Like to See--written and illustrated by various, these were generally one-page vignettes which inverted the common conventions of moviemaking, advertising, or the culture at large, ending with a cliched character in a cliched setting, acting cowardly or saying something atypically honest.
  • Six Degrees of Separation Between Anyone and Anything--written by Mike Snider and illustrated by Rick Tulka, this feature exploited the Kevin Bacon-based game of links to humorously connect various items or people in thematic or painstakingly phrased ways rather than proximity.
  • Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions--written and illustrated by Al Jaffee, this long-running series reproduces the inane, unnecessary questions we hear every day (i.e. "Hot enough for you?" "Did that hurt?") and supplies three obnoxious responses for each; Mad has also published several separate, standalone paperbacks of these.
  • Seven Periods Closer to Death-- written and illustrated by Ted Rall, this one-page strip takes a satirical look at life in high school.
  • When ____ Go Bad--written and illustrated by John Caldwell, each article depicts the outrageous behavior allegedly found within the worst element of a certain culture or profession (i.e. "When Nuns Go Bad"; "When Clowns Go Bad"; "When Veterinarians Go Bad").
  • William Shakespeare, Commentator--written by Frank Jacobs, these articles take Shakespeare quotations out of context and apply them to such areas as movies or sports.
  • The Year in Film--written by Desmond Devlin, these ironically juxtaposed movie titles of the past calendar year with photographs of topical news events or celebrities.
  • You Know You're Really ___ When...--written and illustrated by various, these took a common condition ("You're Really Overweight When..." "You're Really a Parent When...") and presented several one-liners on the theme.

Besides the above, Mad has returned to certain themes and areas again and again, such as fullblown imaginary magazines, greeting cards, nursery rhymes, Christmas carols, song parodies and other poetry (updating "Casey at the Bat" being a perennial favorite), comic strip takeoffs, and others.

Alfred E. Neuman

Main article: Alfred E. Neuman
Decades before Mad gave him a name, many different images of the "Me Worry?" kid circulated.

The image most closely associated with the magazine is that of Alfred E. Neuman, the boy with misaligned eyes, a gap-toothed smile and the perennial question "What, me worry?" Mad first used the boy's face in November, 1954, on the cover of the comic book's first reprint collection, the Ballantine paperback titled The Mad Reader. He appeared for the first time on a Mad cover with issue #21 (January, 1955).

The original image of an unnamed boy with a goofy gap-toothed grin was a popular humorous graphic for many decades before Mad adopted it. It had been used for all manner of purposes, from U.S. political campaigns to Nazi racial propaganda to advertisements for painless dentistry. Decades ago, the magazine was sued over the copyright to the image, but prevailed by producing similar ones predating the claimant's, dating back to the late 19th century.

Harvey Kurtzman first spotted the image on a postcard pinned to the bulletin board of Ballantine Books' editor. "It was a face that didn't have a care in the world, except mischief," recalled Kurtzman. The name "Alfred E. Neuman" was derived from the 1940s radio show of comedian Henry Morgan which included a running gag trumpeting the imminent arrival of Hollywood composer Alfred Newman, which was supposed to create intense excitement, after which Newman would appear for mere seconds, then vanish. According to Kurtzman, Morgan used "the name Alfred Newman for an innocuous character that you'd forget in five minutes." Later, Morgan was a contributor to Mad.

The boy's face is now permanently associated with Mad. With the "What, me worry?" motto, Neuman has often appeared in political cartoons as a shorthand for unquestioning stupidity.

In recent years, Alfred E. Neuman's features have frequently been merged with those of George W. Bush by editorial cartoonists, including Mike Luckovich and Tom Tomorrow. The image has also appeared on magazine covers (notably The Nation), and in numerous Photoshop images and GIF files in which Neuman's face morphs into Bush's. A large Bush/Neuman poster was part of the Washington protests that accompanied Bush's 2001 inauguration. The alleged resemblance between the two has been noted more than once by Hillary Clinton. On July 10, 2005, speaking at the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival, she said, "I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington," referring to Bush's purported "What, me worry?" attitude.

In 1958, Mad published letters from several readers noting the resemblance between Neuman and England's Prince Charles, then nine years old. Shortly thereafter, an angry letter arrived at the Mad offices reading "Dear Sirs, NO, it isn't a bit-- not the least little bit like me, so jolly well stow it! See! Charles P." The letter was authenticated as having been written on triple-cream-laid royal stationery bearing an official crest, and having been mailed within a short walking distance of Buckingham Palace.

For many years, Mad sold prints of the "official portrait" of Alfred E. Neuman through a small house ad on the letters page of the magazine. A female version of Alfred, named Moxie, appeared for a very brief time in the late 1950s.

Recurring images and references

Regular Mad readers have been treated to a large number of recurring in-jokes, including Neuman's catch phrase "What, me worry?", as well as such words as potrzebie. fershlugginer and axolotl, as well as humorous names such as Melvin, Kaputnik, and Cowznofski. Mad used the word "ecch" or its cousin "blecch" so often that even "The Simpsons" made reference to it, showing a Mad cover with the unseen parody "NYPD Blecch." In the 1950s, the magazine received a fee to promote the soft drink Moxie, and that product's logo would occasionally appear in illustrations. This experiment was an attempt by Feldstein to convince Gaines that the magazine could profit by carrying legitimate advertising.

The word "hoohah" was a running gag in the early years of Mad, often exclaimed by characters in the comic book issues written and edited by Harvey Kurtzman. Its somewhat Eastern European feel was a perfect fit for the New York Jewish style of the magazine. Kurtzman liked using Yiddish expressions and nonsense words to humorous effect, and the very first story in the first issue of Mad was titled "Hoohah!" The word hoohah's precise origin is unknown, though it may have sprung from the Hungarian word for "wow," which is hűha [1]). "It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide" was a non sequitur-ish phrase that found its way into Mad on several occasions; it has been suggested that this is slang meaning "it is foolhardy to bribe a policeman with counterfeit money." While associated with Mad, the quote originated in Margery Allingham's novel, The Fashion in Shrouds.

File:Zepp1.jpg
Pages from the Mad Style Guide (1994) show George Woodbridge's definitive drawings of the Mad Zeppelin.
The Mad Poiuyt, Harvey Kurtzman's hand with six fingers and additional angles on the Zeppelin

Many of the magazine's visual elements are sheer whimsy, and frequently appear in the artwork without context or explanation. Among these are a potted avocado plant named Arthur (rumored to be based on art director John Putnam's marijuana plant); a domed trashcan wearing an overcoat, the Mad Zeppelin (which more closely resembles an elongated hot air balloon); and an emaciated long-beaked creature who went unidentified for decades before being dubbed "Flip the Bird." In late 1964, Mad was tricked into purchasing the "rights" to an optical illusion in the public domain, featuring a sort of three-pronged tuning fork whose appearance defies physics. The magazine dubbed it the Mad poiuyt after the six rightmost letter keys on a QWERTY keyboard in reverse order, not realizing that the existing image was already known to engineers and usually called a blivet.

Mad cartoonists have regularly drawn caricatures of themselves, other contributors and the editors into the articles, most famously the character Roger Kaputnik in "The Lighter Side Of...", who was drawn to resemble Dave Berg. The magazine's photo spreads have typically featured the same Mad staffers.

More recently, the magazine made periodic references to "the monkey juice," generally in the context of overimbibing with same. The editors continue to punctuate letter column responses with the breezy interjection "Fa fa fa!" The mysterious name "Max Korn" has popped up for years; reader requests to clarify Korn's true identity have been greeted with increasingly outlandish explanations.

Contributors and controversy

Mad provided an ongoing showcase for many of the best satirical writers and artists. The magazine fostered an unusual group loyalty. Even though several of the contributors were earning far more than their Mad pay in such fields as television and advertising, they steadily continued to provide material for the publication. Among the notable artists were the aforementioned Davis, Elder and Wood, as well as Mort Drucker, George Woodbridge and Paul Coker. Writers such as Dick DeBartolo, Stan Hart, Frank Jacobs, Tom Koch, and Arnie Kogen appeared regularly in the magazine's pages.

Within the industry, Mad was known for the uncommonly prompt manner in which its contributors were paid. Publisher Gaines would typically write a personal bank check and give it to the artist upon receipt of their finished product. Wally Wood said, "I got spoiled... Other publishers don't do that. I started to get upset if I had to wait a whole week for my check."

Another lure for contributors was the annual "MAD Trip," a tradition which began in 1960. The editorial staff was automatically invited, along with those freelancers who had sold a set amount of articles of pages the previous year to qualify. Over the years, the Mad crew traveled to such locales as Paris, Kenya, Leningrad, Hong Kong, Monte Carlo, Athens, London, Amsterdam, Tahiti, Morocco, Venice, Greece, Germany, and more.

Although Mad was an exclusively freelance publication, it achieved a remarkable stability, with numerous contributors remaining prominent for decades. Critics of the magazine felt that this lack of turnover eventually led to a formulaic sameness, although there is little agreement on when the magazine peaked or plunged. It appears to be largely a function of when the reader first encountered Mad. Like Saturday Night Live or The Simpsons, proclaiming the precise moment that kicked off the irreversible decline has long been sport.

Mad poked fun at this dynamic in its "Untold History of Mad Magazine," a self-referential faux history in the 400th issue. According to the Untold History:

"The second issue of Mad goes on sale on December 9, 1952. On December 11, the first-ever letter complaining that Mad 'just isn't as funny and original like it used to be' arrives."

Among the most frequently-cited "downward turning points" are creator/editor Harvey Kurtzman's departure in 1957, the magazine's mainstream success and/or adoption of recurring features starting in the early 1960s, the magazine's absorption into a more corporate structure in 1968 (or the mid-90's), founder Gaines' death in 1992, the magazine's publicized "revamp" in 1997, or the arrival of paid advertising in 2001. Mad has been criticized for its overreliance on a core group of aging regulars throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and then criticized again for an alleged downturn as those same creators began to leave, die, retire, or contribute less frequently.

It has been proposed that Mad is more susceptible to this criticism than many media because a sizeable percentage of its readership turns over regularly. Also, Mad focuses greatly on current events and a changing popular culture. A reader born in 1980, who takes to Mad in 1995, might look back ten years from 2005 and, comparing an issue from each year, decide that the magazine isn't as good as it once was. However, that same reader might very well fail to appreciate the humor or references in a 1985 or 1975 issue, even though the magazine would logically have been even further ahead of its later "slump."

Mad's sales peak was in the 1970s, but its critical heyday is in the eyes of its beholders. The magazine's art director Sam Viviano has suggested that historically, Mad was at its best "whenever you first started reading it."

The loudest among those who insist the magazine is no longer funny are typically supporters of Harvey Kurtzman, who had the good critical fortune to leave Mad after just 28 issues, before his own formulaic tendencies became oppressive. This also meant Kurtzman suffered the bad financial timing of departing before the magazine became a runaway success. However, just how much of that success was due to the original Kurtzman template he left for his successor, and how much can be credited to the Al Feldstein system and the depth of the post-Kurtzman talent pool, can be argued without result.

Judging from Kurtzman's final two-plus years at EC, during which Mad appeared erratically (10 issues appeared in 1954, followed by eight issues in 1955 and four issues in 1956), it seems clear that he was ill-suited to the job of producing the magazine on a regular schedule. It seems equally clear that Feldstein's abilities were more workmanlike and reliable than the inimitable genius of Kurtzman. Kurtzman and Will Elder returned to Mad for a short time in the mid-1980s as an illustrating team.

Many of the magazine's mainstays began slowing, retiring or dying in the 1980s; though the magazine was always open to new talent, the influx increased from this stage onwards. Newer contributors include Anthony Barbieri, Tom Bunk, John Caldwell, Desmond Devlin, Drew Friedman, Barry Liebmann, Hermann Mejia, Tom Richmond, Andrew J. Schwartzberg, Mike Snider, Rick Tulka, and Bill Wray.

In recent years, Mad has continued to receive complaints from fans and foes alike, sometimes over its perceived failings or because of controversial content, but generally over its decision to accept advertising. These accusers sometimes invoke the late publisher Bill Gaines, asserting that the late publisher would "turn over in his grave" if he knew of the magazine's sellout. The editors have a ready answer, pointing out that such protests are completely invalid because Gaines was cremated.

Awards

The magazine has received recognition in the field. Sergio Aragones received the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Humor Division) for his work on Mad in 1972, and the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Mad and Groo the Wanderer. Mort Drucker won the Reuben Award for his work on the magazine in 1987.

Mad merchandising

Mad has stepped gingerly into other media. Three albums of novelty songs were released in the early 1960s. An example of this material was a song titled "It's a Gas" from the album Fink Along With Mad which punctuated an instrumental track with belches. Dr. Demento featured this gaseous performance on his radio show in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Mad also included some of these musical tracks as plastic-laminated cardboard inserts with their reprinted "Mad Specials."

A successful off-Broadway production, "The Mad Show," was staged in 1966, featuring sketches written by Mad personnel (as well as an uncredited assist by Stephen Sondheim). An early 1970s television pilot was not picked up.

In 1979, a very successful board game was released. "The Mad Magazine Game" was an absurdist version of Monopoly in which the first player to lose all their money and go bankrupt was the winner. Profusely illustrated with artwork by the magazine's contributors, the game included a $1,329,063-dollar bill which could not be won unless one's name was "Alfred E. Neuman". Play went counter-clockwise and the dice must be thrown with the left hand. It also featured a deck of cards (called "Card cards") with bizarre instructions. Among them:

  • "Change chairs with anyone."
  • "If you can jump up and stay airborne for 37 seconds, you can lose $5,000. If not, jump up and lose $500."
  • "Stand up and boo the person on your left. Also, lose $1,000".
  • "Put this card on top of your head and walk around the table backwards. If it doesn't fall off before you sit down, you lose $1,000".
  • "This card can only be played on Friday."

In 1980 another game was released, this time it was a card game, MAD Magazine Card Game, by Parker Brothers. The player who first loses all their cards is declared the winner. The game is actually pretty similar to UNO by Mattel.

Also in 1980, following the success of the National Lampoon-backed Animal House, Mad lent its name to a similar risque comedy entitled Up the Academy. It was such a commercial and critical failure that Mad successfully arranged for all references to the magazine (including a cameo by Alfred E. Neuman) to be removed from future TV and video releases of the film. Mad also devoted two pages to an attack on Up the Academy, whose ending collapsed into a series of interoffice memos between the writer, artist, editor, and publisher, all bewailing the fact that they'd been forced to satirize such a terrible film.

A TV show was introduced in 1995 based on the magazine: MADtv, which aired comedy segments in a fashion similar to Saturday Night Live and SCTV. However, there is no editorial connection between the sketch comedy series and the magazine. The characters from "Spy vs. Spy" have featured in animated vignettes on MADtv, and more recently, TV ads for Mountain Dew soda.

File:Totallymad.jpg

In 1999, Broderbund Software/The Learning Company released Totally Mad, a Microsoft Windows 95/98 compatible CD-ROM set collecting the magazine's content from #1 through #376 (December, 1998), plus over 100 special issues. The seven discs are divided chronologically -- "The Earliest Years: 1952-1960" and "The Early Years, but Not the Earliest: 1961-1968" through "The RELATIVELY Late, but not as Late as, the Latest Years: 1988-1994" and "The Latest Years: 1995-1998." Amid critical praise, it was noted that the product's "Totally" claim was misleading, since it omitted a handful of articles due to problems clearing the rights on some book excerpts and text taken from recordings, such as Andy Griffith's "What It Was, Was Football." Some of this deleted material can be viewed at "Articles Mysteriously Missing from the Totally Mad CD ROM". The set is now out of print and is no longer supported by either Broderbund or The Learning Company, although a similar product is reported to be forthcoming. Only a few mass magazines (such as National Geographic and The New Yorker) have attempted this type of comprehensive archival release on discs.

While Mad frequently repackaged its material in a long series of "Super Special"-format magazines and paperbacks, Mad-related merchandise was once scarce. During the Gaines years, the publisher had an aversion to milking his fanbase and expressed the fear that substandard Mad products would offend them. He was known to personally issue refunds to anyone who wrote to the magazine with a complaint. Among the few outside Mad items available in its first 40 years were cufflinks, a T-shirt designed like a straitjacket, complete with lock, and a small ceramic Alfred E. Neuman bust. After Gaines' death came an overt absorption into the Time-Warner publishing umbrella, with the result that Mad merchandise began to appear more frequently. Items were displayed in the Warner Bros. Studio Stores, and in 1994, The Mad Style Guide was created for licensing use.

One steady form of revenue has come from foreign editions of the magazine. Mad has been published in local versions in many countries, beginning with the United Kingdom in 1959, and Sweden in 1960. Each new market receives access to the publication's back catalog of articles and is also encouraged to produce its own localized material in the Mad vein. However, the sensibility of the American Mad has not always translated to other cultures, and many of the foreign editions have had short lives or interrupted publications. The Swedish, Danish, Italian and Mexican Mads were each published on three separate occasions; Norway has had four runs cancelled. United Kingdom (35 years), the Netherlands (32 years) and Brazil (31 years and counting) have produced the longest uninterrupted Mad variants.

Current foreign editions

  • Germany, 1968-1993, 1998-present;
  • Brazil, 1974-present;
  • Australia, 1980-present;
  • South Africa, 1985-present;
  • Hungary, 1997-present;

Foreign editions of the past

File:MAD Taiwan.jpg
  • United Kingdom, 1959-1994;
  • Sweden, 1960-1992, 1996-2002;
  • Denmark, 1962-1971, 1979-1997, 1998-2002;
  • The Netherlands, 1964-1996;
  • France, 1965, 1992;
  • Canada (Québec), 1991-1992 [2];
  • Argentina, 1977-1982;
  • Finland, 1970-1972, 1981-2005 + one special in 2006
  • Norway, 1971-1972, 1981-1993, 1995, 2002-2003;
  • Italy, 1971, 1984, 1992;
  • Mexico, 1977-1983, 1984-1986, 1993-1998;
  • Caribbean, 1977-1983;
  • Greece, 1978-1985, 1995-1999;
  • Iceland, 1985;
  • Taiwan, 1990;
  • Israel, 1994-1995;
  • Turkey, 2000-2003.

Some of the foreign editions have spoofed material that is completely unfamiliar to American audiences, or which is not in keeping with Mad's general avoidance of obscenity (for an example of both, see the Swedish Mad parody of Fucking Åmål [3]).

Imitators and variants

Mad has had many imitators through the years. The three most durable of these were CRACKED, Sick, and Crazy. Most others were short-lived exercises, such as Zany (4 issues), Frantic (2 issues), Ratfink (1 issue), Nuts! (2 issues), Get Lost (3 issues), Whack (3 issues), Wild (5 issues), Madhouse (8 issues), Riot (6 issues), Flip (2 issues), Eh! (7 issues), and Gag! (1 issue). Even EC Comics joined the parade with a sister humor magazine, Panic, produced by future Mad editor Al Feldstein. Most of these productions aped the format of Mad right down to choosing a synonym for the word mad as their title. Many featured a cover mascot along the lines of Alfred E. Neuman.

In 1967, Marvel Comics produced the first of 13 issues of Not Brand Echh, which parodied their own superhero titles, and owed its entire inspiration and format to the original "Mad" comic books of a decade earlier. From 1973-1976, DC Comics published Plop! which was much the same but relied more on one-page gags and horror-based comedy.

There was even a Christian imitation of Mad -- Glad, a born again version that followed the same format, except that the TV, film and social parodies were vehicles towards conveying Bible-based messages.

But as it carries on past its 50th year, Mad has outlasted them all, save Cracked, which has appeared infrequently for years but still bobs in and out of production.

Other humor magazines of note include former Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman's Humbug, Trump and Help!, as well as the National Lampoon, and Spy Magazine. However, each of these had its own distinct editorial approach, and thus cannot be considered direct ripoffs of Mad in the same way as the others mentioned here. Of all the competition, only the National Lampoon ever threatened its hegemony as America's top humor magazine, in the early-to-mid-1970s. However, this was also the period of Mad's greatest sales figures. Both magazines peaked in sales about the same time. The Lampoon topped one million sales once, for a single issue in 1974. Mad crossed the two-million mark with an average 1973 circulation of 2,059,236, then improved to 2,132,655 in 1974.

Gaines reportedly kept a voodoo doll in his business office, into which he would stick pins labelled with each imitation of his magazine. He would only remove a pin when the copycat had ceased publishing. At the time of Gaines' death in 1992, only the pin for Cracked remained.

Some of the Usual Gang of Idiots

Each of the following has created over 150 articles for the magazine:

Photographer:

The editorial staff, notably Charlie Kadau, John Ficarra, and Joe Raiola, also have dozens of articles under their own bylines, as well as substantial creative input into many, many others.

Some of the Unusual Gang of Idiots

Mad is known for the stability and longevity of its talent roster, with several creators enjoying 30-, 40-, and even 50-year careers in the magazine's pages. However, about 600 people have received bylines in at least one issue. Among the contributors to be credited but a single time are Charles Schulz, Richard Nixon, Chevy Chase, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Donald Knuth, Andy Griffith, Will Eisner, Kevin Smith, J. Fred Muggs, Boris Vallejo, Sir John Tenniel, Jean Shepherd, Winona Ryder, Thomas Nast, Jimmy Kimmel, Jason Alexander, Walt Kelly, Barney Frank, Tom Wolfe, Steve Allen, Jim Lee and Jules Feiffer.

Contributing just twice are such luminaries as Tom Lehrer, Gustave Dore, Danny Kaye, Stan Freberg, Mort Walker and Leonardo da Vinci. Mr. da Vinci's check is still waiting in the Mad offices for him to pick it up.

Frank Frazetta (3 bylines), Ernie Kovacs (11), Bob and Ray (12), Paul Krassner (6), and Sid Caesar (4) are among those to have appeared slightly more frequently. The magazine more commonly used outside "name" talent in its earliest years, often by illustrating their preexisting material, before amassing its own staff of regulars. More recently, Mad has run occasional guest articles in which celebrities from show business or comic books have participated. Introductions to the paperback reprints have been written by such notables as Trey Parker, Adam West, Siskel and Ebert and, again, "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Recurring subsections

Most magazines include ongoing, internal segments or domains, and Mad is no exception. An issue of Mad includes these "cluster" departments.

Table of Contents

The first page of each issue lists all the articles to follow, including their "Department" headings, which are plays on words. For example, a parody of a pizza chain's menu appeared under "The Passion of the Crust Department," an article entitled "William Shakespeare, Sports Commentator" was part of the "The Play-By-Play's the Thing Department." Long-running features had equally long-running headers: Spy vs. Spy is filed under the "Joke and Dagger Department," Dave Berg's "Lighter Side of..." always ran within the "Berg's Eye View Department," and many of Frank Jacobs' articles come under the "Frank on a Roll Department." Most of the magazine's other recurring features have had their own continuing "Department."

For several years, the Table of Contents has listed one article which does not actually exist, often poking fun at some of the more formulaic articles the magazine has published. Some of these imaginary listings have included "Santa Claus, Porn Star"; "When Goats Go Bad"; "What if Cap'n Crunch Was Brought Before a Military Tribunal?"; "If the Amish Used Zombies to Do Their Chores"; "The MAD Urinary Tract Infection Primer"; "Dick Cheney Electrocardiograms We'd Like to See"; "If Bobby Knight Coached the Special Olympics"; "Only the Assistant Undersecretary of Transportation Would Possibly Believe..."; and "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions During the Bombing of Belgrade."

Each Table of Contents also includes a pithy quote or aphorism attributed to Alfred E. Neuman. With a handful of exceptions, this is the only time the character ever "speaks."

Letters and Tomatoes Dept.

An esoteric version of the standard "Letters to the Editors," this commonly runs three pages and includes correspondence from readers, reader drawings or craft projects, celebrity photos, references to Mad in other media, and so forth. All letters are typically answered in a snide and insulting manner. There are also a few (very small) sub-departments that sometimes live within its pages:

  • "Antiques Freakshow with Hans Brickface" - in which readers send in photographs of their bizarre household items to have their values appraised by the slightly psychotic Hans.
  • "MAD Mumblings" - absurd one-sentence observations, typically non sequiturs, posted online by the readers.
  • "The Make a Dumb Wish Foundation" - in which the magazine promises to make readers' stupid requests come true, but usually doesn't.
  • "The Nifty Fifty" & "Mad Celebrity Snaps" - a reader who sends in a photo of a famous person posing with a copy of Mad gets a free three-year subscription (if the celebrity is touching the issue). Once a year, Mad puts out a kind of hit list called The Nifty Fifty: fifty famous people they'd like to see in Celebrity Snaps. The magazine was delighted to publish a photo of Dan Quayle unwittingly holding the "PROOFREADER WANTED" cover of Mad #355, on which the magazine's logo appeared as "MAAD."
  • "The Two-Question Interview" - celebrity interviews which are essentially over before they begin, accomplishing nothing.

The Fundalini Pages

Beginning with its February 2004 edition, Mad has begun its issues with this catch-all section of various bits, which are far shorter or smaller than normal Mad articles. They often appear at as many as 3 to 6 per page. Some of these pieces are produced in-house; others are the work of freelancers. All contributors for each month are credited en masse, as "Friends of Fundalini." For this reason, it is not always apparent which contributor is responsible for which item, particularly the writers. Most Fundalini features are one shot gags that never appear again, some have appeared multiple times, and a few appear in nearly every issue. Among the recurring elements in the Fundalini section are:

Created for Fundalini

  • Bitterman, a short comic strip by Garth Gerhart about a hateful slacker;
  • Classified ads; these frequently deal in absurdity and non sequiturs;
  • The Cover We DIDN'T Use, purporting to be the second choice for each issue's front cover;
  • The Fast 5, which is essentially half of a Letterman "Top 10 List";
  • Foto News, in which topical photographs are given word balloons (similar to fumetti, though usually without the storyline aspect);
  • The Godfrey Report, a small 3x 3 grid showing three classes of objects and their current cultural status (arbitrarily rated as "In," "Five Minutes Ago," or "Out.");
  • Graphic Novel Review, written by Desmond Devlin, which analyzes fictional comic collections and graphic novels such as "The Anally Complete Peanuts" or "Tintin in Fallujah";
  • The Kitchen Sink, a lengthy barrage of spoof titles for topics such as "Reality Shows Currently Under Development" or "Proposed Star Wars Sequel Titles";
  • Magazine Corrections You May Have Missed, providing editorial commentary on other publications;
  • Monkeys Are Always Funny, by Evan Dorkin, showing famous news photographs with the image of a monkey Photoshopped in;
  • The NFL's Ref Report, which illustrates a topic by using generic drawings of a referee's hand signals;
  • Pull My Cheney!, a one-panel gag by cartoonist Tom Cheney;
  • The President's Dog, a short comic strip by Peter Kuper, in which George W. Bush converses with Barney the Terrier;
  • The Puzzle Nook, a multiple choice fill-in-the-blank phrase;
  • Saddam Sez, a photograph of Saddam Hussein speaking at his trial, and a random word balloon with a random reference;
  • Vey to Go!, a one-panel gag by cartoonist P.C. Vey.
  • a Wikipedia parody, first called "Wonkypedia," then "Wakipedia." Each entry features a convoluted assortment of unrelated facts, in the style of a vandalized Wikipedia page (e.g. the "article" on Pearl Harbor discusses Mao-Tse Tung's surprise attack and how it led to the bombing of Chernobyl).

Preexisting; moved into Fundalini

  • Celebrity Cause of Death Betting Odds, written by Mike Snider, which ranks the hypothetical future demises of the famous by decreasing likelihood;
  • Melvin and Jenkins' Guide to..., drawn by Kevin Pope and written by Desmond Devlin, in which the upstanding Jenkins and the derelict Melvin illustrate good and improper behavior in various situations. However, it now consists of only two panels, instead of the two or three page article it was before.
  • Al Jaffee's Inventions, showing wacky Rube Goldberg-esque inventions.
  • Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions, written and drawn by Al Jaffee, it now consists of one panel instead of three although it still shows three replies to each question.

Of these, the most regular features have been Bitterman, The Godfrey Report, Celebrity Cause of Death Betting Odds, and The Puzzle Nook.

Newer additions

  • The Strip Club

An assortment of short gag comic strips drawn by various artists, it has appeared roughly every other month since its debut in the July 2005 issue. It typically runs 3 pages.

  • Go Fetch!

Further blurring the line between advertising and content is Go Fetch!, a list of newly-released media products such as videogames, DVD releases, music albums and books. Each product listing has The Hype and The Snipe, in which its good and bad qualities are expounded. Each Go Fetch! also promotes "the Must Have", an idiosyncratic (but real) product which no Mad reader should be without, such as cold galvanizing spray, or a pneumatic jackhammer.

Go Fetch! is an odd cross between the wiseass Mad mentality and the sort of product ratings generally associated with Rolling Stone. It is an overtly commercial feature, with some one-liners thrown in the apparent hope of making it more palatable. As such, Go Fetch! has been heavily criticized by many of the magazine's loyal readers as a betrayal of the magazine's original satiric mission.

In its first year, Go Fetch! appeared in eight of twelve issues. It did not run in July or August 2006, the first time Go Fetch! has been missing from two consecutive issues since its debut. The feature may be retired.

"The MAD 20"

Since 1998, Mad has done an annual issue commemorating the "20 Dumbest People, Events and Things" of the year. These emphasize the visual motif above all else, parodying such things as movie posters, famous paintings, or fake magazine covers, though one or two text-heavier takeoffs are usually sprinkled into each year's assortment. The feature is reminiscent of the defunct Spy Magazine's "Spy 100" list, which purported to catalogue "Our Annual Census of the 100 Most Annoying, Alarming, and Appalling People, Places and Things."

Mad named the Reverend Jerry Falwell as one of the dumbest people of 2001 for blaming the 9/11 attacks on feminists, gays, and lesbians. (Though Falwell appeared in the #1 slot in Mad's annual "20 Dumbest People, Events and Things" issue, and the examples are numbered 1-20, the "rankings" are completely random. The "20th dumbest" slot of 2001 was awarded to Mad itself for its "slide down the slippery slope of greedy commercialism" in finally permitting advertising in its pages.)

Keeping in mind the indiscriminate positioning, these were the "#1" selections for the various years:

  • 1998: "Starr Wars," a movie poster parody of the partisan Kenneth Starr investigation, depicting Starr as Darth Vader, and Bill Clinton holding a cigar instead of a light saber;
  • 1999: "Y2K Panic," a chaotic cartoon showing a crashing airplane displacing the Times Square New Year's Ball, sending it careening into a terror-stricken crowd;
  • 2000: A rewritten Presidential oath of office. The issue went to press one week after the disputed 2000 election; MAD's editors had thought they could plug in the winner, but were obliged to publish two versions of the image, one with Al Gore being sworn in, the other depicting George W. Bush.
  • 2001: "A.I. Asinine Ideology," a movie poster parody of the Steven Spielberg film "A.I." highlighting Jerry Falwell's placing blame on the 9/11 attacks on gays, feminists, abortionists and the ACLU;
  • 2002: "Martha Stewart Lying," a magazine spoof of Martha Stewart's insider trading scandal;
  • 2003: "Term Eliminator," a movie poster parody of the third "Terminator" film mocking Arnold Schwarzenegger's victory in the California recall election;
  • 2004: "Donny Rumsfeld and the Prisoners of Abu Ghraib," a book cover in the style of the third Harry Potter jacket, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
  • 2005: "Where's W?", a book parody in the style of the "Where's Waldo?" series. The cover shows a tableau of the crowded, flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with George W. Bush completely impossible to find.

Mad v. Supreme Court

The magazine has been involved in various legal actions over the decades, but none was bigger than Irving Berlin et al. v. E.C. Publications, Inc., a case which was eventually brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1961, a group of music publishers representing such songwriters as Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Cole Porter filed a $25 million lawsuit against MAD for copyright infringement following "Sing Along With Mad", a collection of parody lyrics "sung to the tune of" many popular songs. The publishing group hoped to establish a legal precedent that only a song's composers retained the right to parody that same song. The U.S. District Court ruled largely in favor of Mad in 1963, affirming its right to print 23 of the 25 song parodies under dispute. An exception was found in the cases of two parodies, "Always" (sung to the tune of "Always"), and "There's No Business Like No Business" (sung to the tune of "There's No Business Like Show Business"). Relying on the same verbal hooks ("always" and "business"), these were found to be overly similar to the originals. The music publishers appealed the ruling, and the U.S. Court of Appeals not only upheld the pro-Mad decision, but stripped the publishers of their limited victory regarding the two songs. The publishers again appealed, but the Supreme Court refused to hear it, thus allowing the decision to stand.

This precedent-setting case established the rights of parodists and satirists to mimic the meter of popular songs. However, the "Sing Along With Mad" songbook was not the magazine's first flight into musical parody. In 1960, Mad had published "My Fair Ad-Man," a full advertising-based spoof of the hit Broadway musical "My Fair Lady." And 1959's "If Famous Authors Wrote the Comics" had speculated on such pairings as "If Paddy Chayefsky wrote Donald Duck" and "If Mickey Spillane wrote Nancy"[4]. The segment "If Gilbert & Sullivan wrote Dick Tracy" used the "When I Was a Lad" song from H.M.S. Pinafore as its iambic inspiration, as shown here:

Crooks: Before we kill you, Tracy, how did you get to be a cop?

Dick Tracy: When I was a rookie I walked a beat
as a highway patrolman on a one-way street.
I was meek as a kitten and timid as a mouse
and I polished up the apple at the station house.

Crooks: He polished up the apple at the station house!

Dick Tracy: I polished up the apple at such a clip
that now I am a flatfoot in a comic strip!

Dick Tracy: Though I am trapped and I have no gun
you still can't kill me 'cos it can't be done.
The whole darn force is waiting down below
I summoned all the boys on my wrist radio!

Crooks: He summoned all them cops on his wrist radio!

Dick Tracy: So even if I'm helpless in your evil grip
you cannot kill a flatfoot in a comic strip!

References

  • Evanier, Mark, Mad Art, Watson Guptil Publications, 2002, ISBN 0-8230-3080-6
  • Reidelbach, Maria, Completely Mad, Little Brown, 1991, ISBN 0-316-73890-5

See also

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