Think of your favorite comedian. Or at least your favorite comedian over the age of 30. Unless that comedian grew up in another country, he/she was influenced by MAD Magazine.
Oh, the memories that came flooding back when we read the news: MAD and Alfred E. Neuman will effectively shut down this fall. Only effectively because the magazine will still publish reruns and a few specials for those who still subscribe. It will become a magazine for nostalgia, not new material.
Folks, the changes to the industry that is the American media are frightening.
No more MAD. It's like somebody said there'd be no more SNL.
Some of us saw the movies through Mort Drucker's eyes before we saw the actual movie. Oh, what that man could do with pen and ink. What a talent. From what we understand, Mr. Drucker is still kicking around in Brooklyn, at the age of 90. All the best to him.
We can remember his caricatures of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino when we were too young to see The Godfather. When we finally got permission to see the film, we already knew that Sonny would die, because in the MAD Magazine version he laid, shot up, at the toll booth, gripping folding money in his hand--killed for not having exact change.
Mort Drucker's take on the TV soap Dallas was tops. Rocky was even better. Or, as the writers named him, Rockhead.
The writing. The magazine's writing may have been even more famous than its artwork. What, them worry? The magazine didn't take any advertising, so it could make fun of everything.
We remember when Nike bought the rights to The Beatles' Revolution. MAD decided that it could sell other products with more Beatles tunes:
I need some roll-on Ban! I need some roll-on Ban!
Di-Gel, you're swell. Acid indigestion you repel. My Di-Gel.
Chevrolet, though they break down and get towed away, you'll still be loyal to U.S.A., and save the day, for Chevrolet.
Spy Vs. Spy is still a cultural reference these days. You can see it in news stories. And in political cartoons on the opinon pages. Murphy Brown had framed issues of several MAD issues hung up in her office.
Dave Berg, and The Lighter Side. Al Jaffee's fold-ins. Sergio Aragones' artwork in the margins. Duck Edwing's crazy stuff. And those mock titles.
"Midnight Wowboy." "Jaw'd." "The Ecchorcist." "On Olden Pond." "Dunces With Wolves." "Jurass-Has-Had-It Park."
How many hours did teen boys--and they were mostly boys--waste on the garbage served up by The Usual Gang of Idiots? Enough that sometimes the younger teens had to hide the subversive stuff from mom and dad. Whaddaya mean MAD is a waste of money? It's $1.50 CHEAP!
Oh, and we haven't even mentioned Don Martin, whose cartoons were once the defining staple of MAD Magazine. His characters had feet that had extra joints in them. Everybody had bony knees. And it was always one fine day in the jungle, or in a bank, or on an airplane. Don Martin was Vaudeville for cartoonists.
Even from the very beginning, when William Gaines first began his magazine project, Americans knew something was amiss. Knowing the 1960 election would be close, he printed a cover of Alfred E. Neuman congratulating John Kennedy for the win. And the back cover was an upside-down version of Alfred E. Neuman congratulating Richard Nixon for the win. The magazine could be displayed no matter how the election turned out.
(Kids, if you recognize the reference to Alfred E. Neuman, it's what the current president calls Mayor Pete in his tweets. You'll have to Google the name.)
This is a sad day. MAD Magazine isn't supposed to end. Then again, Robin Williams isn't supposed to end. Bloom County isn't supposed to end. They do. So it goes.
Somewhere in the closet, we think we still have a copy of MAD's take on "Star Roars," in which Bar-stool D-2 and Ham Yoyo save Princess Laid-up from Dark Vader. We think we'll dig that one up tonight. And relive childhood. Or at least teenhood.
Editorial on 07/06/2019