mad magazine

Chris Knight's avatar

“What, me worry?”  Oh dear Mr. Neuman, if only the rest of us shared your eternal optimism.  What began nigh near seventy years ago as a mere horror comic by E.C. Comics paterfamilias Bill Gaines became the true benchmark of modern education in these United States.  Because MAD Magazine taught me lessons no school or philosopher or theologian would ever broach: stop trusting the media and the politicians and the advertising.  Take them seriously by not taking them seriously.  Have the spine to stand up and laugh at the insanities and inanities of modern culture.

Yes, there were others who preached the same in one form or another.  But nowhere as chronically effective and engrossing as did “the usual gang of idiots”.  From the moment my best friend Chad let me read one of his MAD Super Special issues when we were nine years old, I was hopelessly reeled in.
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Chris Knight's avatar

The temptation yesterday was to post this then. But it’s something so offbeat and unique that I felt the original article at Ain’t It Cool News deserved 24 hours to stand on its own. But I really could not possibly be more giddy about sharing this…

In 1959, dancing legend Fred Astaire had a televised special called… well, Another Evening With Fred Astaire. And during it he did a routine with Barrie Chase.

And for whatever reason, Astaire chose to perform as Alfred E. Neuman. Yup, the gap-toothed ever-grinning mascot of MAD Magazine.

Astaire went all-out. The costume was spot-on Neuman. And for good measure he brought aboard makeup and prosthetics genius John Chambers (who went on to create the ape makeup and appliances for Planet of the Apes a few years later) to bring Neuman to life.

How did it turn out? Here’s Fred Astaire as ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Oops… I forgot. Am I even allowed to write “Super Bowl”? Might get hit by the NFL for copyright infringement by not calling it the “big game” instead.

Well anyway, no matter who who’re rooting for tomorrow or even if you’re not a sports fan at all, here’s something we can all enjoy: Andy Griffith’s classic comedy monologue “What It Was, Was Football”, accompanied by George Woodbridge’s illustrations from MAD Magazine!

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Chris Knight's avatar

It didn’t hit me until a few months ago how much MAD Magazine has influenced my life. You can see it on this blog even: my propensity toward emboldening words a lot? That’s definitely something I picked up from MAD‘s style… along with a jillion other traits, large and small that have crept into my work.

I’ve been been of the school of thought that MAD has suffered a decline in quality ever since the mag made the decision ten years ago to not just run real advertisements but worse: to shift from black/white to color. MAD never needed color. It was like when The Andy Griffith Show dropped grayscale: darn few of the color episodes were anywhere as funny as the first few seasons. No, MAD‘s allure was always the quality of its content, not its chroma.

But even so, MAD Magazine is now celebrating it’s FIVE-HUNDREDTH ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

You gotta hand it to MAD Magazine: though its quality has declined over the past decade or so because of advertisements and the transition to color (but then again the MAD staff will probably be the first to argue that the magazine never had much quality anyway) it’s still gets props for proving that it’s willing to skewer anybody. Take a gander at the cover of the February 2009 issue, bearing witness to the first 100 minutes of Barack Obama’s presidency…

Now that’s a classic MAD cover! Go buy a copy and help the economy! 😛...

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Chris Knight's avatar

In 1953, a young North Carolina actor named Andy Griffith did a stand-up routine about the game of football. The recording of it became a runaway bestseller across the country, and it quickly propelled Griffith toward major motion picture roles and of course The Andy Griffith Show. And since that time “What It Was, Was Football!” has become one of the best-known comedy monologues in history.

I first heard this bit around 1984, when the local edition of P.M. Magazine did a video clip of Griffith’s routine accompanied by footage from a local game. They even had a guy act out the “Buddy have a drink!” part. I thought it was pretty hilarious and years later when I spotted an Andy Griffith CD at a store in Asheville I bought it, just for “What It Was, Was Football!”. It’s now on my MP3 player 🙂

And guess what? You ...

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