Goodbye Mad Magazine: A Tribute to a Generation of Cynics and Satirists

[gleem]

I just learned that the August issue of Mad Magazine will be its last. Like many of us growing up in the fifty and sixties Mad magazine provided use with a different outlook of the world from that which was being foisted on us by the establishment.

Remember someone running into your dorm room yelling "Did you see the latest issue of Mad" Yep. I lost contact with it in the 70's. However it did create a whole generation of cynics and satirists which continue with it main objective of exposing the hypocrisy and subterfuge of our society.

"What me worry?" No, at least not too much.

 

[epenguin]

I too have not seen it for a long time, in fact I don't believe I have ever read through very many issues, yet they imprinted themselves and the ethos.Is this anything to do with what we hear about free speech on American campuses?

You got there before me with the phrase but let me be first with

 

[gleem]

Is this anything to do with what we hear about free speech on American campuses?

The university is suppose to be a venue for the free exchange of ideas even if you do not agree or an idea is conflicts with your beliefs or positions on a subject. In the US some universities have sided with students some of whom are so offended by certain attitudes or ideas that they are disabled to face the trials of the workaday world and must find refuge in some quiet place provided by the university to regroup. Some on the other hand not only do not wish to debate these ideas but actively try to suppress their expression or even punish the offender. Other universities have maintained their defense of freedom of expression. What's the saying, "If you cannot stand the heat get out of the kitchen,"

I don't think these students have a sense of humor either.

 

[Klystron]

MAD magazine had a profound effect on humor at the middle and high school level (before 1970 in my experience). MAD promoted sarcasm and witty irony as the epitome of humor. University humor seemed more influenced by Monty Python, Saturday Night Live (SNL, after 1974) and Harvard, later National Lampoon political humor.

MAD asked "What, me worry?" in the face of possible nuclear destruction. "Spy-versus-Spy" along with Boris and Natasha of "Rocky and Bullwinkle" made cold war espionage amusing.

 

[gleem]

University humor seemed more influenced by Monty Python, Saturday Night Live (SNL, after 1974) and Harvard, later National Lampoon political humor.

Mad Mag supposedly was inspiration for SNL as well as The Simpsons,The Onion and The Daily Show. It may have had some influence on others as well.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I never read the magazine but I definitely appreciate how iconic it became over time. It just couldn't adapt or evolve to an online world.

 

[Astronuc]

I just learned that the August issue of Mad Magazine will be its last. Like many of us growing up in the fifty and sixties Mad magazine provided use with a different outlook of the world from that which was being foisted on us by the establishment.

Remember someone running into your dorm room yelling "Did you see the latest issue of Mad" Yep. I lost contact with it in the 70's. However it did create a whole generation of cynics and satirists which continue with it main objective of exposing the hypocrisy and subterfuge of our society.

I started reading it in the 1960s. My dad received it, I think mostly for Spy vs Spy, which I enjoyed. I read it up through the 1980s, then got too busy with grad school and work, and also, I was more invested in reading textbooks, journal articles and journals like Scientific American, or magazines like Trains, Model Railroading, Railroad Modeler, Railway Age.

I loved Don Martin's work. Who could forget Fester Bestertester or Fonebone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Martin_(cartoonist)
His work had me in stiches.

 

[256bits]

Great Movie reviews in Mad Magazine in 3 or 4 pages.
One didn't have to shell out at the movie theatre. Instead read a condensed version in print.

 

[BillTre]

MAD promoted sarcasm and witty irony as the epitome of humor.

I especially enjoyed "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions".
I had a lot of very sarcastic friends in Jr. High school.

 

[Nugatory]

MAD also provided one of our most valued members (who sadly passed away some years ago) with their avatar: https://www.physicsforums.com/members/marcus.66/

 

[StatGuy2000]

Mad Mag supposedly was inspiration for SNL as well as The Simpsons,The Onion and The Daily Show. It may have had some influence on others as well.

Mad magazine was also an inspiration (somewhat indirectly) for Monty Python as well.

Terry Gilliam had originally worked as a cartoonist for a number of years for Help! magazine (founded by Harvey Kurtzman as a spin-off from his original Mad magazine). In fact, it was during his time while employed at Help! where he first met John Cleese (living in New York at the time as a journalist for Newsweek magazine), and used him in a fumetti sketch in Help! during its original run (back in the '60s).

When Help! folded, Gilliam had worked in advertising in LA before ultimately leaving for the UK, where he ran into Cleese again, and ultimately founded Monty Python. But you can clearly see Mad magazine's influence on Python on the various animations used in the Monty Python show (and subsequent Python films).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help!_(magazine)

 

[StatGuy2000]

BTW, this may be worth a separate thread, but are any of you aware of an online magazine that is the equal of Mad magazine in terms of satire in the English language?

The only example I can think is The Onion.

Now on the topic of universities being a venue for free exchange of ideas...

The university is suppose to be a venue for the free exchange of ideas even if you do not agree or an idea is conflicts with your beliefs or positions on a subject. In the US some universities have sided with students some of whom are so offended by certain attitudes or ideas that they are disabled to face the trials of the workaday world and must find refuge in some quiet place provided by the university to regroup. Some on the other hand not only do not wish to debate these ideas but actively try to suppress their expression or even punish the offender. Other universities have maintained their defense of freedom of expression. What's the saying, "If you cannot stand the heat get out of the kitchen,"

I don't think these students have a sense of humor either.

What you speak of the American universities is nothing new -- there have always been extremist students (and faculty members as well) who were intolerant of divergent opinions on various subjects. The so-called "social justice warriors" that you speak of was very much a presence at universities during my time as a student (this was back in the 1990s). And probably was very much present back in the 1980s as well if one looks far enough.

Lack of humour is also nothing new.

 

[WWGD]

I was attracted to the more offbeat ones:
Joke setups in search of a punchline : " Dr Kevorkian walks into a butcher shop and gets two tickets..."
Joke punchlines in search of a setup: " ...The Rabbi and Priest guilty and drunk"
Charade magazine: Advice by Marylin Idiot Savant. Tom Selleck is invisible: picture of empty street ( with Selleck supposedly in the corner) as evidence.
RIP Mad.