Editing Mad (magazine)

{{Short description|American humor magazine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}{{Use American English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title = Mad
| logo = Mad magazine logo.png
| image_file = Mad Magazine, August 2017.jpg
| caption = Cover of the August 2017 issue
| editor = [[Harvey Kurtzman]] (1952–1956)<br />[[Al Feldstein]] (1956–1985)<br />[[Nick Meglin]] (1984–2004)<br />[[John Ficarra]] (1984–2018)<br />[[Bill Morrison (comics)|Bill Morrison]] (2018–2019)
| editor_title = Editor, executive editor
| frequency = Bimonthly
| circulation = 140,000 (as of 2017)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/05/20/How-Mad-Magazine-made-America-think-straight/stories/201805200020|title=How Mad Magazine made America think straight [op-ed]|newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|location=Pennsylvania|first=Michael J.|last=Socolow|author1-link=Michael J. Socolow|date=May 20, 2018|access-date=November 20, 2020|archive-date=November 20, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201120224733/https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/05/20/How-Mad-Magazine-made-America-think-straight/stories/201805200020| url-status=live}}</ref>
| category = [[Satire|Satirical]] magazine
| company = {{plainlist|
* [[EC Comics]] (1952–1961)
* Premier Industries (1961–1964)
* [[National Periodical Publications]] (1964–1977)
* [[DC Comics]] (1977–present)
}}
| firstdate = October/November, {{start date and age|1952}} (original magazine)<br/>{{start date and age|June 2018}} (reboot)
| finaldate = {{end date and age|2018|04}} (original magazine)
| country = United States
| language = English
| website = {{URL|dc.com/mad}}
| issn = 0024-9319
| oclc = 265037357
}}

'''''Mad''''' (stylized in [[all caps]]) is an American [[humor magazine]] which was launched in 1952 and currently published by [[DC Comics]], a unit of the [[DC Entertainment]] subsidiary of [[Warner Bros. Discovery]]. ''Mad'' was founded by editor [[Harvey Kurtzman]] and publisher [[William Gaines]],<ref name=newsa/> launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and influential, affecting [[Satire|satirical]] media, as well as the cultural landscape of the late 20th century, with editor [[Al Feldstein]] increasing readership to more than two million during its 1973–1974 circulation peak.<ref>{{cite news|last= Winn|first= Marie |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0611F93E5F0C768EDDA80894D9484D81&scp=7&sq=childhood%20innocence&st=cse |title=What Became of Childhood Innocence?|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 25, 1981|access-date=February 2, 2011}}</ref> It is the last surviving strip in the [[EC Comics]] line, which sold ''Mad'' to Premier Industries in 1961, but closed in 1956.

''Mad'' publishes satire on all aspects of life and popular culture, politics, entertainment, and public figures. Its format includes TV and movie parodies, and satire articles about everyday occurrences that are changed to seem humorous. ''Mad''{{'}}s mascot, [[Alfred E. Neuman]], is usually on the cover, with his face replacing that of a celebrity or character who is being lampooned. From 1952 to 2018, ''Mad'' published 550 regular magazine issues, as well as scores of reprint "Specials", original-material paperbacks, reprint compilation books and other print projects. After [[AT&T]] merged with DC's then-owner [[WarnerMedia|Time Warner]] in June 2018, ''Mad'' ended [[newsstand]] distribution, continuing in comic-book stores and via subscription.

==History==
{{Main|History of Mad|Harvey Kurtzman's editorship of Mad}}
[[File:Madhk1.jpg|thumb|[[Harvey Kurtzman]]'s cover for ''Mad'' No. 1 ([[cover-date]]d Oct./Nov. 1952)]]
[[File:Mad24.JPG|thumb|With issue 24 (July 1955), ''Mad'' switched to a magazine format. The "extremely important message" was "Please buy this magazine!".]]

''Mad'' began as a comic book published by [[EC Comics|EC]], debuting in August 1952 ([[cover date]] October–November). The ''Mad'' office was initially located in [[lower Manhattan]] at 225 Lafayette Street, while in the early 1960s it moved to 485 [[Madison Avenue]], the location listed in the magazine as "485 MADison Avenue".

The first issue was written almost entirely by [[Harvey Kurtzman]], and featured illustrations by him, [[Wally Wood]], [[Will Elder]], [[Jack Davis (cartoonist)|Jack Davis]], and [[John Severin]]. Wood, Elder, and Davis were to be the three main illustrators throughout the 23-issue run of the comic book.

To retain Kurtzman as its editor, the comic book converted to magazine format as of issue No. 24, in 1955. The switchover induced Kurtzman to remain for one more year, but the move had removed ''Mad'' from the strictures of the [[Comics Code Authority]]. [[William Gaines]] related in 1992 that ''Mad'' "was not changed [into a magazine] to avoid the Code" but "as a result of this [change of format] it ''did'' avoid the Code."<ref name=gaines>{{cite journal |last=Riggenberg |first=Steve|date=1992 |title=An Interview with William M. Gaines |journal=[[Gauntlet (magazine)|Gauntlet]] |issue=3 |pages=86–94}}</ref> Gaines claimed that Kurtzman had at the time received "a very lucrative offer from... ''[[Pageant (magazine)|Pageant]]'' magazine," and seeing as he, Kurtzman, "had, prior to that time, evinced an interest in changing ''Mad'' into a magazine," Gaines, "not know[ing] anything about publishing magazines," countered that offer by allowing Kurtzman to make the change. Gaines further stated that "if Harvey [Kurtzman] had not gotten that offer from ''Pageant'', ''Mad'' probably would not have changed format."<ref name=gaines/>

After Kurtzman's departure in 1956, new editor [[Al Feldstein]] swiftly brought aboard contributors such as [[Don Martin (cartoonist)|Don Martin]], [[Frank Jacobs]], and [[Mort Drucker]], and later [[Antonio Prohías]], [[Dave Berg (cartoonist)|Dave Berg]], and [[Sergio Aragonés]]. The magazine's circulation more than quadrupled during Feldstein's tenure, peaking at 2,132,655 in 1974; it later declined to a third of this figure by the end of his time as editor.<ref name=slau>{{cite web|url= http://users.pfw.edu/slaubau/mad/madcirculation.htm|last=Slaubaugh|first=Mike|title=''Mad Magazine'' circulation figures|publisher=[[Purdue University Fort Wayne]] academic account (fan site)|access-date=February 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315224710/http://users.ipfw.edu/slaubau/madcirc.htm|archive-date=March 15, 2017|url-status=dead}} {{better source needed|date=November 2020}}</ref>

In its earliest incarnation, new issues of the magazine appeared erratically, between four and nine times a year. By the end of 1958, ''Mad'' had settled on an unusual eight-times-a-year schedule,<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Mad|date=November 1958|volume=1|issue=42|page=1|quote=MAD – November 1958, Volume I, Number 42, is published monthly except January, April, July and October ...|title=[Postal indicia]}}</ref> which lasted almost four decades.<ref>{{cite journal| journal=MAD|date=May 1995|issue=335|page=2|quote=MAD ... is published monthly except bimonthly for January/February, March/April, July/August and October/November ...|title=MAD}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Mad|date=June 1995|issue=336|page=2| quote = MAD ... is published monthly except bimonthly for January/February, March/April and October/November ...|title=[Postal indicia]}}</ref> Issues would go on sale 7 to 9 weeks before the start of the month listed on the cover. Gaines felt the atypical timing was necessary to maintain the magazine's level of quality. Beginning in 1994, ''Mad'' then began incrementally producing additional issues per year, until it reached a monthly schedule with issue No. 353 (Jan. 1997).<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Mad|date=December 1996|issue=352|page=2|quote=MAD ... is published monthly except bimonthly for January/February ...|title=[Postal indicia]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Mad|date=January 1997|issue=353|page=2|quote = MAD ... is published monthly by E. C. Publications Inc ...|title=[Postal indicia] }}</ref> With its 500th issue (June 2009), amid company-wide cutbacks at Time Warner, the magazine temporarily regressed to a quarterly publication<ref name=newsa/><ref>Gustines, George Gene (January 23, 2009). [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/sad-news-for-mad-fans "Sad News for Mad Fans"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> before settling to six issues per year in 2010.<ref>''Mad'', Issue 504, p. 4.</ref>

Gaines sold his company in 1961 to Premier Industries, a maker of venetian blinds.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2017/06/13/what-he-worry/ | title=News from ME – Mark Evanier's blog }}</ref> Around 1964, Premier sold ''Mad'' to [[Independent News]], a division of [[National Periodical Publications]], the publisher of [[DC Comics]]. In the summer of 1967, [[Kinney National Company]] purchased National Periodical Publications. Kinney bought [[Warner Bros.-Seven Arts]] in early 1969.<ref>Retrieved on February 24, 2016. [https://archive.today/20120718011945/http://toonopedia.com/mad.htm Archived] from the original on July 18, 2012.</ref> As a result of the car parking scandal,{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} Kinney Services spun off of its non-entertainment assets to form [[National Kinney Corporation]] in August 1971, and it reincorporated as [[Warner Communications, Inc.]] on February 10, 1972. In 1977, National Periodical Publications was renamed DC Comics.

Feldstein retired in 1985, and was replaced by the senior team of [[Nick Meglin]] and [[John Ficarra]], who co-edited ''Mad'' for the next two decades. Long-time production artist Lenny "The Beard" Brenner was promoted to art director and [[Joe Raiola]] and [[Charlie Kadau]] joined the staff as junior editors. Following Gaines's death in 1992, ''Mad'' became more ingrained within the Time Warner (now [[WarnerMedia]]) corporate structure. 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's offices at the same time that DC relocated to 1700 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]]. In issue No. 403 of March 2001, the magazine broke its long-standing taboo and began running paid advertising. The outside revenue allowed the introduction of color printing<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xkyz3/iam_dick_debartolo_mads_maddest_writer_the_giz/c5napcv/?context=3 Reddit]</ref> and improved paper stock. After Meglin retired in 2004, the team of Ficarra (as executive editor) Raiola and Kadau (as senior editors), and [[Sam Viviano]], who had taken over as art director in 1999, would helm ''Mad'' for the next 14 years.

Throughout the years, ''MAD'' remained a unique mix of adolescent silliness and political humor. In November 2017, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' wrote that "operating under the cover of barf jokes, ''MAD'' has become America's best political satire magazine."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/the-hot-list-2017-the-people-and-trends-were-talking-about-the-most-123532/hot-pivot-mad-magazine-122636/|access-date=November 3, 2017|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |title=The Hot List 2017: The People and Trends We're Talking About the Most|date=November 3, 2017}}</ref> Nevertheless, ''Mad'' ended its 65-year run in New York City at the end of 2017 with issue No. 550 ([[cover-date]]d April 2018),<ref name=TCJ-Flanders>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.tcj.com/an-unusual-gang-of-idiots-the-joy-of-working-at-mad-magazine-past-its-heyday/|title=An Unusual Gang of Idiots: The Joy of Working at MAD Magazine Past Its Heyday|first=Ryan|last=Flanders|magazine=[[The Comics Journal]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics]]|date= July 17, 2019|access-date=November 23, 2020|archive-date=November 7, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201107224639/http://www.tcj.com/an-unusual-gang-of-idiots-the-joy-of-working-at-mad-magazine-past-its-heyday/|url-status=live|quote=550 issues of the magazine were produced in New York City.}}</ref><ref name=Morrison-press-release/> in preparation for the relocation of its offices to [[DC Entertainment]]'s headquarters in [[Burbank, California]].<ref name=Morrison-press-release>{{cite press release|url=http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2017/06/26/bill-morrison-named-incoming-executive-editor-of-mad-magazine|title=Bill Morrison Named Oncoming Executive Editor of ''Mad'' Magazine|date=June 26, 2017|publisher=[[DC Entertainment]]|location=Burbank, California|archive-date=December 8, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171208055514/http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2017/06/26/bill-morrison-named-incoming-executive-editor-of-mad-magazine|url-status=live|quote=Longtime and current Executive Editor John Ficarra, along with other key members of the MAD team, will continue to publish the magazine from MAD's New York offices through the year's end, and will assist with the relocation of the magazine’s operation to DC Entertainment’s Burbank, CA, headquarters.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tomrichmond.com/2017/12/12/new-york-is-mad-no-more/|title=New York Is MAD No More|first=Tom|last=Richmond|publisher="Mad" contributor Tom Richmond official website|date=December 12, 2017|access-date= November 23, 2020|archive-date=July 21, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190721173818/https://www.tomrichmond.com/new-york-is-mad-no-more/12/12/2017/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Bill Morrison (comics)|Bill Morrison]] was named in June 2017 to succeed Ficarra in January 2018.<ref name="Morrison-press-release" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Kit |first=Borys |date=June 26, 2017 |title=MAD Magazine Names New Editor as It Plots Move to L.A. (Exclusive) |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/mad-magazine-names-new-editor-as-plots-move-la-1015825 |access-date=July 3, 2017}}</ref> None of ''MAD''{{'}}s New York staff made the move, resulting in a change in editorial leadership, tone, and art direction. More than a hundred new names made their ''Mad'' debuts including [[Brian Posehn]], [[Maria Bamford]], [[Ian Boothby]], [[Luke McGarry]], [[Akilah Hughes]], and future Pulitzer Prize finalist [[Pia Guerra]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=The Pulitzer Prizes |title=Pia Guerra, contributor, ''The Washington Post'' |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/pia-guerra-contributor-washington-post |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.pulitzer.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://users.pfw.edu/slaubau/mad/madcontributorCA.htm|title=MAD Magazine Contributors|publisher=[[Purdue University Fort Wayne]] academic account (fan site)|editor-first= Mike |editor-last=Slaubaugh|archive-date= August 6, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200806153714/https://users.pfw.edu/slaubau/mad/madcontributorCA.htm| url-status=live}} {{better source needed|date=November 2020}}</ref> Scores of artists and writers from the New York run also returned to the pages of the California-based issues including contributors [[Sergio Aragonés]], [[Al Jaffee]], [[Desmond Devlin]], [[Tom Richmond (illustrator)|Tom Richmond]], [[Peter Kuper]], Teresa Burns Parkhurst, [[Rick Tulka]], [[Tom Bunk]], Jeff Kruse, Ed Steckley, [[Arie Kaplan]], writer and former Senior Editor [[Charlie Kadau]], and artist and former Art Director [[Sam Viviano]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site - Mad Magazine Contributors - Master List |url=https://madcoversite.com/ugoi-master.html |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=madcoversite.com}}</ref> The first California issue of ''Mad'' was renumbered as "#1." In 2019, the rebooted magazine earned two Eisner Award nominations—the first such nominations in ''MAD's'' history—for the Best Short Story and Best Humor Publication categories.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McMillan |first=Graeme |date=2019-04-26 |title=Eisner Award Nominees Revealed |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/2019-eisner-nominees-complete-list-1205156/ |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[AT&T]] acquired Time Warner in June 2018.<ref name=ATT-press-release>{{Cite press release|url=https://about.att.com/story/att_completes_acquisition_of_time_warner_inc.html|title=AT&T Completes Acquisition of Time Warner Inc.|publisher=[[AT&T]]|location=Dallas, Texas|date=June 15, 2018|access-date=November 23, 2020|archive-date=November 15, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201115111308/http://about.att.com/story/att_completes_acquisition_of_time_warner_inc.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Morrison exited ''MAD'' by March 2019, during a time of layoffs and restructuring at DC Entertainment.<ref>[https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-morrison-679341b/ Bill Morrison] at [[LinkedIn.com]]. Retrieved on November 23, 2020. [https://archive.today/20201123014238/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-morrison-679341b/ Archived] from the original on November 23, 2020. "VP Executive Editor, MAD Magazine, Jun 2017 – 2019. Art Director, Seriously Digital Entertainment, Mar 2019 – Nov 2019."</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://deadline.com/2019/01/dc-comics-layoffs-seven-staffers-senior-vps-restructuring-1202540683/|title=DC Comics Lays Off Seven Staffers Including SVPs In Restructuring|first=Erik|last=Pedersen|magazine=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=January 23, 2019|access-date=November 23, 2020|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201108003445/https://deadline.com/2019/01/dc-comics-layoffs-seven-staffers-senior-vps-restructuring-1202540683/|url-status=live}}</ref> After issue No. 10 (Dec. 2019) of the new Burbank edition, ''Mad'' began to consist mostly of curated reprints with new covers and fold-ins, although some new articles have been periodically featured, including parodies of ''[[The Batman (film)|The Batman]]'' ("The Bathroom") and [[Twitter under Elon Musk|Elon Musk's tenure at Twitter]] (in a [[The Sneetches and Other Stories|Dr. Seuss]] parody called "Free Speeches on the Beaches").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site - Movie Parody Guide |url=https://madcoversite.com/subjects.html |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=madcoversite.com}}</ref> Distribution to newsstands stopped, with the magazine initially becoming available only through comic-book shops and by subscription, although in 2022 distribution expanded to [[Barnes & Noble]] via a series of compilation issues dubbed ''The Treasure Trove of Trash''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site - All Special Thumbs |url=https://madcoversite.com/allthumbs2.html |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=madcoversite.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-magazine-effectively-close-67-years-1222636|access-date=January 1, 2020| magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|title=Mad Magazine to Effectively Shutter After 67 Years|date= July 3, 2019|first1= Trilby|last1= Beresford|first2=Abid|last2=Rahman|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200128031121/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-magazine-effectively-close-67-years-1222636|archive-date=January 28, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |mode=cs2 |url= https://www.npr.org/2019/07/04/738767035/satirical-staple-mad-to-exit-newsstands-and-recycle-its-classic-material |title='Mad' Magazine to End Sales On Newsstands, Move to Reruns |publisher=[[NPR]] |last=Ulaby|first=Neda |date=July 4, 2019 |access-date=November 20, 2020|archive-date=November 19, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201119215121/https://www.npr.org/2019/07/04/738767035/satirical-staple-mad-to-exit-newsstands-and-recycle-its-classic-material|url-status=live|quote=MAD isn't completely shutting down, but it will be radically downsized and changed. Readers will only be able to find the 67-year-old humor magazine at comic book stores and through subscriptions. After issue No. 10 this fall, there will no longer be new content, except for end-of-year specials, which will be all new. Starting with issue No. 11, the magazine will feature classic, best-of and nostalgic content, repackaged with new covers.}}</ref>

==Influence==
Though there are antecedents to ''Mad''{{'}}s style of humor in print, radio and film, ''Mad'' became a signature example of it. Throughout the 1950s, ''Mad'' featured groundbreaking parodies combining a sentimental fondness for the familiar staples of American culture—such as [[Archie Andrews (comics)|Archie]] and [[Superman]]—with a keen joy in exposing the fakery behind the image.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reidelbach |first=Maria |title=Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Cook and Magazine |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-316-73891-0 |edition= |location=Boston |pages=22–27}}</ref> Its approach was described by [[Dave Kehr]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'': "[[Bob Elliott (comedian)|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."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E1D7173EF933A1575BC0A9609C8B63 |last=Kehr|first= Dave|title=When Unmanly Men Met Womanly Women |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 20, 2006 |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref> [[Bob and Ray]], Kovacs and Freberg all became contributors to ''Mad''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://madcoversite.com/ugoi-master.html|title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site – Mad Magazine Contributors – Master List|website=MadCoverSite.com|access-date=November 17, 2017}}</ref>

In 1977, Tony Hiss and Jeff Lewis wrote in ''The New York Times'' about the then-25-year-old publication's initial effect:

{{blockquote|The skeptical generation of kids it shaped in the 1950s is the same generation that, in the 1960s, opposed a war and didn't feel bad when the United States lost for the first time and in the 1970s helped turn out an Administration and didn't feel bad about that either ... It was magical, objective proof to kids that they weren't alone, that in New York City on Lafayette Street, if nowhere else, there were people who knew that there was something wrong, phony and funny about a world of bomb shelters, [[brinkmanship]] and toothpaste smiles. ''Mad''{{'}}s consciousness of itself, as trash, as comic book, as enemy of parents and teachers, even as money-making enterprise, thrilled kids. In 1955, such consciousness was possibly nowhere else to be found. In a ''Mad'' parody, comic-strip characters knew they were stuck in a strip. "Darnold Duck," for example, begins wondering why he has only three fingers and has to wear white gloves all the time. He ends up wanting to murder every other Disney character. G.I. Schmoe tries to win the sexy Asiatic Red Army broad by telling her, "O.K., baby! You're all mine! I gave you a chance to hit me witta gun butt ... But naturally, you have immediately fallen in love with me, since I am a big hero of this story."<ref>{{cite news|first1=Tony|last1=Hiss|first2=Jeff|last2=Lewis|title=The 'MAD' Generation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/31/archives/the-mad-generation-after-25-years-of-perpetrating-humor-in-the.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 31, 1977|access-date=October 7, 2024|page=SM4}}</ref>}}

''Mad'' is often credited with filling a vital gap in political satire from the 1950s to 1970s, when [[Red Scare|Cold War paranoia]] and a general culture of censorship prevailed in the United States, especially in literature for teens. Activist [[Tom Hayden]] said, "My own radical journey began with ''Mad Magazine''."<ref>Herman, Jan (December 5, 2007).  [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jan-herman/mad-magazine-tom-h_b_75438.html "MAD Magazine + Tom Hayden = SDS"]. ''[[The Huffington Post]]''. Retrieved December 26, 2015.</ref> The rise of such factors as cable television and the Internet has 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.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}} 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]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectmad.com/fbi/data/Other%20References.html |title=''Mad'' Collector Resource Center: On the Lighter Side |publisher=Collectmad.com |access-date=February 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511121530/http://www.collectmad.com/fbi/data/Other%20References.html |archive-date=May 11, 2011  }}</ref> ''The Simpsons'' producer [[Bill Oakley]] said, "''The Simpsons'' has transplanted ''Mad'' magazine. Basically everyone who was young between 1955 and 1975 read ''Mad'', and that's where your sense of humor came from. And we knew all these people, you know, Dave Berg and Don Martin—all heroes, and unfortunately, now all dead."<ref>{{cite book | last=Ortved | first=John | title=The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History | publisher=Faber & Faber | year=2009}}</ref> In 2009, ''The New York Times'' wrote, "''Mad'' once defined American satire; now it heckles from the margins as all of culture competes for trickster status."<ref name="Leigh">{{cite news|last=Leigh |first=Alison |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/mad_magazine/index.html |title=MAD Magazine News |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 13, 2009 |access-date=2016-02-24}}</ref> Longtime contributor [[Al Jaffee]] described the dilemma to an interviewer in 2010: "When ''Mad'' first came out, in 1952, it was the only game in town. Now, you've got graduates from ''Mad'' who are doing [[Today (U.S. TV program)|''The Today Show'']] or ''[[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]]'' or ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. All of these people grew up on ''Mad''. Now ''Mad'' has to top them. So ''Mad'' is almost in a competition with itself."<ref name="motherjones.com">{{cite magazine | first=Michael | last=Mechanic | url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2010/09/interview-al-jaffee-mad-life-snappy-answers | title=Cartoonist Al Jaffee, the Original Mad Man | date=September 24, 2010 | magazine=Mother Jones | access-date=December 24, 2022}}</ref>

''Mad''{{'}}s satiric net was cast wide. The magazine often featured parodies of ongoing American culture, including advertising campaigns, the nuclear family, the media, big business, education and publishing. In the 1960s and beyond, it satirized such burgeoning topics as the [[sexual revolution]], [[hippie]]s, the [[generation gap]], [[psychoanalysis]], [[gun politics]], pollution, the [[Vietnam War]] and [[recreational drug use]]. The magazine took a generally negative tone towards [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] drugs such as [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] and [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]], but it also savaged mainstream drugs such as tobacco and [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]]. ''Mad'' always satirized [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] as mercilessly as it did [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]].<ref>''"MAD About Politics"'', Insight Editions, 2008</ref> In 2007, Al Feldstein recalled, "We even used to rake the hippies over the coals. They were protesting the Vietnam War, but we took aspects of their culture and had fun with it. ''Mad'' was wide open. [[William Gaines|Bill]] loved it, and he was a capitalist Republican. I loved it, and I was a liberal Democrat. That went for the writers, too; they all had their own political leanings, and everybody had a voice. But the voices were mostly critical. It was social commentary, after all."<ref>{{cite news|last=Heller |first=Jason |url=https://www.avclub.com/al-feldstein-1798211079 |title=Al Feldstein |newspaper=The A.V. Club |date=March 29, 2007 |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref> ''Mad'' also ran a good deal of less topical or contentious material on such varied subjects as [[fairy tale]]s, [[nursery rhyme]]s, [[greeting card]]s, sports, [[Conversation|small talk]], poetry, marriage, [[comic strip]]s, [[List of film awards|awards shows]], [[Automobile|cars]] and many other areas of general interest.<ref name=zine>''Absolutely Mad'', Graphic Imaging Technology, 2006.</ref><ref name=maria/>

In 2007, the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''{{'}} Robert Boyd wrote, "All I really need to know I learned from ''Mad'' magazine", going on to assert:

{{blockquote|Plenty of it went right over my head, of course, but that's part of what made it attractive and valuable. Things that go over your head can make you raise your head a little higher.

The magazine instilled in me a habit of mind, a way of thinking about a world rife with false fronts, small print, deceptive ads, booby traps, treacherous language, double standards, half truths, subliminal pitches and product placements; it warned me that I was often merely the target of people who claimed to be my friend; it prompted me to mistrust authority, to read between the lines, to take nothing at face value, to see patterns in the often shoddy construction of movies and TV shows; and it got me to think critically in a way that few actual humans charged with my care ever bothered to.<ref>{{cite web|last=Buhain |first=Venice |url=http://www.tdn.com/articles/2007/03/25/this_day/news01.txt |title=The Daily News Online &gt; This Day &gt; Born under a Mad sign |publisher=Tdn.com |date=October 14, 2002 |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref>}}

[[File:8.23.12MichaelBiehnByLuigiNovi11.jpg|thumb|left|Actor [[Michael Biehn]] (pictured in 2012) autographing a copy of ''Mad'' No. 268 (Jan. 1987), which parodies Biehn's film ''[[Aliens (film)|Aliens]]'']]
In 1988, [[Geoffrey O'Brien]] wrote about the impact ''Mad'' had upon the younger generation of the 1950s:

{{blockquote|By now they knew the [nuclear survival] pamphlets lied ... [[Rod Serling]] knew a lot more than [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]].  There were even jokes about the atom bomb in ''Mad'', a gallows humor commenting on its own ghastliness: ''"The last example of this nauseating, busted-crutch type humor is to show an atom-bomb explosion! However, this routine, we feel, is giving way to the even more hilarious picture of the hydrogen bomb!"'' The jittery aftertaste of that joke clarified.  It was a splinter driven through the carefully measured prose on the back of some Mentor book about Man and His Destiny ... By not fitting in, a joke momentarily interrupted the world. But after the joke you recognized it was a joke and went back to the integral world that the joke broke. But what if it never came back again, and the little gap stayed there and became everything?<ref>{{cite book | last=O'Brien | first=Geoffrey | title=Dream Time: Chapters from the Sixties | publisher=Viking Press | 
year=1988 | pages=9–12}}</ref>}}

In 1994, Brian Siano in ''[[The Humanist]]'' discussed the effect of ''Mad'' on that segment of people already disaffected from society:

{{blockquote|For the smarter kids of two generations, ''Mad'' was a revelation: it was the first to tell us that the toys we were being sold were garbage, our teachers were phonies, our leaders were fools, our religious counselors were hypocrites, and even our parents were lying to us about damn near everything. An entire generation had William Gaines for a godfather: this same generation later went on to give us the sexual revolution, the environmental movement, the peace movement, greater freedom in artistic expression, and a host of other goodies. Coincidence? You be the judge.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_n2_v54/ai_15216386 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014201115/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_n2_v54/ai_15216386 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-10-14 |work=[[The Humanist]] |title=Tales from the crypt – comic books and censorship – The Skeptical Eye |first=Brian |last=Siano |year=1994 }}</ref>}}

[[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning art comics maven [[Art Spiegelman]] said, "The message ''Mad'' had in general is, 'The media is lying to you, and we are part of the media.' It was basically ... 'Think for yourselves, kids.{{'"}} William Gaines offered his own view: when asked to cite ''Mad''{{'}}s philosophy, his boisterous answer was, "We must never stop reminding the reader what little value they get for their money!"

Comics historian [[Tom Spurgeon]] picked ''Mad'' as the medium's top series of all time, writing, "At the height of its influence, ''Mad'' was ''[[The Simpsons]]'', ''[[The Daily Show]]'' and ''[[The Onion]]'' combined."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_sunday_feature_the_top_ten_all_time_best_comics_series/ | title=The Ten All-Time Best Long-Running Comics Series | first=Tom | last=Spurgeon | author-link=Tom Spurgeon | website=The Comics Reporter | date=April 26, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430034516/http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_sunday_feature_the_top_ten_all_time_best_comics_series/ | archive-date=April 30, 2009 | access-date=December 24, 2022}}</ref> [[Graydon Carter]] chose it as the sixth-best magazine of any sort ever, describing ''Mad''{{'}}s mission as being "ever ready to pounce on the illogical, hypocritical, self-serious and ludicrous" before concluding, "Nowadays, it's part of the oxygen we breathe."<ref>[http://magazine.good.is/articles/the-51-best-magazines-ever GOOD Magazine | Goodmagazine – The 51 Best* Magazines Ever] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006071459/http://magazine.good.is/articles/the-51-best-magazines-ever |date=October 6, 2014 }} – Words By Graydon Carter, GOOD magazine / Introduction By Bigshot Editor Graydon Carter</ref> [[Joyce Carol Oates]] called it "wonderfully inventive, irresistibly irreverent and intermittently ingenious".<ref>{{cite news|last=Garner |first=Dwight |url=http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/collateral-damage/ |title= Collateral Damage   |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 17, 2007 |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref>

Artist [[Dave Gibbons]] said, "When you think of the people who grew up in the '50s and '60s, the letters M-A-D were probably as influential as L-S-D, in that it kind of expanded people's consciousness and showed them an alternative view of society and consumer culture—mocked it, satirized it." Gibbons also noted that ''Mad'' was an overt influence on ''[[Watchmen]]'', the acclaimed 12-issue comic book series created by writer [[Alan Moore]] and himself:
{{blockquote|When it comes to the kind of storytelling we did in ''Watchmen'', we used many of the tricks [[Harvey Kurtzman]] perfected in ''Mad''. The thing for instance where you have a background that remains constant, and have characters walk around in front of it. Or the inverse of that, where you have characters in the same place and move the background around. We quite mercilessly stole the wonderful techniques Harvey Kurtzman had invented in ''Mad''.<ref>Gibbons, Dave, in {{Cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/books/2018/09/07/dave-gibbons-harvey-hall-of-fame-watchmen-legacy/|title=Dave Gibbons on the Harvey Hall of Fame and the continuing legacy of 'Watchmen'|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|first= Christian|last= Holub|date=September 7, 2018|access-date=November 20, 2020|archive-date=November 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117195308/https://ew.com/books/2018/09/07/dave-gibbons-harvey-hall-of-fame-watchmen-legacy/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

In a 1985 ''[[Tonight Show]]'' appearance, when [[Johnny Carson]] asked [[Michael J. Fox]], "When did you really know you'd made it in show business?", Fox replied, "When [[Mort Drucker]] drew my head."<ref>{{cite book | title=Mort Drucker: Five Decades of His Finest Works | first=Mort | last=Drucker | year=2012 | publisher=Running Press | page=7}}</ref> In 2019, [[Terence Winter]], writer and producer of ''[[The Sopranos]]'', told [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] "When we got into ''Mad'' Magazine, that was the highlight for me. That said everything."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2019/tv/features/the-sopranos-20th-anniversary-david-chase-legacy-interview-1203104446/|title='The Sopranos' at 20: David Chase and His Writing Team Reflect on Resonating Across Generations|first1=Scott|last1=Huver|date=January 10, 2019|work=Variety}}</ref>

[[Monty Python]]'s [[Terry Gilliam]] wrote, "''Mad'' became the Bible for me and my whole generation."<ref>Gilliam, Terry, ''Gilliam on Gilliam'', Faber & Faber, 1999</ref> Underground cartoonist [[Bill Griffith]] said of his youth, "''Mad'' was a life raft in a place like [[Levittown]], where all around you were the things that ''Mad'' was skewering and making fun of."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.tcj.com/the-50th-anniversary-of-underground-comix/|title=The 50th Anniversary of Underground Comix|magazine=[[The Comics Journal]]|publisher=[[Fantagraphics]]| author-link=R.C. Harvey|first=R.C.|last=Harvey|date= October 3, 2018|access-date=November 20, 2020|archive-date= November 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109031455/http://www.tcj.com/the-50th-anniversary-of-underground-comix/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Robert Crumb]] remarked, "Artists are always trying to equal the work that impressed them in their childhood and youth. I still feel extremely inadequate when I look at the old ''Mad'' comics."<ref>Robert Crumb quoted from {{cite magazine|title=Underground Cartoonists: Ten Years Later|first=Paul|last=Buhle|magazine=[[Cultural Correspondence]]|issue=5|date=Summer–Fall 1977}} cited in {{Cite web|url=https://comicsgrinder.com/2019/04/24/guest-review-the-book-of-weirdo/|title=Guest Review: 'The Book of Weirdo'|first=Paul|last=Buhle|date=April 24, 2019| publisher=ComicsGrinder.com|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=September 26, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200926085634/https://comicsgrinder.com/2019/04/24/guest-review-the-book-of-weirdo/|url-status=live}}</ref>

When [[Weird Al Yankovic]] was asked whether ''Mad'' had had any influence in putting him on a road to a career in parody, the musician replied, "[It was] more like going off a cliff."<ref name=yankovic>{{cite news|last=Cavna |first=Michael |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/04/21/mad-inspired-young-weird-al-yankovic-today-as-1st-guest-editor-he-exacts-revenge/ |title=MAD magazine inspired 'Weird Al' Yankovic. Today, as its first guest editor, he exacts revenge. |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=April 21, 2015 |access-date=2016-02-23}}</ref> ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' writer-actor [[Frank Conniff]] wrote, "Without ''Mad'' Magazine, ''MST3K'' would have been slightly different, like for instance, it wouldn't have existed."<ref>{{cite tweet|first=Frank|last=Conniff|author-link=Frank Conniff|user= FrankConniff|number=461749598193999872|title=Without Mad Magazine....|date=May 1, 2014|access-date=November 23, 2020| archive-date=November 23, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201123002628/https://twitter.com/FrankConniff/status/461749598193999872|url-status=live}}</ref> Comedian [[Jerry Seinfeld]] talked about the magazine's impact on him, saying, "You start reading it, and you're going, 'These people don't respect ''anything''.' And that just exploded my head. It was like, you don't have to buy it. You can say 'This is stupid. This is stupid.{{'"}}<ref>Seinfeld, Jerry, ''Jerry Before Seinfeld'' special, Netflix, 2017</ref>

Critic [[Roger Ebert]] wrote:{{blockquote|I learned to be a movie critic by reading ''Mad'' magazine ... ''Mad''{{'}}s parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin—of the way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas. I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. [[Pauline Kael]] [[I Lost It at the Movies|lost it at the movies]]; I lost it at ''Mad'' magazine.<ref>Foreword to ''Mad About the Movies'', Mad Books, {{ISBN|1-56389-459-9}}</ref>}}

Rock singer [[Patti Smith]] said more succinctly, "After ''Mad'', drugs were nothing."<ref>{{cite news|last=Lavin |first=Maud |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E7D61038F937A2575AC0A9659C8B63 |title=Neuman's Own  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 14, 2003 |access-date=February 23, 2016|archive-date=August 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810200922/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/books/neuman-s-own.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Recurring features==
{{Main|Recurring features in Mad (magazine)}}
''Mad'' is known for many regular and semi-regular recurring features in its pages, including "[[Spy vs. Spy]]", the "[[Mad Fold-in]]", "The Lighter Side of ..." and its television and movie parodies.<!--Please don't add things to this sentence or it will quickly get out of hand. Edit the "recurring features" article instead.--> The magazine has also included recurring gags and references, both visual (e.g. the ''Mad'' Zeppelin, or Arthur the potted plant) and linguistic (unusual words such as [[axolotl]], furshlugginer, [[potrzebie]] and veeblefetzer).

===Alfred E. Neuman===
[[File:MAD Magazine (no. 21, front cover).jpg|right|324px|thumb|First cover appearance (issue 21, March 1955) of Alfred E. Neuman in a fake advertisement satirizing the popular mail-order house [[Johnson Smith Company]]]]
{{Main|Alfred E. Neuman}}
The image most closely associated with the magazine is that of [[Alfred E. Neuman]], the boy with misaligned eyes, a [[Maxillary central incisor|gap-toothed]] smile, and the perennial motto "What, me worry?" The original image was a popular humorous graphic for many decades before ''Mad'' adopted it, but the face is now primarily associated with ''Mad''.

''Mad'' initially used the boy's face in November 1954. His first iconic full-cover appearance was as a write-in candidate for president on issue No. 30 (December 1956), in which he was identified by name and sported his "What, me worry?" motto. He has since appeared in a slew of guises and comic situations. According to ''Mad'' writer Frank Jacobs, a letter was once successfully delivered to the magazine through the [[United States Postal Service|U.S. mail]] bearing only Neuman's face, without any address or other identifying information.<ref name=jac />

==Legal disputes==
The magazine has been involved in various legal actions over the decades, some of which have reached the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]]. The most far-reaching was ''[[Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc.|Irving Berlin et al. v. E.C. Publications, Inc.]]'' In 1961, a group of music publishers representing songwriters such as [[Irving Berlin]], [[Richard Rodgers]], and [[Cole Porter]] filed a $25&nbsp;million lawsuit against ''Mad'' for [[copyright infringement]] following "Sing Along With ''Mad''", a collection of parody lyrics which the magazine said could be "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 song. Judge Charles Metzner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled largely in favor of ''Mad'' in 1963, affirming its right to print 23 of the 25 song parodies under dispute. However, in the case of two parodies, "Always" (sung to the tune of "[[Always (1925 song)|Always]]") and "There's No Business Like No Business" (sung to the tune of "[[There's No Business Like Show Business]]"), Judge Metzner decided that the issue of [[copyright infringement]] was closer, requiring a trial because in each case the parodies relied on the same verbal hooks ("always" and "business") as the originals. The music publishers appealed the ruling, but the U.S. Court of Appeals not only upheld the pro-''Mad'' decision in regard to the 23 songs, it adopted an approach that was broad enough to strip the publishers of their limited victory regarding the remaining two songs. Writing a unanimous opinion for the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]], Circuit Judge [[Irving Kaufman]] observed, "We doubt that even so eminent a composer as plaintiff Irving Berlin should be permitted to claim a property interest in [[iambic pentameter]]."<ref name="mcir_Musi">{{cite court |litigants=<nowiki>Irving Berlin et al. v. E.C. Publications, Inc.</nowiki> |vol=329 |reporter=F. 2d 541 |court=2d Cir. |date=1964 |url=https://blogs.law.gwu.edu/mcir/case/irving-berlin-et-al-v-e-c-publications-inc/ |archive-date=August 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815053849/https://blogs.law.gwu.edu/mcir/case/irving-berlin-et-al-v-e-c-publications-inc/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}Retrieved on November 20, 2020. via —[[George Washington University]] Music Copyright Infringement Resource.  from the original on August 15, 2020.</ref> The publishers again appealed, but the Supreme Court refused to hear it, allowing the decision to stand.<ref name=jac>{{cite book | author-link= Frank Jacobs | first= Frank | last= Jacobs | title= The Mad World of William M. Gaines | publisher = [[Lyle Stuart, Inc.]] | year= 1972 | page = ???}} Library of Congress Card No 72-91781</ref>

This precedent-setting 1964 ruling 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 venture 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]]''. In 1959, "If [[Gilbert and Sullivan|Gilbert & Sullivan]] wrote ''[[Dick Tracy]]''" was one of the speculative pairings in "If Famous Authors Wrote the Comics".

In 1966, a series of copyright infringement lawsuits against the magazine regarding ownership of the [[Alfred E. Neuman]] image eventually reached the appellate level. Although Harry Stuff had copyrighted the image in 1914, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that, by allowing many copies of the image to circulate without any copyright notice, the owner of the copyright had allowed the image to pass into the public domain, thus establishing the right of ''Mad''—or anyone else—to use the image. In addition, ''Mad'' established that Stuff was not himself the creator of the image, by producing numerous other examples dating back to the late 19th century. This decision was also allowed to stand.<ref name=maria>Reidelbach, Maria. ''Completely Mad'', New York: Little Brown, 1991. {{ISBN|0-316-73890-5}}</ref>

Other legal disputes were settled more easily. Following the magazine's parody of the film ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', a letter from [[George Lucas]]'s lawyers arrived in ''Mad'''s offices demanding that the issue be recalled for infringement on copyrighted figures. The letter further demanded that the printing plates be destroyed, and that [[Lucasfilm]] must receive all revenue from the issue plus additional punitive damages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.starwars.com/news/mad-about-star-wars|title=MAD about Star Wars|date=June 23, 2014|website=StarWars.com}}</ref> Unbeknownst to Lucas' lawyers, ''Mad'' had received a letter weeks earlier from Lucas himself, expressing delight over the parody and calling artist [[Mort Drucker]] and writer [[Dick DeBartolo]] "the [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[George Bernard Shaw]] of comic satire."<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mS-OOULG_IcC&q=debartolo+lucas+lawyer+star+bores&pg=PA32 | title=Mad About Star Wars| isbn=9780345501646| last1=Bresman| first1=Jonathan| year=2007| publisher=Del Rey/Ballantine Books}}</ref> Publisher Bill Gaines made a copy of Lucas' letter, added the handwritten notation "Gee, your boss George liked it!" across the top, and mailed it to the lawyers. Said DeBartolo, "We never heard from them again."<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-11-26-9511260063-story.html|title=Good Days and Mad [book review]| first=Clarence|last=Petersen|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|location=Illinois|date=November 26, 1995|archive-date= September 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928063905/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-11-26-9511260063-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Mad'' was one of several parties that filed ''[[amicus curiae]]'' briefs with the Supreme Court in support of [[2 Live Crew]] and its disputed song parody, during the 1993 ''[[Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.]]'' case.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hamby |first=Barbara |url=http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2008/03/07 |title=Vex Me by Barbara Hamby &#124; The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor |publisher=Writersalmanac.publicradio.org |date=March 7, 2008 |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref>

==Advertising==
''Mad'' was long noted for its absence of advertising, enabling it to satirize materialist culture without fear of reprisal. For decades, it was the most successful American magazine to publish ad-free,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119524101/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105083729/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119524101/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 5, 2013 |title=Mad Economics: An Analysis of an Adless Magazine |doi=10.1111/j.1460-2466.1984.tb02984.x |date=February 7, 2006 |access-date= February 2, 2011 |volume=34 |journal=Journal of Communication |pages=44–61|last1=Norris |first1=Vincent P. }}</ref> beginning with issue No. 33 (April 1957) and continuing through issue No. 402 (February 2001).

As a comic book, ''Mad'' had run the same advertisements as the rest of EC's line. The magazine later made a deal with [[Moxie]] soda that involved inserting the Moxie logo into various articles. ''Mad'' ran a limited number of ads in its first two years as a magazine, helpfully labeled "real advertisement" to differentiate the real from the parodies. The last authentic ad published under the original ''Mad'' regime was for [[Famous Artists School]]; two issues later, the inside front cover of issue No. 34 had a parody of the same ad. After this transitional period, the only promotions to appear in ''Mad'' for decades were house ads for ''Mad'''s own books and specials, subscriptions, and promotional items such as ceramic busts, T-shirts, or a line of ''Mad'' jewelry. This rule was bent only a few times to promote outside products directly related to the magazine, such as ''The Mad Magazine Game'', a series of video games based on ''[[Spy vs. Spy]]'', and the notorious ''[[Up the Academy]]'' movie (which the magazine later disowned). ''Mad'' explicitly promised that it would never make its mailing list available.

Both Kurtzman and Feldstein wanted the magazine to solicit advertising, feeling this could be accomplished without compromising ''Mad'''s content or editorial independence. Kurtzman remembered ''[[Ballyhoo (magazine)|Ballyhoo]]'', a boisterous 1930s humor publication that made an editorial point of mocking its own sponsors. Feldstein went so far as to propose an in-house ''Mad'' ad agency, and produced a "dummy" copy of what an issue with ads could look like. But Bill Gaines was intractable, telling the television news magazine ''[[60 Minutes]]'', "We long ago decided we couldn't take money from Pepsi-Cola and make fun of Coca-Cola." Gaines' motivation in eschewing ad dollars was less philosophical than practical:

{{blockquote|We'd have to improve our package. Most advertisers want to appear in a magazine that's loaded with color and has super-slick paper. So you find yourself being pushed into producing a more expensive package. You get bigger and fancier and attract more advertisers. Then you find you're losing some of your advertisers. Your readers still expect the fancy package, so you keep putting it out, but now you don't have your advertising income, which is why you got fancier in the first place—and now you're sunk.<ref name=jac />}}

==Contributors and criticism==
''Mad'' has provided a continuing showcase for many long-running satirical writers and artists and has fostered an unusual group loyalty. Although several of the contributors earn far more than their ''Mad'' pay in fields such as television and advertising, they have steadily continued to provide material for the publication.<ref>[http://www.toonopedia.com/jackdavs.htm Jack Davis] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. Retrieved February 2, 2011. [https://archive.today/20240525192538/https://www.webcitation.org/66C14YyOh?url=http://toonopedia.com/jackdavs.htm Archived] from the original on March 15, 2012.</ref> Among the notable artists were the aforementioned Davis, Elder and Wood, as well as [[Sergio Aragonés]], [[Mort Drucker]], [[Don Martin (cartoonist)|Don Martin]], Dave Berg, [[George Woodbridge (illustrator)|George Woodbridge]], Harry North and [[Paul Coker]]. Writers such as [[Dick DeBartolo]], [[Stan Hart]], [[Frank Jacobs]], [[Tom Koch]], and [[Arnie Kogen]] appeared regularly in the magazine's pages. In several cases, only infirmity or death has ended a contributor's run at ''Mad.''

Within the industry, ''Mad'' was known for the uncommonly prompt manner in which its contributors were paid. Publisher Gaines would typically write a personal check and give it to the artist upon receipt of the 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", an all-expenses-paid tradition that began in 1960. The editorial staff was automatically invited, along with freelancers who had qualified for an invitation by selling a set number of articles or pages during the previous year. Gaines was strict about enforcing this quota, and one year, longtime writer and frequent traveller Arnie Kogen was bumped off the list. Later that year, Gaines' mother died, and Kogen was asked if he would be attending the funeral. "I can't," said Kogen, "I don't have enough pages." Over the years, the ''Mad'' crew traveled to such locales as France, [[Kenya]], Russia, Hong Kong, England, [[Amsterdam]], [[Tahiti]], [[Morocco]], Italy, Greece, and Germany.<ref name=jac/> The tradition ended with Gaines' death, and a 1993 trip to [[Monte Carlo]].

Although ''Mad'' was an exclusively freelance publication, it achieved remarkable stability, with numerous contributors remaining prominent for decades.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/bullpen/john_ficarra/backgrounder/ |title=Byline&nbsp;: Published Work " Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University |publisher=Journalism.nyu.edu |access-date=February 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620211243/http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/bullpen/john_ficarra/backgrounder/ |archive-date=June 20, 2010  }}</ref> 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.

Proclaiming the precise moment that purportedly triggered the magazine's irreversible decline is a common pastime{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}. Among the most frequently cited "downward turning points" are: creator-editor Harvey Kurtzman's departure in 1957;<ref name="That Old Feeling: Hail, Harvey!">{{cite magazine| url=http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,633658,00.html | magazine= [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | title=That Old Feeling: Hail, Harvey! | date=May 5, 2004 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> the magazine's mainstream success;<ref name="Leigh"/> adoption of recurring features starting in the early 1960s;<ref>''[[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]]'', October 1971</ref> the magazine's absorption into a more corporate structure in 1968 (or later, the mid-1990s);<ref name="newsandtech.com">{{cite web |last=McMeekin |first=Tara |url=http://newsandtech.com/news/article_bc2f82e2-75b6-11e0-bf8c-001cc4c03286.html |title=MAD ready to mark 60th birthday by acting like it's 12 (Did you expect anything different?) – News & Tech: News |website=Newsandtech.com |date=May 3, 2011 |access-date=2016-02-23 |archive-date=February 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213155530/http://newsandtech.com/news/article_bc2f82e2-75b6-11e0-bf8c-001cc4c03286.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref> founder Gaines' death in 1992;<ref name="newsandtech.com"/> the magazine's publicized "edgy revamp" in 1997;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/04/06/what-me-worry-the-magazine-of-our-youth-is-steering-a-risky-new-course-its-getting-raunchy-the-editors-say-our-kids-are-ready-for-it-could-be-but-it-might-just-make-you-mad/7d0b873c-fbfc-4a3c-be7b-220f6092caad/|title=What, Me Worry? The Magazine of Our Youth Is Steering a Risky New Course. It's Getting Raunchy. The Editors Say Our Kids Are Ready for It. Could Be. But It Might Just Make You ... Mad|first=Peter|last=Carlson|date=April 6, 1997|access-date=November 17, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|archive-date=August 18, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200818113147/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/04/06/what-me-worry-the-magazine-of-our-youth-is-steering-a-risky-new-course-its-getting-raunchy-the-editors-say-our-kids-are-ready-for-it-could-be-but-it-might-just-make-you-mad/7d0b873c-fbfc-4a3c-be7b-220f6092caad/|url-status=live}}</ref> the arrival of paid advertising in 2001;<ref>Hatcher, Thurston (February 16, 2001). [https://web.archive.org/web/20131104100805/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/books/02/16/mad.mag.advertising/ "MADison Avenue comes home: Mad magazine ads bring color, controversy"]. [[CNN]]. Retrieved November 1, 2013.</ref> or the magazine's 2018 move to California. ''Mad'' has been criticized{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} for its over-reliance on a core group of aging regulars throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and then criticized again{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} 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 sizable percentage of its readership turns over regularly as it ages, as ''Mad'' focuses greatly on current events and a changing popular culture.<ref name="jac"/> In 2010, [[Sergio Aragonés]] said, "''Mad'' is written by people who never thought 'Okay, I'm going to write for kids,' or 'I'm going to write for adults.' ... And many people say 'I used to read ''Mad'', but ''Mad'' has changed a lot.' Excuse me— you grew up! You have new interests. ... The change doesn't come from the magazine, it comes from the people who grow or don't grow."<ref>{{cite news|last=Adams |first=Sam |url=https://www.avclub.com/sergio-aragones-1798222573 |title=Sergio Aragonés |newspaper=The A.V. Club |date=November 16, 2010 |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref> ''Mad'' poked fun at the tendency of readers to accuse the magazine of declining in quality at various points in its history in its "Untold History of ''Mad'' Magazine", a self-referential faux history in the 400th issue which joked: "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." The magazine's art director, [[Sam Viviano]], suggested in 2002 that historically, ''Mad'' was at its best "whenever you first started reading it."<ref>Evanier, Mark. ''Mad Art''. 2002. Watson-Guptill Publications. {{ISBN|0-8230-3080-6}}. p. 216.</ref> According to former ''Mad'' Senior Editor [[Joe Raiola]], "''Mad'' is the only place in America where if you mature, you get fired."

Among the loudest of those who insist the magazine is no longer funny are supporters of [[Harvey Kurtzman]], who left ''Mad'' after just 28 issues.<ref name="That Old Feeling: Hail, Harvey!"/>

However, just how much of that success was due to the original Kurtzman template that he left for his successor, and how much should be credited to the [[Al Feldstein]] system and the depth of the post-Kurtzman talent pool, can be argued without resolution. In 2009, an interviewer proposed to [[Al Jaffee]], "There's a group of ''Mad'' aficionados who feel that if Harvey Kurtzman had stayed at ''Mad'', the magazine would not only have been different, but better." Jaffee, a Kurtzman enthusiast, replied, "And then there's a large group who feel that if Harvey had stayed with ''Mad'', he would have upgraded it to the point that only fifteen people would buy it."<ref>Sacks, Mike, "And Here's the Kicker", ''Writer's Digest Books'', 2009, p. 222</ref> During Kurtzman's final two-plus years at EC, ''Mad'' appeared erratically (ten issues appeared in 1954, followed by eight issues in 1955 and four issues in 1956). Feldstein was less well regarded creatively, but kept the magazine on a regular schedule, leading to decades of success. (Kurtzman and [[Will Elder]] returned to ''Mad'' for a short time in the mid-1980s as an illustrating team.)

The magazine's sales peak came with issue No. 161 (September 1973), which sold 2.4&nbsp;million copies in 1973. That period coincided with several other magazines' sales peaks, including ''[[TV Guide]]'' and ''[[Playboy]]''. ''Mad''{{'}}s circulation dropped below one million for the first time in 1983.

Many of the magazine's mainstays began retiring or dying by the 1980s. Newer contributors who appeared in the years that followed include [[Joe Raiola]], [[Charlie Kadau]], [[Tony Barbieri]], Scott Bricher, [[Tom Bunk]], [[John Caldwell (cartoonist)|John Caldwell]], [[Desmond Devlin]], [[Drew Friedman (cartoonist)|Drew Friedman]], [[Barry Liebmann]], [[Kevin Pope (cartoonist)|Kevin Pope]], Scott Maiko, [[Hermann Mejia]], [[Tom Richmond (illustrator)|Tom Richmond]], Andrew J. Schwartzberg, [[Mike Snider (writer)|Mike Snider]], [[Greg Theakston]], Nadina Simon, [[Rick Tulka]], and [[Bill Wray]].

On April 1, 1997, the magazine publicized an alleged "revamp", ostensibly designed to reach an older, more sophisticated readership. However, ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]''{{'}}s David Futrelle opined that such content was very much a part of ''Mad''{{'}}s past:
{{blockquote|The October 1971 issue, for example, with its war crimes fold-in and back cover "mini-poster" of "The Four Horsemen of the Metropolis" (Drugs, Graft, Pollution and Slums). With its Mad Pollution Primer. With its "Reality Street" TV satire, taking a poke at the idealized images of interracial harmony on ''[[Sesame Street]]''. ("It's a street of depression,/ Corruption, oppression!/ It's a sadist's dream come true!/ And masochists, too!") With its "This is America" photo feature, contrasting images of heroic astronauts with graphic photos of dead soldiers and junkies shooting up. I remember this issue pretty well; it was one of the ones I picked up at a garage sale and read to death. I seem to remember asking my parents what "graft" was. One of the joys of ''Mad'' for me at the time was that it was always slightly over my head. From "Mad's Up-Dated Modern Day [[Mother Goose]]" I learned about [[Andy Warhol]], [[Spiro Agnew]] and [[Timothy Leary]] ("Wee Timmy Leary/ Soars through the sky/ Upward and Upward/ Till he's, oh, so, high/ Since this rhyme's for kiddies/ How do we explain/ That Wee Timmy Leary/ Isn't in a plane?"). From "Greeting Cards for the Sexual Revolution" I learned about "Gay Liberationists" and leather-clad "Sex Fetishists." I read the ''Mad'' versions of a whole host of films I never in a million years would have been allowed to see: ''[[Easy Rider]]'' ("Sleazy Riders"), ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]'' ("Midnight Wowboy"), ''[[Five Easy Pieces]]'' ("Five Easy Pages [and two hard ones].") I learned about the [[John Birch Society]] and [[Madison Avenue]].<ref name="Futrelle">{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/1997/04/08/media_109/ |last=Futrelle|first=David|title=Media Circus: Son of Mad |work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=April 8, 1997 |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref>}}

''Mad'' editor [[John Ficarra]] acknowledged that changes in culture made the task of creating fresh satire more difficult, telling an interviewer, "The editorial mission statement has always been the same: 'Everyone is lying to you, including magazines. Think for yourself. Question authority.' But it's gotten harder, as they've gotten better at lying and getting in on the joke."<ref>{{cite web|author=Susan Karlin |url=http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681754/the-ascent-of-mad-see-60-years-of-comic-subversion#1 |title=The Ascent Of "Mad": See 60 Years Of Comic Subversion &#124; Co.Create &#124; creativity + culture + commerce |website=Fastcocreate.com |date=July 6, 2012 |access-date=2016-02-23}}</ref>

''Mad'' contributor [[Tom Richmond (illustrator)|Tom Richmond]] has responded to critics who say the magazine's decision to accept advertising would make late publisher [[William Gaines]] "turn over in his grave", pointing out this is impossible because Gaines was cremated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/?p=2170 |last=Richmond|first= Tom|title= The Mad Blog: Remembering William M. Gaines |publisher=Tomrichmond.com |date=June 3, 2008|author-link=Tom Richmond (illustrator) |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref>

===Contributors===
[[File:11.13.13InsideMadByLuigiNovi23.jpg|thumb|''Mad'' creators at a November 2013 book signing for the ''Inside Mad'' collection. From left to right: Art director [[Sam Viviano]], writers [[Tim Carvell]] and [[Desmond Devlin]], editor-in-chief [[John Ficarra]], and artist [[Al Jaffee]].]]
''Mad'' is known for the stability and longevity of its talent roster, billed as "The Usual Gang of Idiots", with several creators enjoying 30-, 40- and even 50-year careers in the magazine's pages.

According to the "Mad Magazine Contributor Appearances" website, more than 960 contributors have received bylines in at least one issue of ''Mad'', but only 41 of those have contributed to 100 issues or more.<ref name="users.pfw.edu">{{cite web|url=http://users.pfw.edu/slaubau/mad/madcontributor.htm |author=Slaubaugh, Mike |title=''Mad Magazine'' Contributor Appearances |publisher=Users.pfw.edu |access-date= February 2, 2011}}</ref> Writer-artist [[Al Jaffee]] has appeared in the most issues; No. 550 (April 2018) was the 500th issue with new work by Jaffee. The other three contributors to have appeared in more than 400 issues of ''Mad'' are [[Sergio Aragonés]], [[Dick DeBartolo]], and [[Mort Drucker]]; [[Dave Berg (cartoonist)|Dave Berg]], [[Paul Coker]], and [[Frank Jacobs]] have each topped the 300 mark.

Jaffee, Aragonés, Berg, [[Duck Edwing|Don Edwing]] and [[Don Martin (cartoonist)|Don Martin]] are the five writer-artists to have appeared in the largest total of issues; DeBartolo, Jacobs, [[Desmond Devlin]], [[Stan Hart]], and [[Tom Koch]] are the five most frequent writers, and Drucker, Coker, [[Bob Clarke (illustrator)|Bob Clarke]], [[Angelo Torres]] and [[George Woodbridge (illustrator)|George Woodbridge]] are the five top illustrators on the list. (The list calculates appearances by issue only, not by individual articles or overall page count; e.g. although Jacobs wrote three separate articles that appeared in issue No. 172, his total is reckoned to have increased by one.)

Each of the following contributors has created over 100 articles for the magazine:

'''Writers:'''
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Dick DeBartolo]]
* [[Desmond Devlin]]
* [[Stan Hart]]
* [[Frank Jacobs]]
* [[Charlie Kadau]]
* [[Tom Koch]]
* [[Arnie Kogen]]
* Jeff Kruse
* [[#Contributors|Scott Maiko]]
* [[Joe Raiola]]
* [[Larry Siegel]]
* [[Lou Silverstone]]
* [[Mike Snider (writer)|Mike Snider]]
{{div col end}}

'''Writer-Artists:'''
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Sergio Aragonés]]
* [[Dave Berg (cartoonist)|Dave Berg]]
* [[John Caldwell (cartoonist)|John Caldwell]]
* [[Duck Edwing]]
* [[Al Jaffee]]
* [[Peter Kuper]]
* [[Don Martin (cartoonist)|Don Martin]]
* Teresa Burns Parkhurst
* [[Paul Peter Porges]]
* [[Antonio Prohías]]
{{div col end}}

'''Artists:'''
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Scott Bricher
* [[Tom Bunk]]
* [[Bob Clarke (illustrator)|Bob Clarke]]
* [[Paul Coker]]
* [[Jack Davis (cartoonist)|Jack Davis]]
* [[Mort Drucker]]
* [[Will Elder]]
* [[Hermann Mejia]]
* [[Joe Orlando]]
* [[Tom Richmond (illustrator)|Tom Richmond]]
* [[Jack Rickard]]
* [[John Severin]]
* [[Angelo Torres]]
* [[Rick Tulka]]
* [[Sam Viviano]]
* [[Wally Wood]]
* [[George Woodbridge (illustrator)|George Woodbridge]]
{{div col end}}

'''Photographer:'''
* [[Irving Schild]]

Over the years, the editorial staff, most notably [[Al Feldstein]], [[Nick Meglin]], [[John Ficarra]], [[Joe Raiola]], and [[Charlie Kadau]] have had creative input on countless articles and shaped ''Mad''{{'}}s distinctive satiric voice.

===Other notable contributors===
Among the irregular contributors with just a single ''Mad'' byline to their credit are [[Charles M. Schulz]], [[Chevy Chase]], [[Andy Griffith]], [[Will Eisner]], [[Kevin Smith]], [[J. Fred Muggs]], [[Boris Vallejo]], [[John Tenniel|Sir John Tenniel]], [[Jean Shepherd]], [[Winona Ryder]], [[Jimmy Kimmel]], [[Jason Alexander]], [[Walt Kelly]], Rep. [[Barney Frank]], [[Tom Wolfe]], [[Steve Allen]], [[Jim Lee]], [[Jules Feiffer]], [[Donald Knuth]], and [[Richard Nixon]], who remains the only President credited with "writing" a ''Mad'' article.<ref name="users.pfw.edu"/> (The entire text was taken from Nixon's speeches.)

Those who have contributed twice apiece<ref name="users.pfw.edu"/> include [[Tom Lehrer]], [[Wally Cox]], [[Gustave Doré]], [[Danny Kaye]], [[Stan Freberg]] and [[Mort Walker]]. Appearing slightly more frequently were [[Frank Frazetta]] (3 bylines), [[Ernie Kovacs]] (11), [[Bob and Ray]] (12), [[Henry Morgan (humorist)|Henry Morgan]] (3), and [[Sid Caesar]] (4). In its earliest years, before amassing its own staff of regulars, the magazine frequently used outside "name" talent. Often, ''Mad'' would simply illustrate the celebrities' preexisting material while promoting their names on the cover.<ref>{{cite magazine | author1-last=Cox | author1-first=Wally | author1-link=Wally Cox |author2-last=Henry | author2-first=Morgan | author2-link=Henry Morgan (humorist) | author3-last=Elliott | author3-first=Bob | author3-link=Bob Elliott (comedian) | author4-last=Goulding | author4-first=Ray | author4-link=Ray Goulding |others=Elliot and Goulding as: [[Bob and Ray]], Illsutrated by [[George Woodbridge (illustrator)|George Woodbridge]], Chapter: My Frien' Dufo |date=December 1957 |title=MAD| publisher=[[EC Comics]]| number=36 | url=http://www.madcoversite.com/missing_dufo.html |magazine=[[Mad (magazine)|MAD]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615000000/http://www.madcoversite.com/missing_dufo.html |archive-date= 2022-06-15  |access-date=July 7, 2016}} [https://archive.org/details/mad-magazine-1957/MAD036/mode/2up Alt URL]</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | author1-last=Cox | author1-first=Wally | author1-link=Wally Cox |author2-last=Henry | author2-first=Morgan | author2-link=Henry Morgan (humorist) | author3-last=Elliott | author3-first=Bob | author3-link=Bob Elliott (comedian) | author4-last=Goulding | author4-first=Ray | author4-link=Ray Goulding |others=Elliot and Goulding as: [[Bob and Ray]], Illsutrated by [[George Woodbridge (illustrator)|George Woodbridge]], Chapter: Paul Sturdley's Secret File (Chapter Illustrator: [[Mort Drucker]])|date=December 1957 |title=MAD| publisher=[[EC Comics]]| number=36 | url=http://www.madcoversite.com/missing_dufo.html |magazine=[[Mad (magazine)|MAD]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615000000/http://www.madcoversite.com/missing_dufo.html |archive-date= 2022-06-15  |access-date=July 7, 2016}} [https://archive.org/details/mad-magazine-1957/MAD036/mode/2up Alt URL]</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | author1-last=Cox | author1-first=Wally | author1-link=Wally Cox |author2-last=Henry | author2-first=Morgan | author2-link=Henry Morgan (humorist) | author3-last=Elliott | author3-first=Bob | author3-link=Bob Elliott (comedian) | author4-last=Goulding | author4-first=Ray | author4-link=Ray Goulding |others=Elliot and Goulding as: [[Bob and Ray]], Illsutrated by [[George Woodbridge (illustrator)|George Woodbridge]], Chapter: The Twelve Bottles (Chapter Illustrator: [[Wally Wood]])|date=December 1957 |title=MAD| publisher=[[EC Comics]]| number=36 | url=http://www.madcoversite.com/missing_dufo.html |magazine=[[Mad (magazine)|MAD]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615000000/http://www.madcoversite.com/missing_dufo.html |archive-date= 2022-06-15  |access-date=July 7, 2016}} [https://archive.org/details/mad-magazine-1957/MAD036/mode/2up Alt URL]</ref> The Bob and Ray association was particularly fruitful. When the magazine learned that [[Tom Koch]] was the writer behind the Bob and Ray radio sketches adapted by ''Mad'', Koch was sought out by the editors and ultimately wrote more than 300 ''Mad'' articles over the next 37 years.

The magazine has occasionally run guest articles in which notables from show business or comic books have participated. In 1964, an article called "Comic Strips They'd Really Like To Do" featured one-shot proposals by cartoonists including [[Mell Lazarus]] and Charles M. Schulz. More than once, the magazine has enlisted popular comic book artists such as [[Frank Miller]] or [[Jim Lee]] to design and illustrate a series of "Rejected Superheroes." In 2008, the magazine got national coverage<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/business/media/04mad.html?_r=1&oref=slogin|work= [[The New York Times]] | title=''Mad Magazine'' Uses Pulitzer Winners to Tweak Bush|date=February 4, 2008|access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> for its article "Why [[George W. Bush]] is in Favor of [[Global warming]]". Each of the piece's 10 punchlines was illustrated by a different [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning editorial cartoonist. In 2015, [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] served as the magazine's first and only guest editor, writing some material and guiding the content in issue No. 533, while upping his own career ''Mad'' byline total from two to five.<ref name=yankovic/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2015/02/12/weird-al-yankovic-named-mads-first-ever-guest-editor| website=Mad Magazine | date=February 12, 2015 | title='Weird Al' Yankovic Named MAD's First-Ever Guest Editor! | access-date=June 14, 2016 }}</ref>

==Reprints==
In 1955, Gaines began presenting reprints of material for ''Mad'' in black-and-white paperbacks, the first being ''The Mad Reader''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.madcoversite.com/madpb01_the_mad_reader.html |title=MAD|publisher=Dccomics}}</ref> Many of these featured new covers by ''Mad'' cover artist Norman Mingo. This practice continued into the 2000s, with more than 100 ''Mad'' paperbacks published. Gaines made a special effort to keep the entire line of paperbacks in print at all times, and the books were frequently reprinted in new editions with different covers. There were also dozens of ''Mad'' paperbacks featuring entirely new material by the magazine's contributors.

''Mad'' also frequently repackaged its material in a long series of "Special" format magazines, beginning in 1958 with two concurrent annual series entitled ''The Worst from Mad'' and ''More Trash from Mad''. Later, the "Special" issue series expanded to "Super Special" editions. Various other titles have been used through the years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.madcoversite.com/allthumbs2.html |title=US Mad Specials Cover Site |publisher=Doug Gilford's madcoversite.com}}</ref> These reprint issues were sometimes augmented by exclusive features such as posters, stickers and, on a few occasions, recordings on [[Flexi disc|flexi-disc]]. A 1972 "Special" edition began Mad's including a comic book replica insert, consisting of reprinted material from the magazine's 1952–1955 era.

===Facsimile Edition===
A Facsimile Edition of ''Mad'' #1, reprinting the entire issue (including the original advertisements), was published by DC Comics on June 4, 2024.  The official title of the Facsimile Edition, as per the [[indicia (publishing)|indicia]], is "Mad Magazine 1 (Facsimile Edition)," whereas the official indicia title of the original publication, in both comic book and magazine format, has always been just "Mad" (not "Mad Magazine"), and the original ''Mad'' #1 it reprints was not a magazine but a comic book.  (The only ''Mad'' #1 that was originally published as a physical magazine was the first issue of the 2018 reboot.)

==Spin-offs==
===''Mad Kids''===
{{Main|Mad Kids}}
Between 2005 and February 17, 2009, the magazine published 14 issues of ''Mad Kids,'' a spinoff publication aimed at a younger demographic.<ref name=newsa>{{cite news|last = Brady|first= Matt |title=Worrying a Little Bit? MAD Magazine Goes Quarterly|url=http://www.newsarama.com/2019-worrying-a-little-bit-mad-magazine-goes-quarterly.html| access-date=August 17, 2015|work=Newsarama|date=January 23, 2009|archive-date=January 7, 2014|archive-url= https://archive.today/20140107084759/http://www.newsarama.com/2019-worrying-a-little-bit-mad-magazine-goes-quarterly.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Reminiscent of [[Nickelodeon]]'s newsstand titles, it emphasized current kids' entertainment (e.g. ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', ''[[Naruto]]'', ''[[High School Musical]]''), albeit with an impudent voice. Much of the content of ''Mad Kids'' had originally appeared in the parent publication; reprinted material was chosen and edited to reflect grade schoolers' interests. But the quarterly magazine also included newly commissioned articles and cartoons, as well as puzzles, bonus inserts, a calendar, and the other activity-related content that is common to kids' magazines.

===Foreign editions===
{{more citations needed|date=April 2023}}
''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 ''Mad''s were each published on three separate occasions; Norway has had four runs canceled. Brazil also had four runs, but without significant interruptions, spanning five decades. Australia (42 years), United Kingdom (35 years), and Sweden (34 years) have produced the longest uninterrupted ''Mad'' variants.

'''Defunct foreign editions'''

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
* United Kingdom, 1959–1994; (still use the US version today)
* Australia, 1980–2022;
* Sweden, 1960–1993, 1997–2002;
* Denmark, 1962–1971, 1979–1997, 1998–2002;
* Netherlands, 1964–1996; 2011–2012;
* France, 1965, 1982;
* {{ill|lt=Germany|Mad (Magazin)#Deutsches MAD|de|vertical-align=sup}}, 1967–1995, 1998–2018;
* Finland, 1970–1972, 1982–2005;
* Italy, 1971–1974, 1984, 1992–1993;
* Norway, 1971–1972, 1981–1996, 2001 (one-offs 2002–2003);
* {{ill|lt=Brazil|Mad_(revista)#Mad_no_Brasil|pt|vertical-align=sup}}, 1974–1983, 1984–2000, 2000–2006; 2008–2017;
* Spain, 1974, 1975 (as ''Locuras''), 2006–2016;
* Argentina, 1977–1982;
* Mexico, 1977–1983, 1984–1986, 1993–1998; 2004–2010<ref>According to issue No. 111 of the Mexican edition (January 2010), the magazine folded under pressure from Mexico's Secretariat of Public Education (Mexico) (SEP) over lewd language, from the Mexican government over political content, and a "kid-cover" incident in issue No. 110 in which an underaged fan tattooed his back on behalf of the magazine without parental permission.</ref>
* Caribbean, 1977–1983;
* Greece, 1978–1985, 1995–1999;
* Japan, 1979–1980 (two oversized anthologies were released);
* Iceland, 1985; 1987–1988;
* South Africa, 1985–2009;
* Taiwan, 1990;
* Canada (Quebec), 1991–1992 (Past material in a "collection album" with ''[[Croc (magazine)|Croc]]'', another Quebec humor magazine);
* Hungary, 1997–2001;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Köteles Zoltán |first=Hungary |title=MAD |url=https://kepregenydb.hu/kepregenyek/mad-775/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=kepregenydb.hu |language=hu}}</ref>
* Israel, 1994–1995;
* Turkey, 2000–2001;
* Poland, 2015–2018. (collections only)
{{div col end}}

Conflicts over content have occasionally arisen between the parent magazine and its international franchisees. When a comic strip satirizing the [[House of Windsor|British royal family]] was reprinted in a ''Mad'' paperback, it was deemed necessary to rip out the page from 25,000 copies by hand before the book could be distributed in Great Britain.<ref>Jacobs, p. 191</ref> But ''Mad'' was also protective of its own editorial standards. Bill Gaines sent "one of his typically dreadful, blistering letters" to his Dutch editors after they published a bawdy gag about a men's room urinal.<ref>Jacobs, p. 160</ref> ''Mad'' has since relaxed its requirements, and while the U.S. version still eschews overt profanity, the magazine generally poses no objections to more provocative content.

===Other satiric-comics magazines===
{{multiple image
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Following the success of ''Mad'', other black-and-white magazines of topical, satiric comics began to be published. Most were short-lived. The three longest-lasting were ''[[Cracked (magazine)|Cracked]]'', ''[[Sick (magazine)|Sick]]'', and ''[[Crazy Magazine]]''. These three and many others featured a cover mascot along the lines of [[Alfred E. Neuman]].

Color comic-book competitors, primarily in the mid-to-late 1950s, were ''Nuts!'', ''Get Lost'', ''Whack'', ''Riot'', ''Flip'', ''Eh!'', ''From Here to Insanity'', and ''Madhouse''; only the last of these lasted as many as eight issues, and some were canceled after an issue or two.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kreiner |first=Rich |url=http://classic.tcj.com/history/rich-kreiner-reviews-humbug-by-harvey-kurtzman-will-elder-arnold-roth-al-jaffee-jack-davis-and-others/ |title=Rich Kreiner reviews Humbug by Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Arnold Roth, Al Jaffee, Jack Davis and others « The Comics Journal |website=Classic.tcj.com |date=January 11, 2010 |access-date=2016-02-23 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063730/http://classic.tcj.com/history/rich-kreiner-reviews-humbug-by-harvey-kurtzman-will-elder-arnold-roth-al-jaffee-jack-davis-and-others/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later color satiric comic books included ''Wild'', ''Blast'', ''Parody'', ''Grin'' and ''Gag!''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/the-sincerest-form-of-parody-the-best-1950s-mad-inspired-satirical-comics-dec.-2011-8.html | title=The Sincerest Form of Parody: The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics [Jan. 2012] | access-date=January 27, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023053008/http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/the-sincerest-form-of-parody-the-best-1950s-mad-inspired-satirical-comics-dec.-2011-8.html |archive-date=October 23, 2011 }}</ref> EC Comics itself offered the color comic ''[[Panic (comics)|Panic]]'', produced by future ''Mad'' editor Al Feldstein. Two years after EC's ''Panic'' had ceased publication in 1956, the title was used by another publisher for a similar comic.

In 1967, [[Marvel Comics]] produced the first of 13 issues of the comic book ''[[Not Brand Echh]]'', which parodied the company's own superhero titles as well as other publishers. From 1973 to 1976, [[DC Comics]] published the comic ''[[Plop!]]'', which featured ''Mad'' stalwart [[Sergio Aragonés]] and frequent cover art by [[Basil Wolverton]]. Another publisher's comic was ''Trash'' (1978){{citation needed|date=December 2013}} featured a blurb on the debut cover reading, "We mess with ''Mad'' (p. 21)" and depicted Alfred E. Neuman with a stubbly beard; the fourth and last issue showed two bodybuilders holding up copies of ''Mud'' and ''Crocked'' with the frowning faces of Neuman and ''[[Cracked (magazine)|Cracked]]'' cover mascot Sylvester P. Smythe.

Among other U.S. humor magazines that included some degree of comics art as well as text articles were former ''Mad'' editor Harvey Kurtzman's ''[[Trump (magazine)|Trump]]'', ''[[Humbug (magazine)|Humbug]]'' and ''[[Help! (magazine)|Help!]]'', as well as ''[[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]]''.

[[Virginia Commonwealth University]]'s Cabell Library has an extensive collection of ''Mad'' along with other comic books and graphic novels.<ref>{{cite web |title=The MAD Fold_in Collection, 1964–2010, cover |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/vculibraries/ |access-date=July 29, 2019 |date=July 18, 2019}}</ref>

===''Claptrap''===
With ''Mad'' ceasing the regular publication of new material after 2019, including film parodies, in future issues, the magazine's veteran writer Desmond Devlin and caricaturist Tom Richmond announced that they would be teaming up to create ''Claptrap'', a book full of twelve brand new movie parodies done in the classic ''Mad'' style. The movies are classics that ''Mad'' did not parody when they were first released. First scheduled to be released in November 2021, it was delayed four times, first to March, then August, then December 2022, and finally to June 2023.

==In other media==
Over the years, ''Mad'' has branched out from print into other media. During the Gaines years, the publisher had an aversion to exploiting his fan base 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. For decades, the letters page advertised an inexpensive portrait of Neuman ("suitable for framing or for wrapping fish") with misleading slogans such as "Only 1 Left!" (The joke being that the picture was so undesirable that only one had left their office since the last ad.) 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.

===Recordings===
''Mad'' has sponsored or inspired a number of recordings.

====1950s====
In 1959, Bernie Green "with the Stereo Mad-Men" recorded the album ''Musically Mad'' for [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]], featuring humorous music, mostly instrumental, with an image of Alfred E. Neuman on the cover;<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Corliss |first=Richard |url=http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,403202,00.html |title=That Old Feeling: What, Me Fifty? |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=December 31, 2002 |access-date=February 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204072200/http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,403202,00.html |archive-date=February 4, 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> it was nominated for the Grammy for [[Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album|Best Comedy Recording - Musical]] and has been reissued on CD. That same year, ''The Worst from Mad'' No. 2 included an original recording, "Meet the staff of Mad", on a cardboard [[LP record|33 rpm record]], while a single credited to Alfred E. Neuman & The Furshlugginger Five: "What – Me Worry?" (b/w "Potrzebie"), was issued in late 1959 on the ABC Paramount label.

====1960s====
Two full vinyl [[LP record]]s were released under the aegis of ''Mad'' in the early 1960s:<ref name=Heller>{{cite book |last=Heller |first=S. |title=POP: How Graphic Design Shapes Popular Culture  |publisher=Allworth |year=2010 | isbn=978-1-58115-768-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmmCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT371 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |page=371}}</ref><ref name=Aux>{{cite web |url=http://www.aux.tv/2014/02/15-mad-magazine-songs/ |title=15 weird and funny MAD Magazine songs |author=Josiah Hughes |date=February 4, 2014 |work=Aux |accessdate=March 26, 2017 |archive-date=March 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326141359/http://www.aux.tv/2014/02/15-mad-magazine-songs/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Mad "[[Twist (dance)|Twists]]" Rock 'N' Roll'' (1962)<ref name=Lee>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=J.Y. |last2=Bird |first2=J. |title=Seeing MAD: Essays on MAD Magazine's Humor and Legacy |publisher=University of Missouri Press| year=2020 | isbn=978-0-8262-7448-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHwCEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA512 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |page=512}}</ref> and ''Fink Along With Mad'' (1963; the title being a takeoff on the then-popular TV show ''[[Sing Along With Mitch]]'', with "{{Wikt-lang|en|fink|fink|i=-}}" being a general insult then current in American slang).<ref name=FinkWord>{{cite web |url=https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/463605/what-ever-happened-to-fink |title=What ever happened to "fink"? |author= |date=September 8, 2018 |work=Stack Exchange |accessdate=December 2, 2021}}</ref>

In 1961, New York City [[doo-wop]] group The Dellwoods (recording then as the "Sweet Sickteens") had released a novelty single on [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]], written by Norman Blagman and [[Sam Bobrick]], "The Pretzel" (a satiric take on then-current dance songs such as "[[The Twist (song)|The Twist]]"), [[b/w]] "Agnes (The Teenage Russian Spy)". Both songs were later included on ''Mad "Twists" Rock 'N' Roll''. (The Sweet Sickteens were Victor Buccellato (lead singer), Mike Ellis (tenor), Andy Ventura (tenor), Amadeo Tese (baritone), and Saul Zeskand (bass),<ref name=Heller/><ref name=DooWop>{{cite web |url=http://whitedoowopcollector.blogspot.com/2009/03/the-sweet-sick-teens-aka-dellwoods-aka.html |title=THE SWEET SICK TEENS aka THE DELLWOODS aka THE DYNAMICS |author= |date=March 26, 2009 |work=White Doo-Wop Collector |accessdate=March 26, 2017}}</ref>{{Better source needed |reason=It's just some anonymous person's blog |date=March 2017}}<ref name=Dion1>{{cite web |url=http://doo-wop.blogg.org/the-dellwoods-aka-the-dynamics-8-aka-the-sweet-sick-teens-a116516278 |title=The Dellwoods aka The Dynamics (8) aka The Sweet Sick Teens |author= |date=January 27, 2014 |work=Doo-Wop Groups – Biography and Discography |accessdate=March 26, 2017}}</ref>{{Better source needed |reason=I don't know who runs this (beyond that they're French) and it might be just a person's blog |date=March 2017}}

{{Rquote|align=right|quote=It's surprisingly straightforward teen-era rock 'n' roll...lyrically the songs do a decent job of matching Mad's off-kilter look at society... a few of these songs would be hard to differentiate as parody when compared to other records from the era. "Blind Date" wouldn't be out of place slightly trashed up on a [[The Kingsmen|Kingsmen]] album...|author=Bob Koch|source=Vinyl Cave (Isthmus)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://isthmus.com/music/vinyl-cave/vinyl-cave-mad-twists-rock-n-roll-from-mad-magazine/ |title=Vinyl Cave: "Mad 'Twists' Rock 'n' Roll" from "Mad Magazine" |author=Bob Koch |date=September 26, 2009 |work=Isthmus |accessdate=December 3, 2021}}</ref>}}
In 1962, the Dellwoods (as they were now named), along with vocalists Mike Russo and Jeanne Hayes, recorded an entire album of novelty songs by Bobrick and Blagman. The album had originally been written and produced as a Dellwoods album for RCA, but was instead sold to ''Mad'' and released on [[Bigtop Records]] as ''Mad "Twists" Rock 'N' Roll''. There was a strong ''Mad'' tie in – besides the title, a portrait of [[Alfred E. Neuman]] was featured prominently on the cover, and "(She Got A) Nose Job" from the album was bound as a [[flexi disc]] into an issue of ''Mad''. None of the material, however, referenced ''Mad'' magazine, Alfred E. Neuman, or any other ''Mad'' tropes or features, having been recorded before the sale by RCA. Other songs on the album included "(Throwing The) High School Basketball Game", "Please Betty Jean (Shave Your Legs)", "Somebody Else's Dandruff (On My Lover-Baby's Shirt)". "Agnes (The Teenage Russian Spy)" and "The Pretzel" (now titled as "Let's Do The Pretzel (And End Up Like One!))".<ref name=Twists>{{Discogs master |master=734242 |name=Mad "Twists" Rock 'N' Roll |type=album}}</ref><ref name=Bobrick>{{cite web |url=http://www.sambobrick.com/music.php |title=Music |author=Sam Bobrick |work=Sam Bobrick official website |accessdate=March 26, 2017}}</ref><ref name=NoseJob>{{Discogs release |release=3754586 |name=(She Got A) Nose Job |type=single}}</ref><ref name=Dion1/>

This was followed by another Dellwoods Bigtop release, ''Fink Along With Mad'', again with Russo and Hayes, written by Bobrick and Blagman,<ref name=Bobrick/> and tied in with ''Mad'', in 1963. Album tracks included "She Lets Me Watch Her Mom And Pop Fight" which was bound as a flexi-disc into an issue of ''Mad'' (the performance credited to Mike Russo, and described by Josiah Hughes as "one dark pop song" since it makes light of domestic assault,<ref name=Aux/> with lyrics such as "To see a lamp go through the window / And watch them kick and scratch and bite / I love her, I love her, oh boy how I love her / 'Cause she lets me watch her mom and pop fight.")<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/fr/release/3754578-Mike-Russo-She-Lets-Me-Watch-Her-Mom-And-Pop-Fight |title=Mike Russo (4) – She Lets Me Watch Her Mom And Pop Fight |work=Discogs |date=1963 |accessdate=December 3, 2021}}</ref>

Other songs on ''Fink Along With Mad'' included "I'll Never Make Fun of Her Moustache Again", "When the Braces on our Teeth Lock", and "Loving A Siamese Twin". This album also featured a song titled "It's a Gas", which punctuated an instrumental track with [[Burping|belches]] (these "vocals" being credited to Alfred E. Neuman), along with a saxophone break by an uncredited [[King Curtis]]).{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} [[Dr. Demento]] featured this gaseous performance on his radio show in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. ''Mad'' included some of these tracks as plastic-laminated cardboard inserts and (later) [[flexi disc]]s with their reprint "Mad Specials".

"Don't Put Onions On Your Hamburger" from the album was released as a single, credited to just the Dellwoods,<ref name=Onions>{{Discogs release |release=5051956 |name=Don't Put Onions On Your Hamburger |type=single}}</ref><ref name=Fink>{{Discogs master |master=1080474 |name=Fink Along With Mad |type=album}}</ref><ref name=Rothman>{{cite web |url=http://greatbutforgotten.blogspot.com/2009/03/fink-along-with-mad-music.html |title=Fink Along With MAD (music)  |author=Chuck Rothman |date=March 14, 2009 |work=Great But Forgotten |accessdate=March 26, 2017}}</ref>{{Better source needed |reason=It's just Rothman's blog|date=March 2017}} and in 1963 the Dellwoods renamed themselves to the Dynamics and released a serious non-novelty single for [[Liberty Records]], "Chapel On A Hill" backed with "Conquistador".<ref name=DooWop/><ref name=Dion1/>

====1970s and later====
A number of original recordings also were released in this way in the 1970s and early 1980s, such as ''Gall in the Family Fare'' (a [[Radio drama|radio play]] adaptation of their previously illustrated ''[[All in the Family]]'' parody), a single entitled "Makin' Out", the octuple-grooved track "It's a Super Spectacular Day", which had eight possible endings, the spoken word ''Meet the staff'' insert, and a six-track, 30-minute ''Mad Disco'' EP (from the 1980 special of the same title) that included a [[disco]] version of "It's a Gas". The last turntable-playable recording ''Mad'' packaged with its magazines was "A Mad Look at Graduation", in a 1982 special. A [[CD-ROM]] containing several audio tracks was included with issue No. 350 (October 1996). [[Rhino Entertainment|Rhino Records]] compiled a number of ''Mad''-recorded tracks as ''Mad Grooves'' (1996).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/MAD-Magazine-MAD-Grooves/release/4450478|title=MAD Grooves| work=discogs.com|date=1996 }}</ref>

===Stage show===
An [[Off-Broadway]] production, ''[[The Mad Show]]'', was first staged in 1966. The show, which lasted for 871 performances during its initial run, featured sketches written by ''Mad'' regulars Stan Hart and Larry Siegel interspersed with comedic songs (one of which was written by an uncredited [[Stephen Sondheim]]).<ref name=maria/> The cast album is available on CD.

===Gaming===
In 1979, ''Mad'' released a [[board game]]. ''[[The Mad Magazine Game]]'' was an absurdist version of ''[[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]'' in which the first player to lose all his money and go bankrupt was the winner. Profusely illustrated with artwork by the magazine's contributors, the game included a $1,329,063 bill that could not be won unless one's name was "Alfred E. Neuman". It also featured a deck of cards (called "Card cards") with bizarre instructions, such as "If you can jump up and stay airborne for 37 seconds, you can lose $5,000. If not, jump up and lose $500." In 1980 a second game was released: ''The Mad Magazine Card Game'' by [[Parker Brothers]]. In it, the player who first [[Card game#Shedding games|loses all their cards]] is declared the winner. The game is fairly similar to ''[[Uno (card game)|Uno]]'' by [[Mattel]]. Questions based on the magazine also appeared in the 1999 ''[[Trivial Pursuit]]: Warner Bros. Edition'' (which featured questions based around Time-Warner properties, including WB films and TV shows, the ''[[Looney Tunes]]''/''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons (and follow-up projects from [[Warner Bros. Animation]])), as well as DC Comics, [[Hanna-Barbera]], Cartoon Network and assorted [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] properties owned by [[Turner Entertainment]] Co. that WB had come into possession of following the 1996 Turner/Time-Warner merger.

===Film and television===
''Mad'' lent its name in 1980 to the risque comedy ''[[Up the Academy]]''. ''Up the Academy'' was such a commercial debacle 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, although these references were eventually restored on the [[DVD-Video|DVD]] version, which was titled ''Mad Magazine Presents Up the Academy''. <ref>{{Cite news |last=Sombrio |first=Anjo |date=2018-07-02 |title=MAD Magazine |url=https://medium.com/mindspaceapocalypse/madmagazine-c209581459c5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513213701/https://medium.com/mindspaceapocalypse/madmagazine-c209581459c5 |archive-date=May 13, 2023 |access-date=2024-12-28 |work=Medium |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1974, a ''Mad'' animated television pilot using selected material from the magazine was commissioned by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], but the network decided not to broadcast it. Dick DeBartolo noted, "Nobody wanted to sponsor a show that made fun of products that were advertised on TV, like car manufacturers." The program was instead reworked into ''The Mad Magazine TV Special'', which also went unbroadcast for the same reasons. The special was made by Focus Entertainment Inc., and was available for online viewing in [[Standard Definition|SD]] quality<ref>{{cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/289942602|title=The Mad Magazine TV Special (1974) |publisher=vimeo.com|date=September 14, 2018|access-date= May 13, 2020}}</ref> 
until 2022, when a 2K resolution scan of a [[16mm film]] print was released online; The print was provided by one of the special's animators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUQiXGA-0Tk|title=The Mad Magazine TV Special - 2K 16mm scan|publisher=RockinPins|website=YouTube|date=September 9, 2022 }}</ref>

In the mid-1980s, [[Hanna-Barbera]] developed another potential ''Mad'' animated television series that was never broadcast.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum.bcdb.com/forum/Alfred_E_Neuman_in_animation_P105263/|title=Alfred E. Neuman in animation|work=BCDB|access-date=February 2, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718001521/http://forum.bcdb.com/forum/Alfred_E_Neuman_in_animation_P105263/|archive-date=July 18, 2012}}</ref>

In 1995, [[Fox Broadcasting Company]]'s ''[[Mad TV]]'' licensed the use of the magazine's logo and characters. However, aside from short bumpers which animated existing ''Spy vs. Spy'' (1994–1998) and Don Martin (1995–2000) cartoons during the show's first three seasons, there was no editorial or stylistic connection between the TV show and the magazine. Produced by [[Quincy Jones]], the sketch comedy series was in the vein of [[NBC]]'s ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' and [[Global Television Network|Global]]/[[CBC Television|CBC]]'s ''[[Second City Television|SCTV]]'', and ran for 14 seasons and 321 episodes. On January 12, 2016, [[The CW]] aired an hour-long special celebrating the series' 20th anniversary. A large portion of the original cast returned. An eight-episode revival featuring a brand new cast premiered on July 26, 2016.

Animated ''Spy vs. Spy'' sequences were also seen in TV ads for [[Mountain Dew]] soda in 2004.<ref name=zine/>

In September 2010, [[Cartoon Network]] began airing the animated series ''[[Mad (TV series)|Mad]]'', from [[Warner Bros. Animation]] and executive producer Sam Register. Produced by [[Kevin Shinick]] and Mark Marek,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/17321.html|title=ICv2|access-date=February 2, 2011}}</ref> the series was composed of animated shorts and sketches lampooning current television shows, films, games and other aspects of popular culture, in a similar manner to the adult stop-motion animated sketch comedy ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' (of which Shinick was formerly a writer and is currently a recurring voice actor); in fact, ''Robot Chicken'' co-creator [[Seth Green]] occasionally provided voices on ''Mad'' as well. Critics and viewers have often cited the series as a kid-friendly version of ''Robot Chicken'' {{citation needed|date=February 2022}}. Much like ''Mad TV''{{'s}}, this series also features appearances by ''Spy vs. Spy'' and Don Martin cartoons. The series ran from September 6, 2010, to December 2, 2013, lasting for four seasons and 103 episodes.

===Video games===
In 1984, the ''[[Spy vs. Spy]]'' characters were given their own video game [[Spy vs. Spy (1984 video game)|series]] in which players can set traps for each other. The games were made for various computer systems such as the [[Atari 8-bit computers]], [[Apple II]], [[Commodore 64]], [[ZX Spectrum]], [[Master System]] and [[Nintendo Entertainment System]]. Whereas the original game took place in a nondescript building, the sequels transposed the action to a desert island for ''Spy vs. Spy: The Island Caper'' and a polar setting for ''Spy vs. Spy: Arctic Antics''.

Not to be confused with the later television show, ''[[Mad TV (video game)|Mad TV]]'' is a television station management simulation computer game produced in 1991 by Rainbow Arts for the Mad franchise. It was released on the PC and the Amiga. It is faithful to the magazine's general style of cartoon humor but does not include any of the original characters except for a brief closeup of Alfred E. Neuman's eyes during the opening screens.

Another [[Spy vs. Spy (2005 video game)|''Spy vs. Spy'']] video game was made in 2005 for the [[PlayStation 2]], [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]], and [[Microsoft Windows]]. A ''Mad'' app was released for [[iPad]] on April 1, 2012.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2012/03/30/it%E2%80%99s-no-joke-mad-magazine-ipad-app-to-be-released-on-april-fool%E2%80%99s-day-alfred-e|title=It's No Joke: Mad Magazine iPad App to Be Released on April Fool's Day (Alfred E. Neuman's Birthday)|date=March 30, 2012|magazine=Mad|access-date=February 23, 2016|archive-date=August 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811164801/https://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2012/03/30/it%E2%80%99s-no-joke-mad-magazine-ipad-app-to-be-released-on-april-fool%E2%80%99s-day-alfred-e|url-status=live}}</ref> It displayed the contents of each new issue beginning with ''Mad'' No. 507, as well as video clips from [[Cartoon Network]]'s ''[[Mad (TV series)|Mad]]'', and material from the magazine's website, ''The Idiotical''.

===Computer software===
In 1996, ''Mad'' No. 350 included a CD-ROM featuring ''Mad''-related software as well as three audio files.<ref>[http://www.idido.com/MAD/MAD_CD.html "Mad CD Bytes: Mad Bungles Bundle with Release of First CD-ROM: 27 Megabytes of Dubious Material in PC-Only Format"], ''idio'', September 18, 1996.</ref> In 1999, [[Broderbund]]/[[The Learning Company]] released ''Totally Mad,'' a [[Microsoft Windows]] [[Windows 95|95]]/[[Windows 98|98]]-compatible CD-ROM set collecting the magazine's content from No. 1 through No. 376 (December 1998), plus over 100 ''Mad Specials'' including most of the recorded audio inserts. Despite the title, 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]]". In 2006, Graphic Imaging Technology's DVD-ROM ''Absolutely Mad'' updated the original ''Totally Mad'' content through 2005. A single seven-gigabyte disc, it is missing the same deleted material from the 1999 collection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://madcoversite.com/missing.html |title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site – Articles mysteriously missing from the Totally Mad CD ROM |website=Madcoversite.com |access-date=2016-02-23}}</ref> It differs from the earlier release in that it is [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] compatible.

==See also==
{{div col}}
* [[History of Mad|History of ''Mad'']]
* [[Recurring features in Mad (magazine)|Recurring features in ''Mad'']]
* [[List of film spoofs in Mad|List of film spoofs in ''Mad'']]
* [[List of television show spoofs in Mad|List of television show spoofs in ''Mad'']]
* [[43-Man Squamish]]
* [[Mad (TV series)|''Mad'' (TV series)]]
* ''[[Mad TV|MADtv]]''
* [[Potrzebie]]
* [[Cracked (magazine)|''Cracked'' magazine]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* Evanier, Mark, ''Mad Art'', Watson Guptil Publications, 2002, {{ISBN|0-8230-3080-6}}
* Jacobs, Frank, ''The 'Mad' World of William M. Gaines'', Secaucus, N.J.: Lyle Stuart, 1972; Without ISBN
* [[Maria Reidelbach|Reidelbach, Maria]], ''Completely Mad'', Little Brown, 1991, {{ISBN|0-316-73890-5}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Bird |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Lee |editor2-first=Judith Yaross |title=Seeing MAD: Essays on MAD Magazine's Humor and Legacy |year=2020 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=9780826274489}}
*{{cite book |last=Reidelbach |first=Maria |title=Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine |year=1991 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=9780316738910}}
*{{cite book |last=Evanier |first=Mark  |title=Mad Art: A Visual Celebration of the Art of Mad Magazine and the Idiots who Create it |year=2002 |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |isbn=9780823030804}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q312086|c=category:Mad (magazine)|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no|s=no|species=no|q=Mad (magazine)|display=''Mad''}}
* {{Official website}}
* {{cite web| url=http://users.pfw.edu/slaubau/mad.htm | title=''Mad'' Magazine Lists | editor-first=Mike| editor-last= Slaubaugh|access-date= July 31, 2016| archive-date=March 12, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160312084955/http://users.ipfw.edu/slaubau/mad.htm|url-status=live}} (Circulation figures, contributor index)
* {{cite web|url=http://madcoversite.com/ugoi-master.html |editor-first=Doug |editor-last=Gilford |title=''Mad'' Magazine Contributors |publisher=MadCoverSite.com |access-date=July 31, 2016 |archive-date=October 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024050244/http://www.madcoversite.com/ugoi-master.html |url-status=live }} (Contributor index, individual issue contents)
* {{cite news| url = http://www.atomicmag.com/articles/2002/fbi_mad.shtml |title= ''Mad'' at the FBI| first=James Gordon|last=Meek| work=Atomic <!--Texas-based print magazine from 1999-2009, not the Australian magazine-->| date=Summer 2002|access-date= July 31, 2016| archive-date=March 3, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202437/http://www.atomicmag.com/articles/2002/fbi_mad.shtml| url-status=live}}
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/alfred_e.htm Alfred E. Neuman] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240525192457/https://www.webcitation.org/66C0ewqTd?url=http://toonopedia.com/alfred_e.htm Archived] from the original on March 15, 2012.
* [https://madtrash.com/ International MAD Magazine Editions]
* {{cite web| url = http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/21685 |title=It's a Gas| publisher=Liz Berg Playlist ([[WFMU]]) |date= January 8, 2007}} Audio of flexi-record originally included in ''The Worst from Mad'' No. 9 <!--While the playlist itself is archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231817/http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/21685 and at https://www.webcitation.org/6jQSwdDTt, the audio itself, which requires a link to a pop-up window, appears not to be archivable except at http://archive .is/DhI8A. For posterity, saved there until an allowable live-site link can be found-->

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