Back in my day, kids honed their reading skills on Archie comics or Encyclopedia Brown books. Not me. I was in my room, door locked, stealthily reading Mad Magazine as if it were pornography. I actually hid the mags under my mattress at night.
I was nine or ten when I first started reading Mad. I didn't get a lot of the humor, but what I did get was funny. In a way, Mad Magazine taught me my first lessons in the politics of America. It's where I got my information on Watergate and gas shortages and nuclear power, which probably explains why I didn't fair so well in current events in school.
What I remember most about Mad is how it got me through our vacations to Roscoe, NY. Our aunt and uncle had a house up there, right on a lake. Beautiful woods and trails and streams; lots of fishing and outdoor activities. Unfortunately, my cousins were all there too, and the fishing turned into a game of who could keep away from the boys' out of control fish lines, and the outdoor activities included running away from cousins with bb guns.
One summer I found a stack of Mad magazines in the corner of the upstate house. While all the other kids were outside being healthy and productive, in the words of my mother, I was curled up in a corner of a tiny room, reading The Lighter Side Of... and laughing even though sometimes I had no idea what I was laughing at.
I spent hours folding the back pages just right so I could see the punchline to a joke that always poked fun at our society. I studied the movie parodies, I played Spy v. Spy in my head and swore I would be Don Martin when I grew up.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
I loved Mad - it was real but safe and almost always funny. I collected every one for about ten years. The book were great too, sorting out the hits by category or writer/artist.
I don't think anything will ever seem as funny to me again.
2 - BJ
Great piece, thanks for the memories. I still think of the book Madvertising once or twice a month to help me figure out what's on TV.
3 - Gary O'Brien
Best of Mad:
1)Back cover of Nixon during Watergate..."Here's where I make a liar out of Lincoln"
2)Another back cover : Nixxon-still the same old gas (reference to Standard Oil changing from Esso to Exxon)
Seems to me we NEED another Milhouse in these trying times (lol)
4 - Aomawa Baker
Thank you for that article.
TO ALL MAD MAGAZINE FANS:
There is a program happening at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on March 28 at 7:30 pm that you should know about.
Mad Magazine contributors Arie Kaplan, Peter Kuper (Spy vs. Spy), Paul Peter Porges (cartoonist) and co-editor Nick Meglin will discuss America's changing attitudes toward cultural identity, politics and entertainment.
Please spread the word about this event to fellow fans and bring a large group to support MAD Magazine!!!.
Aomawa
_____________________________________________
Aomawa Baker
External Affairs Assistant - Outreach and Membership
Skirball Cultural Center
(310) 440-4582
LAUGHING AT OURSELVES: THE CHANGING FACE OF SATIRE IN AMERICA
Friday, March 28, 7:30 p.m.
$12 General, $10 Skirball Members, $6Students
Advance Tickets: (323) 655-8587
Frenetically bouncing between sophomoric and extremely sophisticated humor, Mad Magazine has reigned as America’s laugh magazine for nearly 50 years. Comedy historian and journalist Arie Kaplan, himself a contributor to Mad, is joined by a panel of Mad veterans including Peter Kuper (“Spy Vs. Spy”), Paul Peter Porges (cartoonist), and co-editor Nick Meglin to discuss Mad’s and America’s changing attitudes toward cultural identity, politics, and entertainment.
SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER
2701 N. SEPULVEDA BLVD., LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
(located off the 405 Freeway; exit Skirball Center Drive)
(310) 440-4500, www.skirball.org