Grade-School Humor
The subtitle of Totally MAD (Time Home Entertainment), a new coffee table book about the magazine I eagerly devoured in grade school, is "60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity, and Stupidity." One more stupidity might have been appropriate, since the jokes, especially in the movie parodies, are much lamer than I recall.
Still, there are items of genuine interest to people smarter than a fifth grader, including accounts of copyright battles over song parodies and Mad mascot Alfred E. Neuman. Mad nostalgics may even find material that's both clever and new to them.
In retrospect, Mad was surprisingly square, as illustrated by ad parodies mocking unisex Mod clothing and the Beatles' unkempt hair. Yet it managed to amuse 10-year-olds while instilling an appropriate skepticism of authority, earning it a warm place in the hearts of many, even if they no longer find a Don Martin cartoon of a hippie squeezing a meal out of his beard quite as hilarious as they once did. —Jacob Sullum
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
very super blogos thanks admin sohbet & sohbet odalar?
good thanks sohbet siteleri
cinsel sohbet
Excellent post share with us and this blog is impresses more people to reading that blog
Ending Love Relationship
Hex Spells