September 20, 1987: MAD Magazine turns 60!

[@rogerroberts1310]

Honestly believe I learned more about the World through Mad Magazine then I did in grade and high school.

[@R.M.MacFru]

That was where I learned to identify cockroaches. I had never seen one irl until I was 17. Caught a glimpse and could identify it immediately due to the illustrations of them in MAD.

[@StillycoBra5150]

agree! it's an intelligent sense of humor that doesn't dumb things down. not saying one is better since I've liked both at times, but I felt "cracked" was more the dumb, gross out, version of MAD. kinda like Monty Python and Mel Brooks type movies vs American Pie and Scary Movie types.

[@BlueeJ]

@@R.M.MacFru I wish I was as lucky as you, I was born into a household infested with roaches haha

[@wilmacabanas3033]

​@@R.M.MacFruk❤😂

[@wilmacabanas3033]

​@@R.M.MacFruk❤😂

[@loge10]

I am weeping at both the talent AND the integrity of these guys. Even back then it was rare...

[@nehemiahpouncey3607]

R.i.p. to the one's no longer with us.

[@VIPERGUNNERCHANNEL]

Rest In Peace Bill Gaines. You was a part of kids lives like mine

[@danawilkes6174]

I started reading it in 1961-2 area. Got married in 1975 and I would read MAD and fall out of the chair laughing, and my wife thought I was crazy. She really never got the humor. It was the same with the movie Airplane in 1980. I couldn't stop laughing, and she still thought I was crazy (MAD). I am 71 now and still like that kind of humor...

[@LuckyBaldwin777]

There're 2 things women will never understand. Mad Magazine and The Three Stooges.

[@tarico4436]

Surely you can't still be into MAD magazine.

[@LuckyBaldwin777]

@@tarico4436 what's wrong with that?

[@kenkemzura903]

@@tarico4436 please,..... don't call me Shirley!

[@tarico4436]

@@kenkemzura903 Airplane!...... one of the funniest ever.

[@nabman11]

Some of Mad's old humour is holding up perfectly today as history is repeating itself

[@TheBronyCraft]

The U.S. needs these MAD magazines more than ever these days.

[@johnkochen7264]

I was a life-long Mad reader up until Bill Gaines death. Mad died when he did.

[@leef8063]

Printing was king!! I helped manufacture magazines for 32 years. That was the only way to learn or keep informed about a trade. Every trade had a magazine. Magazines were the only way to learn in real time, weekly. I produced about a billion magazines over 32 years, 100 thousand a day every 12 hours..

[@kenttalsma7906]

Offset forever!

[@Q_the_guitar_god]

70 years of MAD! Ak/a the greatest magazine of all time

[@georgfriedrichhandel4390]

Of the thousands of 60 Minutes reports I have seen over the years, this one remains IMO the funniest. I remember seeing it when it first aired in 1987. The perfect tribute to the magazine which will go out of business soon and to the late Morley Safer, one of the most celebrated broadcast journalists in television history.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

For as long as Bill Gaines was alive, he ran a tight ship!

[@fuckyomamafuckyosisterfuck6136]

His refusal to Merchandise, single handed lay KILLED Alfred!,

[@muffassa6739]

Mad Magazine is a classic 👌

[@ChrisBrown-zf8mw]

Loved it as a teenager, I'm68years old

[@thereallycool]

I miss MAD magazine

[@jasonq7504]

I read MAD as a kid. The day I saw an advertisement in MAD, I knew it was over. I stopped reading shortly after. The integrity of the magazine was gone.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@sha11235 That was sad.

[@jamesfrancistamburojr8180]

Me to

[@waldosordo5743]

I wish I would of kept my old magazines.

[@mikeoyler2983]

It's hard to argue with that. However, they ran advertisements for a while but they went back to no advertising.

[@jasonq7504]

@@mikeoyler2983 and where are they now. They used to have satirical ads...not real ones. Once you “can’t make fun of something”, you’re done. They knew that.

[@dj1211]

Spy VS Spy was the best

[@tabbycat8511]

Remember the Sunday I saw this and told everyone at work next day. One of my favorite 60 Minutes stories. “Stapling it.” 😸

[@georgfriedrichhandel4390]

It's my all-time favorite.

[@GopherGuts2000]

MAD Magazine DEFINITELY taught me to be socially conscious.

[@jimmyarmijo792]

Ah, my youth, the 1970s.

[@margueritehudsell4454]

My favorite part of the magazine was the hidden folding image on the back cover. Sweet youth.

[@margueritehudsell4454]

Correction: The folding image was my favorite part of My Brother's magazine, who spoiled the hidden image before I could get ahold of it.

[@rickewilde]

That Jaws issue got me into MAD back in the 70s.

[@brianfreeman9554]

I loved watching this when it was first on!

[@georgfriedrichhandel4390]

So did I! It was part of the season opener for 1987.

[@stevenmanchester2104]

Fun fact: The Mad cover art being worked on at 1:50 (L.A. Law) went over so well with the cast of the show that they posed for a group photo recreating the art in real life with the actual cast members. Steven Bochco (the creator of L.A. Law ) even posed as Alfred E Neuman.

[@fernandoalegria4240]

Mad was successful because it's biggest asset was it's heart. Genius, just genius.

[@normanbuffett4642]

I didn't get it til I was 18, then I rolled on the floor when I read one. I'm 70 now and still laugh when I remember certain issues like Kojerk.

[@kenttalsma7906]

Clodumbo? Remember that? The characterizations were genius.

[@LIBICU812]

I have the 1971 commemorative addition of Mad Magazine exploring the Ten Commandments.

[@Komagb]

I, in FACT, learned about Three Mile Island first from that issue, with Three Mile Island Zoo.

[@mymai2792]

LOL...me too.

[@sha11235]

The title is wrong. Mad at the time of this piece had turned 35, not 60.

[@AllenFreemanMediaGuru]

I was trying to figure that out as in October 2022, they are putting out the 70 year anniversary special issue!

[@EnchiladaBoulevard]

How perfect! Ive always loved the artists of MAD magazine. Nothing undone.

[@lordbeebus9842]

It’s like the contras deal. My god this is a rare earth gem. Beautiful. Been a reader since 1986!

[@brooklynbummer]

A magazine that knew how to poke at the American foibles.

[@steverhodesvideos6244]

Growing up in the '60s, I would turn to MAD when I wanted to make sense of the world.

[@e.grieves2905]

I miss Mad.

[@garyheiden3120]

great publication...what me worry?

[@trixiedelight1350]

I had a large amount of MAD magazine's when I was just a young kid. I love them and it was apart of growing up.

[@doublelxp]

The first issue of MAD I ever read had a parody of 60 Minutes in it, specifically about smoking.

[@janedoe5229]

My favorite part of MAD was the fantastic art: I really studied Mort Drucker and Jack Davis. But Al Jaffee and Don Martin were super funny too.

[@clownnookie]

They're turning 70 in October. Do another story, 60 Minutes! And you can still subscribe. Help support them so they can get back to producing new material.

[@plhebel1]

I remember seeing this 60 minutes when it first aired on a Sunday night. I read MAD at the time and was one of those younger people at the time that this interview touched upon. I remember the people that I saw ,, the creators of MAD were something a bit foreign to me. First and foremost, True blue New Yorkers and second a bit goofy but also business like which I never thought about that part of these people,, All I thought was crazy people ,, reflecting the magazine. Grown up now (old) I listened to what they were say'n and it's sounds rite on,, Must have been a blast working at MAD back in the day. 60 minutes - you once had integrity,, Now ,you and most of the news outlets to me are evil.

[@kmexperience]

... and it ran for 31 more years, leaving a permanent imprint! And they still publish retrospectives in comic stores, and those contain a little bit of new material. So really, it’s still here as of my pointless comment. Long live Alfred E!

[@donjones3824]

“And mad doesn’t do it” What integrity.

[@cha5]

I wish they could have had Jack Davis there for just a few seconds.

[@rogerjohnson8707]

Mad magazine was funny on two levels. One for children and one for adults. The adult version was very clever.

[@janedoe5229]

This was the only magazine that stayed afloat by readers' purchases only. NO advertising. And the readers were children with pocket change.

[@johnathandouglas007]

Wow I've never seen this before but glad I helped fund this back when it was important to them 👍

[@keysersoze3987]

MAD Magazine was my Elementry School education, National Lampoon was my High School education!

[@rodneyadderton1077]

Those guys were brillant.

[@maestromecanico597]

Another echo of my childhood fading into the distance.

[@holeshothunter5544]

to the ghost of Morley Safer: for 40 years I was a biotech inventor. I've 32 patents. Now I'm 71. I wish I could find the 3 mi island Children's Zoo to view again. Mad was amazingly prescient

[@JusticeAlways]

This is why I appreciate 60 Minutes

[@steverhodesvideos6244]

At this point in time, MAD was 35, not 60!

[@MusiciansReflib]

legendary

[@geraldstephens6612]

And now Mad Magazine is no more.

[@yankeeranger7148]

WWWWWAAAAAAAA

[@sha11235]

I have to say this: If I had been a contributor to Mad, when it got rebooted and moved to Burbank, I would've said, "That's the end of my Mad career. I cannot in good sense, contribute to the new bosses who didn't know crap about this magazine, without hurting the old bosses."

[@Jimvanhise]

Not everyone who grew up with MAD appreciated what it became. In the 1970s when National Lampoon became the new humor magazine on the block, they slammed MAD for becoming safe and timorous and not trying to be edgy any more. By 1987 many people felt that way about the magazine, like it was coasting on its past success without expanding on it. Basically people started to feel like they'd outgrown it. Even now collectors feel the 1950s and 1960s issues are the best.

[@sha11235]

Now John looks like Bill. And Nick is dead.

[@ryancang3627]

And 3 years later, Bill was gone..

[@sha11235]

No, about 5 years later. He died in 1992 and this was from 1987.

[@DK-sw6xx]

Ugh those 6 th graders would be about 48 years old ! WOW I miss the 80’s. And the original MAD magazines, So why did we have to transform America again?

[@scissors656]

alfred E newman is a young david letterman. LOL

[@Noitisnt-ns7mo]

As if the world is becoming more sophisticated.

[@danielacosta7717]

MAD Magazine > 60 Minutes

[@kurtcarlson9385]

Mad taut me critical thinking

[@steverhodesvideos6244]

Too bad it didn't teach you spelling too.

[@kenttalsma7906]

I "cracked" up when I red dat. 😑

[@Mokeywashere]

I own issues 19 - 24 of the 2018 relaunch!

[@jessegarcia5386]

I discovered Made in a back room at my catholic church. Found out that the church was taken magazine from kids that were bring them to church..I stole most of them an took them to skool...😂😂😂😂😂

[@kenttalsma7906]

Like a good catholic....

[@chardelraconner2166]

"Wrong Clip Simp on OG WALT" ©

[@fredricclack7137]

A Crockwork 🍋🤣

[@keithornstead7559]

Comparing MAD magazine over electronic entertainment since then? Whatever! Doesn't anyone realized about why both MAD and CRACKED magazine failed to amuse and attract several people over everything else back then?! No C-O-L-O-R. MADtv only got the picture. ( The first two seasons with the original cast, SPY and Don Martin cartoons were the greatest only and luckily on DVD now ).

[@valmarsiglia]

Lol. Think you could make the title a little more misleading?

[@garylester8621]

I'm 75 and loved Mad magazine. So clever, outrageous, funny, and totally unbiased. Then TRUMP came along and their political biased reared it's ugly head. Goodbye Mad. RIP.

[@cha5]

Uh, Mad always went for the jugular in politics all the way back to when they lampooned the McCarthy hearings in the 1950’s.

[@nightmuffin937]

And in 2020 is the year Alfred and the idiot gang dies :’(

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Sad. :-(

[@harryl6175]

hopefully we can see them comeback in the near future

[@yankeeranger7148]

WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAA

[@supermanrobin4426]

Pete Buttigieg

[@LIBICU812]

It's a compliment to Pete. Alfred E. Neuman was the genius in the magazine while all the other characters were the idiots that really made us laugh. AEN made us think.

[@janedoe5229]

I finally figured out why this generation is so triggered and woke: they didn't grow up with MAD insulting EVERYTHING, just for the fun of it.

[@mbryson2899]

Who was Martha Mitchell? Why did MAD give her a huge mouth? I asked, I read...I learned because of MAD.

[@mbryson2899]

They didn't have to explain, they merely needed to expose.

[@joaoplahinsce1849]

que merda é essa?

[@KirkFields]

🦆💨🤢 🛀🤺 🤭

[@fuckyomamafuckyosisterfuck6136]

NOT merchandising? That is WHAT KILLED ALFRED! THESE ARE THE DINOSAURS refused to evolved, NOW THEY ARE EXTINCT!