August 12
The signature tagline of MAD’s goofy, gap-toothed mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, is the immortal, “What, me worry?”
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
1952:
It’s a MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD World
MAD magazine is first published
Funny, the debut issue of MAD magazine—which was really a comic book back then—came out in August with a cover date of October/November. A man named Harvey Kurtzman wrote almost the entire issue himself, also providing some of the drawings. When MAD later flipped to its magazine format, that’s when its brand of irreverent humor started making fun of all aspects of our culture: movies, politicians, advertising, and celebrity itself.
It spoofed Sports Illustrated as Sports Ill-Stated. It turned Star Wars into Star Roars. It was said you knew a book, movie, or TV show was a success if MAD parodied it. The scathing wit of its illustrators and writers would later influence everybody from the Monty Python gang to today’s satirical news source, The Onion.
