MAD Magazine was the reason I learned to read early. It was a huge influence on my sense of humor growing up. It’s why I still believe nothing in life is too sacred to satirize.
Al Feldstein died last Tuesday. He was the editor of
MAD
Magazine from 1956-1985 and I confess, in that capacity he totally shaped my world view. I was addicted to
MAD
. I was lucky that my uncle ran a small bookstore so I was always flush with the magazine from its very beginnings. I couldn’t get enough of its irreverent, sarcastic, smart-alecky take on the world. There was nothing sacred in its pages. Everything was fair game– from politics to Madison Avenue advertising, from popular culture to Wall Street, MAD took a swipe at it all. Its loads of marginalia also supported close reading.
And it was Al Feldstein who created the environment of out of the box thinking that allowed this creativity to thrive. Born in Brooklyn in 1925, he attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan. He received a scholarship to the Art Students League and attended Brooklyn…
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Invisible Mikey 
Certain events bring our past into stark contrast with the present. Others serve to reinforce them. I hope this tragic news is more the latter, you wonderful person.
Oh yes, it’s a reminder! MAD Magazine was my first satire instructor, not the last. Because of their irreverence I could appreciate That Was the Week That Was, Tom Lehrer, the Goons, the Pythons, National Lampoon, Dave Chapelle and all the current practitioners of parody.
I wish I had more time to post original material lately. Too busy gadding about being wonderful 😀 Thanks so much for reading. (Anna’s got a new one up too, at
http://insanityaquarium.wordpress.com/)