MAD Mumblings

[Mad Doctor]

Mad sightings now on a nightly basis...just tune in too Nick at Nite.

http://www.tvland.com/nickatnite/

Nick at nite recently ran a 24 hour Marathon of Old "Murphy Brown episodes to promote the 90's show to its new current line-up of sitcoms.

It would have truly been a gut wrenching ordeal for anyone to have the mental stamina or free time in their life to watch every episode back to back from its beginings in 1988-1998. I tuned in just to see the framed cover art of Mad issues that hung on Candice Bergmen's office wall. Almost every episode supposedly has a scene in her office. I found at least 6 different Mad covers hanging proudly behind the actors backs during some shots. Of course thanks to the props department for adding this eye candy to the interior office though I wonder how much influence Candice Bergen actually had in this?

It is no secret she is a huge Mad fan from way back. Does anyone remember the issue that featured her in the letters and tomatoes page? She actually had her picture in the magazine two different times. First in 1990 when the show was relatively still young and once again in 1996, as well it is rumored she once got a letter published in Mad many years before the show even was concieved and even before her modeling days.





MD

[Mad Doctor]

Then another surprise in July of 1996 in Mad's Letters & Tomatoes Dept. with then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Murphy Brown a.k.a. Candice Bergen

[Alfred C]

The recurring MAD cover that I seem to remember from Murphy Brown is #122 from October of 1968. This has always been one of my favorite covers. It conveys the idea that the '68 election is really up to Alfred, who with his foolish grin is deciding which balloon to pop. The story is that the balloon with Alfred on it was originally supposed to have a Mort Drucker caricature of Robert F. Kennedy - but of course he was assasinated before the issue went to press and MAD couldn't use it. This is interesting because RFK would certainly have been the Democratic nominee in '68 and likely would have beaten Nixon in the general election. Loosing RFK was certainly a tragedy, but think of what MAD would have been like without Nixon to pick on for the better part of a decade and even more. Anway, If I'm remembering correctly, this cover has been seen on at least one other TV show from the same late 80's - early 90's era....The Wonder Years. There is an episode that features Kevin reading MAD (this issue) in his bedroom. Does anyone else seem to remember that? Certainly if nothing else, the more political covers of MAD have always been favorites for randomly appearing on television. Murphy Brown is the most prominent example, so far as I know. The other covers that I remember from her wall were, of course the famous Nixon / Agnew "big con" cover (issue #171) and the one where Alfred is coloring out Jimmy Carter's tooth (issue #197). Other than that, you see the Alfred for President cover from 1972 (#153) and the back cover that is a fake campaign poster for "Nixon - Bunker in '72." I'm not sure which issue that one is from, maybe Doug Gilford can help us out with that one.

Does anyone else have any stories to share on MAD cover apperances from TV? It's usually pretty intersting when it happens.

[Uncle Dave LS]

I've actually been wondering-did Torres and Kogen do Murky Brown? I was thinking Arnie Kogen because he tends to use Murky instead of Murphy in his satires.

[DD]

The Nixon/Bunker poster was in #152.

"Murky Brown" was by Torres & DeBartolo, and appeared in #289 (which for you trivia buffs, was the biggest-selling single issue of MAD of the past 20 years).

Murky should have had this issue framed in her office:

[art4mad]

INFIDEL!

How dare you mock Cracked magazine!! You will burn in hell with your bowels full of broken glass! Jihad! Jihad!!

[BloodBird]

cracked sucks