A blog whilst I intern at MAD Magazine

The first day on any job is a bit intimidating. It’s even more intimidating when that new job is at a place with people who’s work you admire. Instant insecurity.

MAD Magazine is steeped in history. It started out as a comic book in 1952 – satirical in nature then and now. The founding fathers were editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines. MAD has now surpassed 500 issues (it’s currently getting ready to stock the stands with issue number 504). Come on! Every other humor magazine (e.g., Cracked) is like the freckled-face little brother to the freckled-faced Alfred E. Newman.

Throughout the years, some of the finest, smartest, and most talented artist and writers (not to mention editors) have graced the walls and halls of MAD. To be in the presence of a few of them today was a wonderful experience. I must say that they all acted with kindness, respect, and, of course, humor. I’ve never experienced that before and I’m grateful.

As it turns out, they accepted us interns for a job to (strange as it sounds) work. But part of that work was to thumb through MAD Magazines. I almost felt guilty letting the time fly by sitting in a beautiful Manhattan office laughing at MAD articles. But then I remembered that they weren’t paying me so the guilt faded away while laughter filled the air.

And these guys are funny and quick witted. I felt like molasses sitting in their meetings.

Just a side thought: I visited the Cracked site to get a feel for the competition and I’ll stick with MAD. I never bought Cracked when it was on the newsstands. I don’t buy it now.

MAD will rise again. MAD is a pioneer. MAD is stalwart. And when it comes to humor, MAD is DAD.

It’s a wonderful opportunity to be working with such an iconic image of our times. I’m grateful. I will do what I can to contribute. If they choose to run anything of mine, that would be awesome. If they do not, that’s not as awesome but still ok. After all, I’m still working with MAD. I still believe in what they do and what they’re all about.

And as for feeling intimidated? That should wear off. Life is just one day after the next. In the end, it’s all about our experiences and the people we can touch in a positive way. And it’s that type of thinking that gets me through all of life’s trials. What, me worry?

A blog whist I intern at MAD Magazine

I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to blog. I get college credit for this experience (and more importantly I get to deduct the whole trip on my taxes). To get that credit I’ve gotta blog. I’ll hear back from the director of the program soon enough. In the meantime, I’ll just blog every day that I work. If you like it, good! If not, well you’re probably not reading this anyway so who cares.

Today marks the 18th anniversary of the passing of William Gaines, the much beloved first and long-standing publisher of MAD. Much of what I do in the publishing aspect of my little business is based on the actions of Gaines. I was talking with the other intern (whom I call Beatle) about how, from what I can ascertain, William Gaines believed in MAD Magazine so much that it had little choice but to succeed. It didn’t matter that he never did any market analysis, nor sold advertising, nor tried to keep up with the other magazine Joneses. In fact, there’s one story about how he paid extra to have MAD printed on cheaper stock paper even though it was in short supply. Genius!

I don’t know if there has been, is, or will ever be another publisher like Gaines. He was notoriously cheap yet very giving at the same time. Such a dichotomy is reminiscent of the nature of MAD – seriously goofy.

William Gaines, thank you. Thank you for being who you were. Thank you for doing what you did. Thank you for acting in a way according to your beliefs in spite of what people said. And, most of all, thank you for MAD. Your legacy will live on.

On a lighter note (see music pun soon…) I camped out at my new favorite spot Bryant Park after work. And, to my pleasure, there was a live free concert being played. I worked on an article for MAD while sitting in a beautiful setting listening to the live jazz band Jeremy Udden’s Plainville. It was fantastic! The weather was nice and the mood was calm in spite of Manhattan’s after work rush hour.

The Big Apple’s a tasty place to be in summer.