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?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 5:59 pm and is filed under An Idiot's Journey, Blog.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.