This October marks Al Jaffee reign as Mad Magazine’s longest running contributor, clocking in 59 years and over 479 issues. Since 1952, the comic book turned magazine infused a childish silliness with biting political depth and orignal artwork. By engaging readers to add their own “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” and even mangling the magazine to solve the “Fold-In” picture riddle, Mad was one of the first enterprises to treat consumers as co-conspirators. The result was an entirely new forum for humor in an era when few questioned whether father really knows best. It’s allure for children and teenagers simultaneously fueled outrage from the FBI to Congress the collective imaginations of future comedy writers and cartoonists. Writers behind The Simpsons, The Daily Show, The Onion, and The Colbert Report credit Mad Magazine for inspiring them.

The sheer joy Jaffee’s work provides fans offers to fans is inverse proportion to what he and his three brothers experienced growing up.

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