Tom's Mad Blog
January 31st, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Hang on, Bernice… it’s Wednesday again! Time for another “Sketch o’the Week!”. Back when I was doing a sketch series of fictional TV detectives I only deviated from “serious” characters once… drawing Abe Vigoda as Sargent Philip K. Fish from “Barney Miller”. That show was another great example of a 70’s sitcom set almost entirely in one small room/set that relied on the writing and character interaction to provide stories and laughs. “Barney Miller” was one of the best examples of making that format work incredibly well. It was one of my favorite shows to watch in syndication back in the 80’s. So, this week… READ MORE
January 25th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We’re back to our usual “Sketch o’ the Week” insanity, and the continuation of our “classic TV sitcoms” theme. This week’s sketch is of the two main stars of “The Jeffersons”, Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford! “The Jeffersons” was a spin-off of “All in the Family”, and actually ran for more seasons (11) than “All in the Family” (9). It was ground breaking for being based on a black family that was portrayed as successful and wealthy, and for being the first TV series to prominently feature a married interracial couple. Norman Lear claimed in his autobiography that he got the idea to move the… READ MORE
January 22nd, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Yes… it’s the moment you have all been dreading! It’s the return that no one asked for of my Monday MADness retrospective of the work I did for MAD Magazine. If you’ll recall in our last episode we looked at MAD‘s spoof of “The Hunger Games: The Mocking Jay Parts 1 & 2” from MAD #538. Time to move on to MAD #539, June 2016, which featured my first ever actual MAD cover! Covers are rare birds for several reasons. First, at that time there were only six a year. Second, Covers are usually of the hyper-realistic style of art and as Mark Fredrickson is a master… READ MORE
January 17th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Considering more than a few of the classic 1970’s sitcoms I have been/will be drawing the casts of were created/produced by the man, I had to draw legendary television producer and screenwriter Norman Lear, who just recently passed away at age 101. It seemed like when you were watching a sitcom in the 1970’s, Norman Lear’s name was listed in the credits more often than not. The man was a true television legend, having produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 TV shows, a number of which are considered among the greatest of their genre. “All in the Family”, “Sanford and Son”, “Maude”, “Good Times”, “The… READ MORE
January 16th, 2024 | Posted in News
In a few months this blog will see its 18th anniversary. In all that time I have never gone 15 days without a post here. In fact I’ve never gone a full week without a post here. That just happened. My last post was Jan 1st, and here it is Jan 16th. In a partial defense on my part, a few years ago I switched my focus to my weekly newsletter “The Ink Stained Wretch” (which, incidentally, you should be subscribed to) so I only do two or three posts a week anyway, but over two weeks without a post is unprecedented. So, my apologies.… READ MORE
January 1st, 2024 | Posted in News
Welcome to 2024! We are definitely starting the New Year out right by FINALLY reaching the end of a three year journey. Tomorrow morning I am renting a truck and going to a local loading dock where the bulk shipment of fellow MAD man Desmond Devlin and my hardcover book of movie parodies CLAPTRAP is being delivered. Frustratingly, it took our printer 15 weeks to get these books to us, but they are finally arriving and shipping will begin tomorrow. Des is flying into Minnesota later in the week and we’ll be doing the signed copies then, but all orders should be on the way… READ MORE
December 18th, 2023 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It’s another grody Monday, dudes and dudettes! That means it’s time for a totally tubular trip down the gnarly path that was my work for MAD Magazine. As if! This week we take another rad side trip from the magazine itself to look at my second “bookazine” cover, this one for the “MAD Spoof’s the 80’s: Special Collector’s Edition (Spring 2016)”, which is a fancy title for “here’s a bunch of reprinted stuff from about 30 years ago we’d like you to pay to read again.” Wait, that’s kind of MAD’s current business model, isn’t it? Gag me with a spoon. Not much to really… READ MORE
December 13th, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Many of the most popular sitcoms in the 1970’s seemed to be dominated by large, ensemble casts in shows that were set in one room or environment. Our last few “Sketch o’the Week” caricatures were good examples of that trend. This week’s is another. “Taxi” is found on almost any list of the best sitcoms ever, and given it won 18 Emmys over its five season run that’s hardly unexpected. Its cast featured the early work of actors who would go on to become household names like Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman, Christopher Lloyd, Carol Kane, Marilu Henner and Judd Hirsch. Jeff Conaway was already a pretty well known… READ MORE
