Tom's Mad Blog
March 22nd, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Time for another episode of our “TV shows Tom watched as a kid after school” sketch series. This one is kind of odd because it really doesn’t fit with the type of shows I normally watched after school. I was more into the goofy sitcoms with wacky premises like a witch housewife, an astronaut with a genie, a family of monsters, and, of course, World War II prisoners of war. There was just something about this show that kept me from changing the channel… maybe it was the mesmerizing spinning jewel effect opening credits. Anyway our sketch this week id the cast of “Family Affair”… READ MORE
March 20th, 2023 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Grab your tiara and Go Go Juice! It’s time for another installment of the train wreck that is our look back at my work for MAD Magazine! This week enter the year 2013 with this piece from MAD #520, “Honey Boo Boo’s Family Circus”, written by Frank Santopadre. I was initially thrilled to get this assignment for a two reasons. First, it wasn’t a movie or TV parody, and while I love doing those for MAD they are a ridiculous amount of work and it’s nice to have a change and do something different now and then. The second, and more relevant for me, was… READ MORE
March 15th, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Are you getting tired of our “TV shows Tom watched as a kid after school” sketch series yet? Well, I am running out of shows I actually watched! This week’s sketch features one of the shows I absolutely loved watching after raiding the fridge after school. “The Munsters” only ran for two seasons in 64-66, but was endlessly syndicated by the mid-70’s and often ran in the afternoons on one of my local stations. Since it was produced by Universal Studios they had the rights to the copyrighted Universal Monsters makeup, including the original iconic version of Frankenstein’s Monster made famous by Boris Karloff in “Frankenstein” in… READ MORE
March 13th, 2023 | Posted in MAD Magazine
For this week’s Monday MADness we are eschewing the usual blather in favor of some MAD birthday wishes! Today happens to be the birthday of not one but two of the best known members of MAD‘s “Usual Gang of Idiots”, artist and former art director Sam Viviano and a guy who needs no introduction, the great Al Jaffee. Sam turns 70, while Al is an unbelievable 102. Both of these gentlemen have been enormous influences on my work and career. Happy birthday, guys! READ MORE
March 8th, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
In a rare break from the usual, this original sketch is still available in the Studio Store! It’s another sketch from our quickly getting old series “TV shows Tom watched as a kid after school”. This week features Bill Bixby and Ray Walston from the 1963-66 sitcom “My Favorite Martian”. There was a period of time where this show was on every day at the exit time I got home from school, and I saw a lot of episodes… although I don’t remember any of the later full color ones. I sort of categorized this show with “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Bewitched”, since there… READ MORE
March 6th, 2023 | Posted in MAD Magazine
On no! Monday again?!? It’s that same Bat-time to check on the same Bat-channel that is our look back at my work for MAD Magazine! This week we take a peek at what might be my favorite job I ever did for the magazine, MAD‘s parody of “The Dark Knight Rises”, written by Arnie Kogen and first appearing in MAD #519, February 2013. Why is this my favorite piece for MAD? Several reasons. For one, I’m a huge Batman fan and this was the last of the Christopher Nolan trilogy films, for which I got to do the art for all three. Also this might… READ MORE
March 1st, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
You’ll twitch your nose at this, but it’s time for another “Sketch o’the Week” in the distinctly unmagical series known as “TV shows Tom watched after school as a kid”. This week we should burn at the stake for our sketch of the stars of the 1960-70’s sitcom “Bewitched”, Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent! This show has more Dicks in it than Brett Farve‘s text archives! This was one of my favorite after-school reruns to watch as a kid. One of the two “magical” sitcoms (along with “I Dream of Jeannie”), “Bewitched” had a different spin on the “supernatural character in the real world” concept. Unlike IDoJ,… READ MORE
February 22nd, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Here’s another one for the “Sketch o’the Week” series “TV shows Tom watched after school as a kid”. This week we weigh anchor with a sketch of three of the main characters from “McHale’s Navy”, Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway and Joe Flynn! This show was one that wasn’t in syndication as much as some others in my area, so I didn’t see it a lot. For a year or so it was on pretty regularly and I was interested in it not so much for the humor and stories as I was fascinated by Tim Conway being in it. My parents loved “The Carol Burnett Show” and I… READ MORE
