MADness #50- American Idol!

It’s time for another off-key Monday edition of Tom’s MADness! This time we drop the mic with a return to the world of “reality” TV and another cringe-worthy performance with “You Can Write the Next American Idol Single”, written by my CLAPTRAP partner Desmond Devlin and appearing in MAD #466, June 2006. This was also my 50th appearance in the magazine.

I have to admit I don’t like these kinds of reality competition shows, and have never watched more than a few episodes of any of them. It’s not that I think they are bad shows, I just find them uninteresting and boring. My wife loves them, though, so I was able lean on her for insights into the personalities involved. Still I am at a disadvantage when trying to draw caricatures of subjects I am not very familiar with. Then you are at the mercy of your photo references, which don’t always tell the truth about who they depict.

One of the most asked questions I get is “would you rather do a parody of a movie/TV show you hate or one you love?”. The answer to that is yes, because either way I have an emotional reaction to the subject. I can take great delight in ripping something I thought was terrible, and if I really liked it I can enjoy getting to know the source material and having fun with insider gags and exploring the corners of the subject. It’s harder to get up any energy or enthusiasm when you find the subject boring. So, these kinds of jobs were not my favorite for MAD. But, every job can’t be spoofs of Oscar winning films.

These types of articles don’t age well, either. No one remembers 95% of those depicted. At the time, however, it was a very big show.

I was still doing my pencil roughs with actual pencil on drawing paper in 2006. MAD would send me the “mechanicals” printed on 11×17 paper at print size, and I would scan them, then print them out on heavier drawing paper and do my sketches right on the layouts, working around the text and word balloons.

All jobs for MAD are fun, but some are a little more fun and some a little less. This one was a little less. Still fun, though.

Toon in next Monday as we shift gears into another episode of our chronological race through my work for MAD with some cartoon cars!