MADness #61: Parks and Rec!

It’s time for another MAD Monday stop on the long, exhausting and utterly pointless trek through my work at MAD Magazine. This week we have a look at another TV parody, “Parks and Recreation” written by the inimitable Arnie Kogen and first appearing in MAD #511, October 2011.

This was the last parody in what was, for me, the longest run of consecutive issues of MAD featuring a full movie or TV parody with my art. If you count “The Wizard of O” (and I do) this is eight issues in a row with a “continuity” drawn by me in it. A personal best.

I should note that this splash page features cameos by two of my in-laws. The Lovely Anna‘s sister Theresa is in the center back with the coffee cup, and her brother Chris is at the top right just behind Chris Pratt.

The one thing I remember about doing this spoof was that it was chock full of fun faces to caricature. No boring cast members in this one. Nick Offerman alone would have made this an incredibly fun parody to draw, but the fun just never stopped.

My kids were all big fans of this show at the time, and I leaned heavily on them to give me insights on the characters for expressions and gags.

After this issue came out a friend of mine who knew actor Jim O’Heir who played Jerry on the show told me Jim wanted to see if could get a larger copy of the splash page. I sent him two prints, one for him and one for me with a request to get some of the cast to sign it. I signed his copy “To Jim, love the show!” in a silver pen next to him. A few weeks later I got one of the prints back signed by the entire cast:

Unfortunately he had the cast sign the print I signed for him, so I signed my own copy. Oh well.

That’s it for another wee of MADness! Toon in next week when we take on the US Supreme Court and Video Games!