Some MAD Birthdays! Al and Sam!

Illustrations done for CNN, circa 2011

Wishing a happy birthday today to two of my artistic heroes! Longtime MAD artist and MAD‘s art director for over two decades, Sam Viviano has been a real mentor to me for twenty plus years. Sam is 65 today! That’s barely out of diapers compared to the other birthday boy.

Al Jaffee is 97 years old today. He just completed yet another fold-in job for MAD, where his artwork has appeared in 500 of the 550 published issues. I don’t throw the term “genius” around lightly, but in Al’s case the shoe fits. As an artist, writer and humorist, he’s number one in a field of one. On top of that, he’s led a fascinating life that started in Georgia and went back and forth from Lithuania, and got crazier from there. If you have not read his autobiography Al Jaffee’s MAD LIFE, do yourself a favor and stop being a clod and read it.

Happy birthday, gentlemen!