MAD Magazine at the Norman Rockwell Museum

An illustrative retrospective at the Norman Rockwell Museum 

Two MAD Magazine covers

MAD Magazine covers, from left: 1996 cover by CF Payne and 1959 cover by Kelly Freas  | MAD and all related elements ™ & © E.C. Publications. Courtesy of DC. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Before Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, there was MAD magazine. The progenitor of anti-establishment humor—often silly, always subversive—was first published in 1952 and for the next nearly seven decades, the magazine’s writers and cartoonists gleefully spoofed and harpooned nearly every aspect of American culture—from McCarthyism and the Cold War to celebrity worship, consumerism, and the counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It became a font of irreverence for a young generation learning to question authority. MAD’s creators “tackled contemporary events through the lens of humor, asking people to look a little more carefully at what they were being told,” says Stephanie Plunkett, chief curator at the Norman Rockwell Museum, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which has organized the retrospective exhibition What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine, through October 27.

The show offers more than 200 original illustrations, along with photographs, video, memorabilia, and interactive features that explain the reverberating impact of the publication (among its young fans were aspiring satirists Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert). It also highlights the publication’s power as “a crucial venue for cultural commentary and norm-busting humor delivered through predominantly visual media,” says museum director/CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt. “We are keenly aware that MAD magazine raised issues, often presciently, that continue to drive contemporary debates and struggles…that remain to be worked through.”

Read more articles by Nell Porter-Brown

You might also like

What of the Humble Pencil?

Review: At the Harvard Art Museums’ new exhibit, drawing takes center stage

A Paper House in Massachusetts

The 1920s Rockport cottage reflects resourceful ingenuity.

This Connecticut Mine Was Once a Prison

The underground Old New-Gate Prison quickly became “a school for crime.”

Most popular

Harvard Research Funding Will Resume, Government Signals

Notices of grant reinstatements follow a court ruling, but the Trump administration could still appeal. 

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Explore More From Current Issue

Student walking under bright stage lights shaped like smartphones displaying social media apps.

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?

Brandon Terry, wearing a blue suit, standing before The Embrace, a large bronze sculpture of intertwined arms in Boston Common.

A New Narrative of Civil Rights

Political philosopher Brandon Terry’s vision of racial progress

Will Makris in blue checkered suit and red patterned tie standing outdoors by stone column.

A New HAA President at a Tumultuous Time

A career in higher ed inspired Will Makris to give back.