Editor of MAD magazine, writer, and illustrator -- via the New York Times. Wow -- while not the funniest or non-grumpiest of people himself, he got the mag out on time and under budget, and made all the key hires that made the magazine one that we all waited around the drugstore for in order to grab the newest copy! He employed Don Martin ("Shtoink! Fladdaddaddap!"), Antonio Prohias ("Spy vs. Spy"), Dave Berg, Mort Drucker, and many others. Plus he made buck-toothed Alfred E. Neuman the poster boy of our generation.
Much gratitude to Al and "the usual gang of idiots" -- the humor was dumb, infantile, gross, and sometimes just not funny. However, it gave us permission to think differently about just about everything, and groomed a lot of us for comedy careers down the road. Thanks, Al, for giving us something we treasured that pissed our parents off as well.
