Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
ONLINE SYMPOSIUM:
The Usual Gang of Idiots and Other Suspects:
MAD Magazine and American Humor
A SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZED BY THE ROCKWELL CENTER FOR AMERICAN VISUAL STUDIES
Link: rockwellcenter.org/news/online-symposium-the-usual-gang-of-idiots-and-other-suspects-mad-magazine-and-american-humor
Zoom Webinar (online)
Friday, October 18 from 6pm to 8pm
Saturday, October 19 from 10am to 3:30pm
Program Overview:
Join us for this lively exploration of the art and history of MAD—the long-running humor magazine and counter-culture touchstone that has attracted readers and spoken truth to power for more than seven decades. MAD’s unique brand of subversive humor, as well as its evolution and impact, will be discussed by illustrators, cartoonists, editors, writers, historians, and collectors whose deep knowledge of the subject and personal contributions have sustained the magazine’s legacy over time.
The program is organized in conjunction with What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine at the Norman Rockwell Museum, on view until October 27, 2024.
A Legacy of Laughter: MAD Magazine and the Americanization of Jewish Humor
With Judith Yaross Lee, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emerita of Communication Studies, Ohio University
Begun modestly in 1952 as a comic book that parodied other comic books, MAD introduced millions of Americans to a Jewish way of looking and laughing at the world after it became a magazine in 1955. This multi-media talk by Judith Yaross Lee explores how MAD’s Jewish writers, and artists, and editors shaped its sense of humor and changed the course of American media, with a legacy that includes The Simpsons, The Onion, and Randy Rainbow. Dr. Lee is the editor of Seeing MAD: Essays on MAD Magazine’s Humor and Legacy, a collection of essays published in 2020 by the University of Missouri.
ONLINE SYMPOSIUM:
The Usual Gang of Idiots and Other Suspects:
MAD Magazine and American Humor
A SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZED BY THE ROCKWELL CENTER FOR AMERICAN VISUAL STUDIES
Link: rockwellcenter.org/news/online-symposium-the-usual-gang-of-idiots-and-other-suspects-mad-magazine-and-american-humor
Zoom Webinar (online)
Friday, October 18 from 6pm to 8pm
Saturday, October 19 from 10am to 3:30pm
Program Overview:
Join us for this lively exploration of the art and history of MAD—the long-running humor magazine and counter-culture touchstone that has attracted readers and spoken truth to power for more than seven decades. MAD’s unique brand of subversive humor, as well as its evolution and impact, will be discussed by illustrators, cartoonists, editors, writers, historians, and collectors whose deep knowledge of the subject and personal contributions have sustained the magazine’s legacy over time.
The program is organized in conjunction with What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine at the Norman Rockwell Museum, on view until October 27, 2024.
A Legacy of Laughter: MAD Magazine and the Americanization of Jewish Humor
With Judith Yaross Lee, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emerita of Communication Studies, Ohio University
Begun modestly in 1952 as a comic book that parodied other comic books, MAD introduced millions of Americans to a Jewish way of looking and laughing at the world after it became a magazine in 1955. This multi-media talk by Judith Yaross Lee explores how MAD’s Jewish writers, and artists, and editors shaped its sense of humor and changed the course of American media, with a legacy that includes The Simpsons, The Onion, and Randy Rainbow. Dr. Lee is the editor of Seeing MAD: Essays on MAD Magazine’s Humor and Legacy, a collection of essays published in 2020 by the University of Missouri.
