A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
dir: Mike Nichols
WHO IN HECK IS VIRGINIA WOOLFE?
MAD #109, March 1967
w: Larry Siegel
a: Mort Drucker
Called that because the some of characters sing it to the tune of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, but just its meter, probably because they couldn't get the rights, as if it's the funniest thing they ever heard. It had an adults only warning when it was released theatrically before there was a rating system, though by today's standards there's nothing particularly dirty other than their behavior and somebody being called “angel boobs”. It had to pass MAD's ratings, which is why they used 'heck' instead of 'hell'
George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) are a forty-ish married couple coming back from a faculty party late at night drunk and as soon as they get home they start sparring verbally and going through wild mood swings,fighting, making up, being passive-aggressive, loving, then yelling at each other again.
Martha neglected to tell George she invited Nick (George Segal) and Honey (Sandy Dennis). He's a much younger professor who was also at the party and she's his wife. They see the fighting and don't really want to be there, but now George insists they stay for drinks and some games.
Honey goes upstairs to the bathroom to freshen up and Martha joins her, leaving the men alone. Nick talks about his job as a biology professor, and George keeps forgetting whether the subject is biology or history. When Honey and Martha come down, Honey asks about the son Martha mentioned while they were gone, which George says he doesn't want to talk about. The subject of their son keeps coming up again. George disappears into the garage, gets out a rifle, shoots at them all and scares them, but it turns out to be a joke gun and an umbrella comes out, then they all laugh. The younger couple also get drunk, Honey can't handle her liquor, and throws up.
They all decide to call it a night. George and Martha drive them home, but they stop at a bar because the women want to go dancing. Honey dances but suddenly doesn't like the music and sits down. Nick and Martha dance together. They all drink and fight some more.
Martha takes off abandoning George by the side of the road, returns home to find Honey asleep in the car, and suspects Martha and Nick have gone off together. Martha is just belittling Nick, making him do chores, calling him “houseboy”, and he just wants to leave.
Martha brings up their son again, who she says is coming home from boarding school to celebrate his birthday, but George tells her he died in a car accident and that he ate the telegram that informed them. It's revealed that the son never existed and the “games” they were playing were about how they made him up to keep their marriage together, and that he had to kill the son off because Martha let out their secret. Nick and Honey decide it's finally time to leave.
WHO IS HARRY KELLERMAN AND WHY IS HE SAYING THOSE TERRIBLE THINGS ABOUT ME? (1971)
dir: Ulu Grosbard
>
The last of the movies with long names that started with Dr, Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, then continued with Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad and Can Hieronymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?.
SICK MOVIE REVIEW
Sick #89, March 1972
w: Fred Wolfe (Paul Laikin)
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (1988)
dir: Robert Zemeckis
WHO DE-FAMED ROBBER RABBIT?
MAD #284, January 1989
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Angelo Torres
Film noir that was a big hit for its many cameo appearances by characters from cartoons from the 30s-50s from different studios. It took place in 1947, with detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) reluctantly taking the case of animation studio head R. K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) who suspects the reason for his star performer Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer)'s poor performance is that his wife Jessica (Kathleen Turner) is having an affair with Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye). Eddie photographs the evidence, submits it to Roger, the next day Marvin is murdered. Roger has been set up and goes to Eddie to clear his name and this leads a plot by Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) of Toontown, the town where all the cartoon characters live, to destroy the area to make room for a freeway. Eddie, who previously hated 'toons', learns to appreciate them.
The MAD parody is about what was supposed to have happened after the story ended.
The character sitting on the curb is Baby Herman, Roger Rabbit's co-star, who acts like a baby on film, but is a talking adult who smokes when off the set. George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis were the main Presidential candidates of 1988.
'Patty cake' was what Jessica and Marvin were caught doing and literally that, not any actual sexual act. “I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way” was Jessica's tagline in the movie.
Benny, also voiced by Charles Fleischer, was Roger's taxi in the movie's big chase scene. Alfred Hitchcock is always shorthand for “movie director” when it's not Erich Von Stroheim. Mommie Dearest was a book written by Joan Crawford's daughter about how cruel she apparently was.
Howard the Duck, one of the first movies based on a Marvel character before the Marvel Universe was conceived for Hollywood, was considered one of the biggest flops of the 80s. I never saw it. Maybe in retrospect it wasn't as bad as people say it was.
WHEN ROGER RABBIT TECHNOLOGY TAKES OVER ALL OF HOLLYWOOD'S FILMS
MAD #285, March 1989
w: Stan Hart
a: Bob Clarke
As we all know, animation and live action has been done several times since the 80s, then there's CGI and deepfakes, and soon A.I. Will replace all of us.
THE GREAT TOON SURPLUS SALE
MAD #292, March 1990
w: Larry Siegel
a: Angelo Torres
The lower left has Fox and the Crow which had few cartoons in the series and was already discontinued 40 years before this. There was a long-running comic book adaptation of it but even that was over long before most readers of this would have been born.
The weasel with the steamroller was one of Judge Doom's minions in the movie. Magilla Gorilla, next to Mickey and Donald, might be known by some.
German cover.
WHO FWAMED ROGER WABBIT?
Cracked #241, December 1988
w: Rick Kriegel (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan
Elmer Fudd narrates the parody. Steven Spielberg wasn't the director. He may not even have been on the set. He was executive producer which could mean a lot of things.
Eddie spent a lot of time at a bar. The waitress was Joanna Cassidy.
Judge Doom had a solution called Dip, which was essentially ink remover, that he planned to execute Roger with.
Eddie hates Toons because one killed his brother. As he's about to be killed, Judge Doom reveals that he was that Toon, which is all Eddie needs to snap out of his hatred, turn the tables, and regain his sense of humor.
Disney release a few Roger Rabbit cartoons with their full-length movies in their attempt to bring cartoons back to theaters.
CRACKED INTERVIEWS ROGER WABBIT
Cracked #245, July 1989
w: Vic Bianco (Lou Silverstone)
a: John Severin
Cher, Morton Downey Jr., and Mel Blanc are the big Lakers fans.
THE WHITE, SHADOWED
MAD #216, July 1980
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Angelo Torres
Ken Reeves (Ken Howard) is a former professional basketball player who once worked for the Chicago Bulls but now works as a coach at Carver High School in Los Angeles.
In these days of politicians swearing left and right, it's hard to believe it was once a big scandal when Jimmy Carter once said “I'll whip his ass” about Ted Kennedy.
Some of the players were Jackson (Erik Kilpatrick), Goldstein (Ken Michelman), Gomez (Ira Augustain), and Coolidge (Byron Stewart). The vice-principal was Sybil Buchanan (Joan Pringle) and the principal was Jim Willis (Ed Bernard).
”Lookit me, I'm dee-ancin'... I'm dee-ancin” was the way any comical Brooklyn character once mocked who they saw as a high-brow adult.
Some other players were “Salami” Pettrino (Timothy Van Patten), Hayward (Thomas Carter), and Thorpe (Kevin Hooks).
The last panel is a parody of Bobby Knight.
The obligatory stars' reaction to their parody.
From The MAD TV Coroners' Report in #227, December 1981
THE NOT-SO-BRIGHT SHADOW
Cracked #170, May 1980
a: John Severin
In the later seasons, there was a player named Vitaglia (John Menghatti)
This was the era of Cracked where, if they weren't able to do a Diff'rent Strokes parody or an If Gary Coleman did [X] kind of article, they would find a way to fit him in somehow.
THE WHITE SHALLOW
Crazy #66, September 1980
w: Murad Gumen
a: Murad Gumen & Alan Kupperberg
