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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Wednesday, November 25, 2020
THE ASININE TEAM
THE A-TEAM
1983-1987 NBC
THE A(SININE) TEAM
MAD #242, October 1983
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was also parodied in that issue.
Hannibal (George Peppard), Face (Dirk Benedict), Murdock (Dwight Schulz), B. A. aka Bad Attitude (Mr. T.), and Amanda (Melinda Culea) were AWOL Vietnam vets that were also mercenary soldiers.
Hannibal was always showing up in disguises.
The man who hired them is a caricature of Walter Matthau.
They carry on with their assignment.
Mr. T. was the main reason anyone watched the show. In the early 80s he was huge with children in movies and merchandising as a muscular man with his Mandinka haircut and his catchphrase of “I pity the fool...”.
The A-Team was also parodied by Lou Silverstone and Angelo Torres in #272, July 1987 for When American TV Programs Are Shown in Russia
In the early 80s Cracked would parody a show several times. The logic must have been they had a younger readership than MAD and so they rotated new readers quicker so one would not have seen the previous parodies. Or maybe because the casts would change each season. Or maybe they were using the shows to sell magazines. Or maybe they just wanted to. Whatever the reason, here was the first one.
THE A-A-AYY TEAM
Cracked #201, January 1984
a: John Severin
Murdock was the comic relief on the show.
They're tipped off by police that crooked cops are running a protection racket.
They inform the old lady that runs a store she is about to be hit.
The cops in on the racket flee to an amusement park.
The policemen here are caricatures of Abe Vigoda (Fish, Barney Miller), Bruce Weitz (Belker, Hill Street Blues), Columbo (Peter Falk), Barney Fife (Don Knotts, The Andy Griffith Show), and Telly Savalas (Kojak)
Their second one.
THE A-A-AY TEAM
Cracked #203, May 1984
a: John Severin
An arcade owner wants The A-Team to investigate who's been tampering with their video games.
Happy Days was on TV opposite The A-Team
Like I said, Mr. T. was huge in the 80s.
THE A-TEAM WAY OF DOING THINGS
Cracked #204, July 1984
a: John Severin
#3
Michael Jackson was also used in a few articles, so this was a way of killing two birds with one stone.
Wearing the one white glove was Michael Jackson's thing in the 80s
Jesse Jackson was candidate for President in 1984, I guess you would say the Bernie Sanders of his time.
Michael Jackson was the spokesperson for Pepsi. Neither here nor there but his hair caught fire during a shoot and we made jokes about it when I was in 8th grade.
Michael Jackson may have been one of the few things more popular than Mr. T. at that time.
And here's Cracked's final parody, If The A-A-AYY TEAM Was Made Less Violent in #210, March 1985
The A-Team has to turn down a client because it would require blowing up villages, so they take the case of a child who's sure to cause no problems for them.
They find a clue, a hamster's collar with a diamond on it, and see a suspect.
B. A. chases the suspect, but can't speed.
They can't use guns either.
D. C. Cab was an ensemble comedy featuring Mr. T. in the early 80s.
And have to improvise with new ways of torture.
If you understand Spanish, there's this.
Marvel Comics had a series for a while based on the show.
UPDATE:
If one Michael Jackson/A-Team team-up wasn't enough, there was also If Michael Jackson Had Starred In... in Cracked #207, October 1984, art by John Severin.
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