CANNONBALL

CANNON
1971-1976 CBS

CANNONBALL
MAD #160, July 1973
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Jack Davis

Here's a gag that wouldn't go over today. Not because of wokeness, but because there's no such thing as television with vertical and horizontal dials anymore.

The premise of Cannon, like the introduction says, is that he was overweight. He was also a gourmet. There were no other recurring characters on the show.

On the show itself, he was always doing fat jokes, so it's not just the parody.

The other TV detectives punned here are Columbo, McCloud, MacMillan and Wife, and Hec Ramsey, all of which were alternating shows on the NBC Mystery Movie.

Yeah, it's racist, but it was 1973. Don't worry, we're not canceling MAD. They're canceling themselves.

Letter from William Conrad and his son.

From What Today's Programs Would Look Like If They Appeared in 2001 A. D. from Cracked #132 in May 1975, drawn by John Severin.

I dare anyone to hear William Conrad's voice and not be able to think of the narration in Rocky and Bullwinkle.

UPDATE:

CANYON
Cracked #117, July 1974
a: John Severin

The other detectives are Mannix and McCarren from Hawaii Five-O.

Lorne Greene was on a short-lived series called Griff. Then there's the obligatory Spiro Agnew caricature. I think when I run out of movie and TV spoofs, I'll do a blog dedicated solely to the spiro Agnew references in humor magazines.

McCloud and Columbo are referenced here.

And Friday (Jack Webb) from Dragnet and Kojak.

UPDATE 2:

cover for Kaputt, German edition of Cracked

Not sure if this is Telly Savalas as Kojak inflating Cannon or a German politician.

UPDATE 3:

From Cracked #138, December 1976, art by John Severin