MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL TALK

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
ABC 1970-2006

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL TALK
Bananas #43, circa 1981
w: Jovial Bob Stine
a: Sam Viviano

Before there were entire networks devoted to sports, there was a network prime-time show covering football hosted by Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredith.

Howard Cosell became a celebrity in his own right for hie alliteration and erudition.

Robin Williams had made a movie of Popeye that winter and though it was a huge flop, was parodied by all three major humor magazines (coming up).

WHEN TV MAKES FULL USE OF HOWARD COSELL
MAD #150, April 1972
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Jack Davis

Sesame Street actually had a Muppet character based on him and also an animation parodying him (see below). “Dandy Don” and “Crazy Legs” were Don Meredith and Frank Gifford's nicknames. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” was Muhammad Ali's motto, whom Cosell had also done multiple interviews with.

HOWARD AT THE MIKE
MAD #155, December 1972
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Jack Davis

Parody of Casey at the Bat. For some reason, MAD always did “apologies to...” when they did poetry parodies, but not for anything else.

The phone operator is Lily Tomlin's Ernestine character.

TV Guide cover which also happened to be by Jack Davis.