BIG BIG EARTH

WIDE WIDE WORLD
1955-1958 NBC

BIG BIG EARTH
MAD #39, May 1958
w: Bob & Ray and Tom Koch
a: Mort Drucker

When MAD started under the editorship of Al Feldstein, they used a lot of the work of comedians at the time, reprinting material or having them write new stuff. Bob and Ray were among them. Bob's probably most known now as Chris Elliott's father, but for decades was half of a comedy team with a career than spanned from a radio show to an appearance on Saturday Night Live. This piece is credited to Tom Koch, who was a writer for both them and for MAD. Many of the pieces by famous comedians were probably done by their writers. A lot of MAD's writer's also worked for TV. Mort Drucker was one of about a dozen of the artists hired for MAD and when he was given the assignment of the Bob and Ray sketches, they realized he was the best at caricature, so was used when they started doing more movie and TV parodies.

Wide Wide World was a documentary series hosted by Dave Garroway. The difference between this parody and that show is that the field reporter didn't interview the subjects.

Dave Huntley is a play on reporters Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. The Trade Mark figures in the globes are the Smith Brothers, mascots of a cough drop brand. Dave Garroway was also host of the Today Show, and would sign off by holding out his hand in from of the camera.