GOOSE OR BARE

TRUTH OR DARE (1991)
dir: Alex Keshishian

Documentary about Madonna on her Blond Ambition tour

Yes, at one time even Alfred E. Neuman committed sexual assault.

From Video Reviews in #310, April 1992, by Stan Hart and Sam Viviano

Madonna was linked to Warren Beatty, friends with Sandra Bernhart, and married to Sean Penn for several years.

THE SIMPLESONS

THE SIMPSONS
FOX 1989-present

One of those “unless you've been living under a rock” shows I need not describe further. I've even used clips from it here as examples of parodies. It's a shadow of its former self but remains an anchor show for Fox, not only the longest-running prime time show but the only show that's been there since the beginning of the network if you include the interstitials from The Tracey Ullman Show. The first few years it was everywhere with Bart hyped as star of the show.

MAD never did a proper parody of it, but they did a special Simpsons issue.

The audience member in the Andrew “Dice” Clay panel is Saturday Night Live cast member Nora Dunn, who refused to be on the show the week he hosted.

Maggie eventually talked on one episode, voiced by Liz Taylor. The spread contains caricatures of both MAD staff and Simpsons crew members.

People with Facebook still “Simpsonize” themselves in their profile pictures twenty years after such a thing started as a fad.

Who these people are is pretty self-explanatory.

I'm always pointing out “things you couldn't do today”, and even The Simpsons has some of that and makes reference to it.

Some of the MAD staffers have pointed out that Al Jaffee was the only one who could do the Fold-In. They tried to have other artists do it and it never worked. In this issue his genius went further by setting you up to think the fold-in would be one thing...

...but turn out to be something else.

For a long time The Simpsons aired opposite The Cosby Show occasionally taking digs at it, and even basing a character on him.

CRACKED INTERVIEWS THE SIMPERSONS
Cracked #258, November 1990
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Gary Fields

The bylines are a play on Matt Groening's name.

THE SIMPLESONS
Cracked #257, October 1990
w: Rich Kriegel (Lou Silverstone)
a: Gary Fields

WHEN ALL TV REFLECTS THE SIMPSONS INFLUENCE
Cracked #260, January 1991
w: George Gladir
a: John Severin<

Letterman's NBC show had a segment called “Stupid Pet Tricks” where people would bring on their pets as problem solvers.

As everyone knows, the O.J. Simpson trial was also going on in the 90s, so it was inevitable that everyone and their mom would make this analogy.

THE SIMPSON
Cracked #295, December 1994
w: Greg Grabianski
a: Don Orehek

MORE BATTYMAN

BATMAN
ABC 1966-1968
BATMAN (1989)
dir: Tim Burton

Every generation has their own version of Batman, there were the movie serials in the 40s up to the dark remakes now. These are more pages from 1989 that both parody and cash in on the then-upcoming 1989 Batman movie based on what they knew from the 1966 TV show. You can find the other versions MAD and Cracked had of that movie and the earlier TV show here.

Cover of Taiwan edition of MAD.

Swedish edition

Norwegian edition

In the eighties and nineties Cracked often dedicated an issue to articles about a movie before devoting the next issue to the actual parody. In 1989, most of an issue was devoted to the upcoming movie they hadn't yet seen and knowledge of the comics character made a part of the national vocabulary from the 60s TV program.

BATTY-WEAPONS THAT DIDN'T QUITE MAKE IT TO THE UTILITY BELT
Cracked #248, October 1989
w: George Gladir
a: John Severin

WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT
a: Gary Fields

BADTMAN a: Pat Boyette

Bob Kane was the person who created, or rather, took credit for and signed the strip.

THE SOUNDS OF BATTYMAN
a: Don Martin

A CRACKED LOOK AT BATMAN
w: Roger Brown
a: Mike Ricigliano

WHAT IF BRUISE PAYNE DIDN'T BECOME BATMAN?
w: George Gladir
a: Ron Wagner

THEM BATTYMAN SEQUELS WE'RE SURE TO SEE
w: George Gladir
a: John Severin

puns on Rutger Hauer, Bette Midler, Farrah Fawcett, Burt Reynolds, and Claude Raines

Debbie Reynolds, Dustin Hoffman, Dirk Bogarde, McClean Stevenson
Warren Beatty, Omar Sharif, Christpher Walken, Sigourney Weavver

George Burns, Treat Williams, Rhonda Fleming, George C. Scott
Telly Savalas, Carol Channing, Tab Hunter, Rob Reiner
Terence Stamp, Nick Nolte, Frank Converse, Judd Nelson, Benny Hill

CRACKED INTERVIEW WITH RABID THE WONDER BOY
w: Rich Kriegel (Lou Silverstone)
a: John Severin

In Batman Forever, it was acknowledged that Robin was part of a family circus troop called the Flying Graysons.

FORM & FUNCTION LOOKS AT THE NEW GEAR
a: Rurik Tyler

SHUT-UPS
a: Don Orehek

Inside back cover

Back cover (artist unknown, border by Bill Wray)

Back to MAD

VILLAINS AWAITING BATMAN'S RETURN TO TV
MAD #298, October 1990
w: Charlie Kadau & Joe Raiola
a: Rick Tulka

Jackie Mason had a sitcom co-starring Lynn Redgrave called Chicken Soup.

Bob Guccione used more than one Miss America winner for his Penthouse magazine. Joe Piscopo had left the cast of Saturday Night Live by then but was doing his characters and impressions for Lite Beer commercials.

CRACKED INTERVIEWS THE JERKER
Cracked #250, December 1989
w: Rich Kriegel (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan

“Heeeere's Johnny”, while initially Johnny Carson's tagline, may be better known as a line by Jack Nicholson from The Shining.

Eddie Murphy hadn't been a cast member of Saturday Night Live for years at that point. Robin Willians, Steve Martin, and Jay Leno never were.