The Mad Magazine FBI files

September 9, 2002 9:05 AM

The Mad Magazine FBI files obtained through FOIPA, contains mostly humourous letters to the FBI regarding whether or not Mad magazine is a communist publication. In other news, you too can become a next Mad magazine artist. A prerequisite? "No intelligence required."
posted by jasonspaceman (10 comments total)

You know those threads where someone makes a joke and someone else fails to get it, gets indignant about it, and things just keep going downhill from there?

These files are like 30 years of that, except that the people who don't get the joke are carrying guns. Wow, what a great read, thanks jasonspaceman.
posted by hob at 9:29 AM on September 9, 2002

I really enjoyed reading this magazine when I was younger. I loved how there were just so much information in the cartoons. Most of it was funny too.
posted by azileretsis at 9:52 AM on September 9, 2002

Ack. It was probably possible to reproduce these at a readable size that is also downloadable.
posted by dhartung at 10:02 AM on September 9, 2002

I hear that, dhartung. Very annoying formats.

I'd be willing to bet that many of the satirical publications and shows from past to present have got quite a sizable FBI file. SNL, Rolling Stone (back when it meant something), The Simpsons, etc. come to mind. Does laughter breed paranoia? Just when you don't get the joke, I suppose.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:08 AM on September 9, 2002

"The Smoking Gun" did a thing on MAD and the FBI a while ago. Here's the link. It doesn't have the exact same material as the above, but it's a lot more readable.

Hoover's FBI was in some ways even scarier than the current incarnation; it was well-run idiocy.
posted by adameft at 12:20 PM on September 9, 2002

Note: jasonspaceman knows too much.

**turns into bat and disappears into night**
posted by jonmc at 2:30 PM on September 9, 2002

william gaines was quality control... now with him gone we get crappy tv shows like mad tv, and this contest if it is true.
posted by the aloha at 2:32 PM on September 9, 2002

As the late Don Martin would probably say: "Splop!" "Poit!"
posted by carter at 3:49 PM on September 9, 2002

thats great. i read the smoking gun links which are better. i cant beleive that 3 people actaully wrote to Hoover requesting draft doger cards :) or that people actually spent their days investigating mad and writing all these letters. how sad.
posted by zoid at 1:37 AM on September 10, 2002

**grabs some garlic and a wooden stake**
posted by JakeEXTREME at 8:30 AM on September 10, 2002