Makeover Will Bring Mad Back On The Cutting Edge

Mad magazine, in its 45th year as a bastion of bright writing and bad taste, is getting its first makeover. But don’t expect braces across Alfred E. Neuman’s gap-toothed grin, or detente in the world of Spy vs. Spy.

What “the usual gang of idiots” has planned is, for the first time, something more subtle: bringing aboard new writers, artists and features aimed at giving its satire more bite in a world where Howard Stern rules as king of all media.

“We had the feeling for a while that people were saying, ‘Oh, Mad - they’re still in print?”’ explains co-editor Nick Meglin. “It’s time to let them know that yes, we are still in business. And yes, we’re edgier and riskier than ever.”

This is not your father’s Mad magazine, the one headed so ably by the late William M. Gaines. That magazine, despised by parents but worshiped by their kids, had a circulation of 2.4 million during its golden age of 1966-75.

Kids such as Stern and David Letterman chief writer Steve O’Donnell were among those influenced by the magazine’s marriage of absolute brilliance and sheer stupidity. Reading Mad beneath your covers with a flashlight became a rite of passage for an entire generation.

Those days are over. Circulation is now at about 500,000, trimmed by television, technology and apathy toward reading. Co-editor John Ficarra, flicking a pair of drumsticks through his salt-and-pepper beard, offers another explanation.

“People grew up and had kids, and they remembered Mad fondly, and they allowed their kids to read it,” Ficarra says. “And one of the kisses of death is parental approval.”

There was professional approval, too. A 1992 auction of vintage Mad artwork attracted more than $600,000 in bids. And even the editors’ pals felt the magazine was a bit too tame.

Mad, it seemed, was too mainstream. So how to get back that cutting-edge feel?

Some of the material will be a little coarser, a bit more raw. There’s a new cover design, with a new border chock-full of cartoons reflecting current events. Two new features - “Marvin,” an angst-ridden teen, and “Melvin & Jenkins,” a ‘90s behavioral guide - are aboard. Spy vs. Spy will be spiffed up by award-winning cartoonist Peter Kuper.

The changes were a year in the making. Issue No. 1 of the new version, in stores this month, is indicative of the new mentality.

A collection of classic kids’ stories told by President Clinton, Louis Farrakhan and Stern are hilarious and a bit raunchy. Joey Buttafuoco offers some frank dating do’s and don’ts.

There’s one especially perfect sacred cow: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Mad exposes the mistreatment of the star of “Free Willy”:

“Had no trailer.”

“Never received script approval.”

“Was not invited to view the rushes.”

Bathroom humor? The front cover features Alfred E. Neuman photocopying his butt. The back cover features a yellow snow gag.

The editors agree the magazine’s new tone was done with Gaines in mind: They figured it should be something their old boss wouldn’t necessarily enjoy.

“I think it succeeds because he wouldn’t have liked some of the stuff we’re doing now,” Ficarra says. “He was a 70-year-old man.”

Such irreverence is a staple at the magazine, where a simple interview can spin off into riffs on folk singers, folks with ties, family trees and movie flops (“‘Barry Lyndon,”’ says Meglin, smiling through his well-trimmed gray beard. “Sensational.”)

The magazine’s basics endure. Mad still does not accept advertising. Mad still savages advertisers - including a particularly pointed parody of the Absolut vodka ads. Mad is still done in black and white, although that’s a nod to finance as well as style.

“There’s no money for it, because we refuse to take advertising,” says Meglin. The current cover price of “$2.50 Cheap!” would have skyrocketed to $6 if Mad went glossy.

There was also talk of jettisoning its “What Me Worry?” mascot. “We talked about it for about two seconds,” Ficarra acknowledges. Mr. Neuman survived the cut.

The magazine is using several methods of spreading the word on Mad’s new look and attitude. Alfred E. Neuman is in cyberspace; Mad has opened a Web site. A promotion with a breakfast drink is under way. Collections of past Mad efforts were recently released.

“And,” Ficarra offers, “I have my mother telling all the people on her block.”

While the new Mad will seek to push the envelope, associate editor Charlie Kadau promised it will not pander to readers seeking cheap thrills.

“The people who want that sort of cheap sexual innuendo,” he warned, “will have to keep reading ‘Martha Stewart’s Living.”’