 He was hired as assistant editor of the American satire magazine "Mad" in 1980, shortly after his debut as a contributing writer.He became editor-in-chief (a position he shared with Nick Meglin until 2004) in 1985, when the incumbent (Al Feldstein) retired, to 2018.Dave Berg often drew Ficarra along with other "Mad" staff members in an office setting from the late 1980s until 2002; Ficarra was depicted as a bespectacled young man with curly dark hair and beard.