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"Since 1952, much of America's sense of humor has been created and inspired by a very different kind of Mad Men.\nJust ask John Ficarra, editor in chief of Mad magazine, who is celebrating his 30th year as the ringleader of the country's favorite \"usual gang of idiots,\" as the satirical publication has long dubbed itself. As Mad itself has struggled with newsstand sales, the comedians it inspired have gone on to far greater fame and fortune.\nSee also: Mark Zuckerberg Is Mad Magazine's Latest Coverboy [PIC]\n\"You can blame us for corrupting a lot of generations,\" Ficarra told Mashable at Comic-Con last weekend. \"There's such a swath of people who feel Mad influenced them \u2014 Stephen Colbert, Weird Al Yankovic, the writers of The Simpsons.\"\nFicarra, his face etched with laugh lines, gives a chuckle that sounds well-used. \"If they want to save the trouble of a lawsuit, they can mail us the checks now.\"\nWhen the company put out a general request for introductions to its book Inside Mad, it received hymns of praise from people ranging from Ken Burns to Roseanne Barr to Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. The era Weiner writes about was turned upside down, in large part, by Mad: the generation that protested Vietnam and helped bring down a president were raised on the magazine, which didn't accept advertisements and thus felt free to lampoon an entire consumer culture with caustic wit.\nFew members of that generation were shy about citing Mad as an influence. Even George Lucas has credited Mad for helping to birth the Star Wars saga.\n\"I have spent much of my career telling stories about characters who fight to change the dominant paradigm,\" Lucas wrote in 2007. \"For that, Alfred E. Neuman bears at least a little of the blame.\"\nThe trouble is that Mad is itself a baby boomer in a world of millennials. At the ripe old age of 62, it's not nearly as popular, shocking or overtly influential as it once was. The magazine peaked at 2 million newsstand sales in the 1970s, and now sells fewer than 100,000 issues at newsstands, the lowest it's ever seen. Its online competition, such as The Onion, is increasingly sophisticated. Neuman, the fictitious mascot and cover boy of Mad, is an icon, but his face actually hails from a 19th century portrait that is now 110 years old.\nIt can be hard to keep that gap-toothed grin, and the content that goes along with it, fresh for decade after decade. \nSee also: The Onion's 'ClickHole' Opens, Prepares to Swallow the Internet\nBut you can't fault Ficarra for not trying. Whenever the magazine emphasizes topical events and people on the cover \u2014 Neuman drowning in the waters of Hurricane Katrina, Miley Cyrus twerking, Mark Zuckerberg \u2014 sales shoot up. The last issue compared the leadership of Vladimir Putin to Sharknado 2, and portrayed Kim and Kanye as the stars of Bride of Frankenstein.\n\"Our humor has changed,\" Ficarra insisted. \"It's certainly more snarky, a little more adult. We always mirror society, and society has ramped it up.\"\nHas Mad correspondingly ramped up, though? Its upcoming October issue, which Mashable got an exclusive sneak peek at, touts parodies of Justin Bieber and Shark Tank in the strapline \u2014 but focuses on a portrait of Neuman that could have been printed at any point in the past 62 years.\n\nThe cover of Mad #529.Image:  Mad MagazineSo how long can Mad maintain its current state? Forever, Ficarra insists. He's quick to point out that although newsstand sales are down, the number of Mad subscribers \u2014 roughly 100,000 \u2014 has held steady for pretty much its entire life. For generations of kids, he's seen a pattern in the subscribers: They pick it up around the age of 12, drop it at age 16, then subscribe again out of nostalgia in their 20s. The average age of a Mad reader is 24.\n\"I think it can continue indefinitely,\" Ficarra said. \"There\u2019s always another idiot in the White House. There\u2019s always corrupt politicians, always another bad movie, another lousy TV show, all this stupid stuff happening that needs to be mocked mercilessly, and that\u2019s where we come in.\"\nBut as much as the humor changes, and kids grow more sophisticated, the editor has a line he won't cross.\n\"We still won\u2019t use four-letter words and we'll parse words. We\u2019ll say that guy really has balls to say that; we won\u2019t say kick you in the balls,'\" he said. \"We\u2019ll say that guy\u2019s a real prick; we won\u2019t say he has a small prick.\"\n\"Although in your case, we might make an exception,\" he quips. \"Boom boom!\"\nIt was such a quintessential Mad moment: simultaneously adolescent, authority-tweaking and gutsy. That guy, and that magazine, still has balls.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/08/05/mad-magazine-keeping-up/>