Many moons ago, I wrote a now-outta-print book called MAD Art, all about the artists who've drawn for MAD magazine. It was one of those dream projects because I got to interview just about everyone who was alive at the time and had drawn for MAD, a publication that has been an important part of my life since I purchased my first copy at the age of ten. I've also had the opportunity to know and talk with a lot of the MAD writers…but not enough. Like, I've known its most prolific writer, Dick DeBartolo, for many years but we never sat down and talked for any great length of time.
That changes tonight. I'm going to talk to Dick about MAD and you can listen in. We'll also talk about his career as a writer for game shows and as the "Giz Wiz" who appears on ABC News and elsewhere…but most of it's going to be about MAD. Dick had his first byline in MAD #69 — one issue before I began reading it — and continued writing for them for more than half a century! At one point, he went 459 consecutive issues without not having a new piece appear!
So we'll be talking, starting at 7 PM tonight Pacific Time…and I don't know how late we'll go but it oughta be fascinating. Like I said, you can listen in by joining us at www.newsfromme.tv then. The show will repeat for all eternity at that address but I promise you a better time if you watch it live…plus, you can send us comments and questions if you watch on the YouTube site as we're doing it. I will also try to stream it on this page but that doesn't work with all browsers and you can't post messages to us here. Don't you want to watch me ruthlessly interrogate MAD's Maddest Writer?