This is a 1970 episode of the game show To Tell the Truth that featured William M. Gaines, the publisher of MAD. I posted a link a long time ago to a video of this but it was taken down so I thought it was worth posting this new link to a different (but glitchy) video of the same episode.
Our pal Dick DeBartolo wrote for MAD for a length of time roughly equivalent to the lifespan of a Galapagos Tortoise. He sent me this e-mail a long time ago telling how it happened that Gaines appeared on this program…
I wrote The Match Game, but also worked on To Tell The Truth. One week, I got Gaines on as a central subject. (Gaines as in William M. Gaines, for those who might not know.) I'll never forget Bill's joy when it was Kitty Carlisle's turn to pick who she thought was the real publisher of MAD Magazine. She said it obviously wasn't #3 (Gaines.) When the host (can't remember if it was Garry or Joe G.) said "why not?" Kitty said: "Well, the publisher of MAD, a very successful magazine, must be an executive and…and…well, just look at #3. It can't be him!"
Gaines was thrilled not to look like an executive. God bless him. And Kitty, too. I hope they meet up there.
As you'll see, Dick's memory of what transpired and which chair Bill was in were a little off but Dick would not have worked for MAD for so long if he wasn't a little off.
Bill Gaines was an unusual man…a publisher who was very close to most (though not all) of his staff and freelancers. Wally Wood, who drew for MAD for a long time, had some beefs with Gaines but he said (approximately), "I worked for lots of publishers I never met. At DC or Marvel or almost any company, there was no way you could go in and talk to the head guy. It was forbidden at most houses. But when you worked for Gaines, you could walk right into his office, talk to him or pick up a check, which he'd make out to you on the spot for the job you'd just handed in. If you timed your visit right, he'd even take you out to lunch."
Gaines also had a lot of odd quirks which were reflected in the magazine. For instance, one of the reasons so many folks who worked for MAD were there for so long was that Bill didn't like strangers in his life. He liked having the same people around him. He also liked keeping the company small (and MAD at eight issues a year as opposed to monthly) because he didn't want to hire a larger staff.
An episode of To Tell the Truth featured two games and on this episode, Bill was in the second one. I have configured the embed below so it should start playing with Game Two. Notice the use of the word "should"…