The Lighter Side of...
October 28, 2013 6:43 AM Subscribe
My Friend Dave, twentysix mini essays on Dave Berg, longtime Mad Magazine cartoonist, by Craig Fischer.
Y'know, I didn't know anything at all about Berg back when I read Mad as a kid, but I always suspected Kaputnik was some kind of alter ego. I hope Fischer really does write that graphic novel!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:04 AM on October 28, 2013
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:04 AM on October 28, 2013
Here's yer pull-quote:
Nobody did polyester and rage better than Berg!posted by Herodios at 8:18 AM on October 28, 2013 [4 favorites]
Hah! I love this!
Berg was a strange mix with the other MAD personnel. According to Wikipedia, “Berg held an honorary doctorate in theology. He produced regular religious-themed work for Moshiach Times and the B’nai Brith newsletter. His interaction with MAD’s atheist publisher Bill Gaines was suitably irreverent: Berg would tell Gaines, ‘God bless you,’ and Gaines would reply, ‘Go to Hell.’”
posted by KokuRyu at 8:36 AM on October 28, 2013 [4 favorites]
Berg was a strange mix with the other MAD personnel. According to Wikipedia, “Berg held an honorary doctorate in theology. He produced regular religious-themed work for Moshiach Times and the B’nai Brith newsletter. His interaction with MAD’s atheist publisher Bill Gaines was suitably irreverent: Berg would tell Gaines, ‘God bless you,’ and Gaines would reply, ‘Go to Hell.’”
posted by KokuRyu at 8:36 AM on October 28, 2013 [4 favorites]
Oh man I always hated the Lighter Side. Everyone was always dressed so insanely and complaining about gas shortages and being too skinny from eating junk food and other Elseworld problems.
posted by SharkParty at 9:12 AM on October 28, 2013
posted by SharkParty at 9:12 AM on October 28, 2013
Dave Berg drew wild-eyed, smelly-looking, Manson-esque hippies better than anyone else, with the obvious exception of Jack Chick.
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:01 AM on October 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:01 AM on October 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
Dave Berg drew wild-eyed, smelly-looking, Manson-esque hippies better than anyone else, with the obvious exception of Jack Chick.
To me, MAD Magazine as a cultural phenomenon and hippies as a cultural phenomenon belong to the same historical epoch.
(Granted, MAD existed for longer, and made some references to the yuppies the surviving hippies had become (I recall their We Are The World parody on the topic) and the cultural panic around punk, but it tapered off soon after that. A MAD piece skewering, say, Brooklyn hipsters or Bay Area startup shruggalos would seem weirdly anachronistic.)
posted by acb at 10:23 AM on October 28, 2013
To me, MAD Magazine as a cultural phenomenon and hippies as a cultural phenomenon belong to the same historical epoch.
(Granted, MAD existed for longer, and made some references to the yuppies the surviving hippies had become (I recall their We Are The World parody on the topic) and the cultural panic around punk, but it tapered off soon after that. A MAD piece skewering, say, Brooklyn hipsters or Bay Area startup shruggalos would seem weirdly anachronistic.)
posted by acb at 10:23 AM on October 28, 2013
Thanks, I enjoyed this. I was pretty ambivalent about The Lighter Side growing up too; I tended to enjoy the more sharply satirical stuff, but I identify with the author's description of it as comfortable. Plus, Roger Kaputnik looked uncannily like my grandfather did in the 70's and 80's.
The thing in this article about teeth was really funny to me because that's exactly what I associate his drawing style with--these weird, huge, Butthead-without-gums type of teeth right here.
Just barely related, but since this article mentions Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders... We donated quite a bit to that Rifftrax kickstarter this year and got to invited to the meet-and-greet thing. I got to drink beer with Mike Nelson for half an hour (!), and when I asked him what his favorite joke of all time was from the two shows, he said it was the one from the end of that movie: "Remember to believe in magic...or I'll kill you!"
posted by heatvision at 11:08 AM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
The thing in this article about teeth was really funny to me because that's exactly what I associate his drawing style with--these weird, huge, Butthead-without-gums type of teeth right here.
Just barely related, but since this article mentions Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders... We donated quite a bit to that Rifftrax kickstarter this year and got to invited to the meet-and-greet thing. I got to drink beer with Mike Nelson for half an hour (!), and when I asked him what his favorite joke of all time was from the two shows, he said it was the one from the end of that movie: "Remember to believe in magic...or I'll kill you!"
posted by heatvision at 11:08 AM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Running Press' Berg book in their Mad's greatest artists series has just been published.
posted by brujita at 11:52 AM on October 28, 2013
posted by brujita at 11:52 AM on October 28, 2013
I don't have the Berg one yet, but I have the others -- the Sergio Aragones and Mort Drucker ones are fantastic, as is the Complete Don Martin. Definitely worth checking out!
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 12:14 PM on October 28, 2013
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 12:14 PM on October 28, 2013
There was a deli down the street from me that for years had a sign stenciled above the windows that read "Featuring David Berg Meats." I never once looked at without imagining Roger Kaputnik behind the counter, pipe clenched in his jaw, throwing cold cuts around and griping at the customers.
posted by lagomorphius at 1:16 PM on October 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 1:16 PM on October 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
I was pretty ambivalent about The Lighter Side growing up too; I tended to enjoy the more sharply satirical stuff
Berg's stuff could be sharply satirical, too, it just wasn't coming from the usual or expected angle.
Roger Kaputnk and Bob Dobbs -- separated at birth?
"Idjit! You canst inheritz a pipesk!"
posted by Herodios at 1:44 PM on October 28, 2013
Berg's stuff could be sharply satirical, too, it just wasn't coming from the usual or expected angle.
Roger Kaputnk and Bob Dobbs -- separated at birth?
"Idjit! You canst inheritz a pipesk!"
posted by Herodios at 1:44 PM on October 28, 2013
I always marveled that anyone could make a middle-class living by this sort of thing. Still do, really.
posted by IndigoJones at 2:02 PM on October 28, 2013
posted by IndigoJones at 2:02 PM on October 28, 2013
Roger Kaputnik! There's a name I hadn't thought of in years.
Even though other cartoonists, even in MAD itself, pointed out many years ago that Berg's characters hadn't changed their wardrobes since about 1969, I was oddly fond of his stuff. It was solid, dependable.
Very amused at the MST3K reference reference in the article. I don't know if Berg ever knew about it, and I doubt he cared if he did, but if those guys ever made a reference to anything I'd created, I could pretty much die in peace.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:50 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Even though other cartoonists, even in MAD itself, pointed out many years ago that Berg's characters hadn't changed their wardrobes since about 1969, I was oddly fond of his stuff. It was solid, dependable.
Very amused at the MST3K reference reference in the article. I don't know if Berg ever knew about it, and I doubt he cared if he did, but if those guys ever made a reference to anything I'd created, I could pretty much die in peace.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:50 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Years ago I did a blog post about Berg. I don't know what inspired me to write about Berg, rather than the other Mad artists... But I do like his work a lot. As I say in the post, it's a great time capsule of various eras.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:01 PM on October 28, 2013
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:01 PM on October 28, 2013
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