Lampoon’s art director Michael Gross certainly wasn’t under the impression that it was “needling with love” or “the ultimate compliment.” Of course, Mike Gross is not exactly the humblest, nor the happiest guy in publishing history.

Gross: “I didn’t like anybody who did work for [MAD] Magazine, ever. Probably the only exception is Sergio Aragones… We so f–king nailed it… We said, ‘We’ve grown up, but MAD hasn’t.’ They take themselves so f–king seriously. It’s humorous. So we were on a mission to put the record straight with that parody. We were arrogant, of course… If you notice, there’s a great homage in there to the talent. Those people we respected, and we bowed our heads and said, ‘MAD’s not the magazine it was anymore, but they also don’t have these guys anymore.’”

Here’s an unedited segment of Bill Gaines, speaking at a Q-and-A session at the 1972 EC Fan Convention:
QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE MEMBER #1: What do you think of the National Lampoon?
BILL GAINES: What’s that? [crowd laughs] It’s a good effort.
AUDIENCE MEMBER #1 (cont.): What did you think of their MAD parody?
GAINES: Pretty funny. In parts, it was very funny.
QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE MEMBER #2: The National Lampoon brought out a piece on MAD. What did you think of it? [audience snickers]
GAINES: I didn’t like that article at all. [big laugh from audience, applause]