Tom's Mad Blog
March 6th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Click here if you are interested in this original sketch DYN-O-MITE! It’s yet another 70’s sitcom sketch with the cast of “Good Times”: Jimmie Walker, Ja’Net Du Bois, Bern Nadette Stanis, John Amos, Esther Rolle and Ralph Carter! “Good Times” is another Norman Lear show, spun off from “Maude” with was spun off from “All in the Family”… that’s a lot of spinning. Esther Rolle’s character Florida Evans was a housekeeper for Maude and was married to a NYC firefighter named Henry, but the characters and their family dynamic was changed considerably for the new show. They became poor and lived in a Chicago housing… READ MORE
March 4th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Welcome to another edition of Monday MADness, where we continue on our seemingly endless trek through my work at MAD Magazine. This week it’s yet another spoof of a show targeted at that huge MAD-loving demographic, HGTV viewers! Yes, I am still scratching my head over why we did a parody of a show like “Fixer Uppers” in 2016 when we ignored huge hits like “NCIS”, “Blue Bloods”, “Criminal Minds”, “Empire” and “The Blacklist”. However we can’t complain about MAD‘s MADdset writer Dick DeBartolo‘s damn funny script for this one… and frankly I didn’t mind ridiculing Chip and Joanna Gaines‘s show. We did it all… READ MORE
March 1st, 2024 | Posted in News
Geek Radio Daily is a long running Twitch/YouTube/Podcast show that is, oddly, not daily but nonetheless very entertaining. Hosts “The Wonderful Billy Flynn”, “Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit” and “Flynnstress” (missing was “Cinemistress aka Carol the Cat” had their 308th episode last night and appearing as guests were “Devilish Desmond Devlin” and “Contagious Tom Richmond” (I have a really bad cold) discussing CLAPTRAP and other things from the Geekosphere. You can listen to the audio version here (or wherever you get our podcasts from), or the Youtube version here or catch it on something called Twitch until that video self destructs after a certain amount of… READ MORE
February 29th, 2024 | Posted in News
I just added another workshop to the 2024 schedule, Atlanta GA, June 1-2! Grab a spot while they are still available! READ MORE
February 28th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We are taking a quick break from our 70’s sitcom series with this sketch of rock keyboard virtuosos Elton John and Billy Joel. We take a quick breather from our 70’s sitcom sketches to bring you caricatures of two of the greatest rock and roll keyboard virtuosos ever! The guitar is arguably the most prevalent instrument in rock music, but a handful of great rock/pop musicians built their careers around the piano. Elton John and Billy Joel are among the best of them. I did this sketch as a commission, but I thought I’d share it here. The Lovely Anna and I saw these two… READ MORE
February 23rd, 2024 | Posted in General
Desmond and my book CLAPTRAP contains not only twelve full movie parodies of hugely popular films MAD never spoofed, but over 20 pages of extra material (including the funniest index in the history of modren publishing). One of the most popular extras is this “Avengers” movie poster spoof featuring the characters from “Adventure Time”. In fact, people love it so much we decided to make a standalone print of it! Get one here! READ MORE
February 22nd, 2024 | Posted in News
I’m FINALLY getting back to doing my traveling weekend workshops, after only doing a hand full since the pandemic started. I just added dates in Austin Tx, Chicago IL and Phoenix AZ, and have possible ones pending in Atlanta, Portland and Boston! If you’ve never attended one of my workshops here’s what they are all about. Reserve a spot soon, these usually sell out! READ MORE
February 21st, 2024 | Posted in General
Right on! It’s another sketch for our classic sitcom series, this time featuring Bea Arthur and Bill Macy from yet another “All in the Family” spinoff series, “Maude”. Unlike a lot of American sitcoms of the time which features large ensemble casts and the interaction between many characters, a number of “Maude” episodes would only feature Arthur and Macy, like a small set stage play. There were plenty of other people in the cast, but creator Norman Learseemed to recognize that Maude herself was so strong a central, driving character and Arthur so perfect in the role, that the focus on her character needed little… READ MORE
