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Tom's Mad Blog

Sketch o’the Week- Jerry Lewis!

September 4th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

HEY LAAAAAADY! Another in the classic comedians series… Jerry Lewis! READ MORE

MADness #151.5: O’ Batman, My Batman!

September 1st, 2025 | Posted in MAD Magazine

It’s time for another entry in the long and dusty tome that is the history of my work for MAD Magazine. Holy New Content, Batman! This would be the first new piece inside the magazine I had done in eight months. MAD Empress Suzy Hutchinson convinced DC to open the checkbook so SOMETHING inside the magazine related to the current subject matter on the cover, and this issue was all about “The Batman” film that had just come out. So, Desmond Devlin and I teamed up on this two pager that appeared in MAD #23, February 2022. Above are the pencils I turned in. I… READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week: Andy Kaufman!

August 27th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

Back in the 1970-80s a lot of TV sitcoms revolved around a single set with a cast of quirky, interesting characters referred to as an “ensemble” cast. An ensemble cast meant there was no single main character the show concentrated on, but rather all the cast members had roughly equal importance and screen time. The sitcom “Taxi” was one of my favorites of those types of shows. It was full of talented actors that would go on to become big name entertainers like Danny DeVito, Judd Hirsch, Christopher Lloyd, Marilu Henner, Jeff Conaway, Tony Danza, etc. Among the characters was a quiet, wide-eyed immigrant mechanic… READ MORE

MADness #151- Batman Cover!

August 25th, 2025 | Posted in MAD Magazine

Time again for another entry into the seemingly never ending trek through my work at MAD Magazine. In this episode we look at what was my fifth cover for MAD… one featuring Batman no less! The gag for this one was written by Desmond Devlin. The gag for this one is a little hard to “get”, especially if you don’t know what gargoyles on gothic buildings are actually for. The term “Gargoyle” comes from the French term gargouille, composed of the root garg (a form of gurg)– a word meant to imitate the sound of water (i.e. gurgling) and the Old French word goule meaning… READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week- Carol Burnett!

August 20th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

Here’s another in our series of classic comedians, the incomparable Carol Burnett! READ MORE

MADness #150- Kaiju Cover!

August 18th, 2025 | Posted in General

Don’t look now, but it’s another step on the road that was my work with MAD Magazine. This week we take a peek at the cover of MAD #20, the origins of which are a good lesson in professionalism as an illustrator. This was also the 150th issue featuring some of my work in it. As I’ve discussed in the last couple of “Tom’s MADness” episodes, MAD had essentially become a publication of reprinted material at this time. Issues featured only a new cover, a new Johnny Sampson “Fold In” and the very occasional new piece inside that was for some special reason or event.… READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week- Richard Pryor!

August 13th, 2025 | Posted in General

When it comes to my “Sketch o’the Week” I try not to do the same person more than once. There have been a few exceptions to this, mostly doing actors in different movie roles where they have a very different “presence” and therefore it’s a challenge to capture and exaggerate the differences. That said sometimes I just have to draw someone again, and as I am just starting my “Classic Comedians” series I cannot resist drawing the late, vey great Richard Pryor again. Here’s one I did a few years ago: READ MORE

MADness #149- The All Seeing Al Jaffee!

August 11th, 2025 | Posted in General

Here we go with another of the stumbling steps along the path that is the look back at my work for MAD Magazine! This week we have a look at a kinda-sorta two pager for MAD #19, June 2021, written by Benjamin LeClear. Benjamin was (and still is) the senior manager and archivist of the DC Comics Library. After MAD #15 came out (see last episode), it really did look like it was over for me and the magazine. For the first time in 12 years, I had no assignment for the next issue. Or the next. Or the next. In fact is was nearly… READ MORE