WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.960 Oh he is Bolt, it's showtime. 2 00:00:08.679 --> 00:00:10.560 People say, good money to see this movie. 3 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.560 When they go out to a theater, they want cold sodas, 4 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:17.199 hot popcorn, and no monsters in the protection booth. 5 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:19.199 Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring. 6 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:20.879 Ut it off. 7 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:57.719 I've never seen that kind of humor before, that kind 8 00:00:57.719 --> 00:00:59.960 of irreverent comedy. I immediately became. 9 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.280 People have never seen anything like it. 10 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:06.840 Institutions, our culture was being satirized. 11 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.200 The people who have said they've read Mad shot us 12 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:11.959 and we expected more from that trankment. 13 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:18.519 Mad started during a time of repression in the United States. 14 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:21.959 The Red Thread, the Hollywood Blacklist, and the copy. 15 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.079 Is and then people were afraid of anything in print. 16 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.480 Kids were being told to get under their seats when 17 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:30.120 the tire went off and that they would be okay, 18 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.439 and the kids were saying, I'm going to get turned 19 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:36.400 at the dust. So they were starting to question the 20 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:41.480 adult world. Man was a product of the times or 21 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:45.480 anti product of the times, if you will, Jared, who 22 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:50.280 Addison list has sabotaged you American ideals. 23 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:54.560 You'd come across some article where you go, oh, am 24 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:56.280 I reading something bad here. 25 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.879 A lot of anti comic book stuff was going on. 26 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.879 People who were going after comics as creating delinquency and 27 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:04.840 destroying the youth of America. 28 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.400 Because med came out of a comic book and it 29 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:09.840 was a magazine, and they couldn't touch it, couldn't censor it. 30 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:14.520 They were so concerned about stamping out everything that was dangerous, 31 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:18.319 and they let the most subversive thing continue. 32 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:22.599 They call all the contributors the usual gang of idiots. 33 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:24.319 Teachers would say, Drew, what do you want to be 34 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:25.840 when you grow up? And I said, I want to 35 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:26.479 be an idiot. 36 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:30.719 No one would think of making fun of what the 37 00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:33.800 government was doing. No one think of making fun of 38 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:38.240 giant corporations. And Bill was up for all of that. 39 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.960 Bill Gaines, he was absolutely out of his mind. 40 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:45.039 We have no philosophy, we have no politics, We don't 41 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:45.840 take sides. 42 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.360 We got letters from Bill saying that if any of 43 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.439 you are sued for anything you write that I publish, 44 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:57.800 don't worry. You will be defended by all lawyers. 45 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:03.240 We said things that other magazines I mean, he did not. 46 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.560 They sued for twenty five or thirty million dollars. 47 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:11.080 It could have killed the magazine. 48 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:17.120 From the magazine's standpoint, it made mad magazine something that 49 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.240 was forbidden. It just started selling and selling and we 50 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:22.520 did two million copies. 51 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:28.800 We're in a corporate age, of a corporate image. I said, 52 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:33.199 we need logo. 53 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:40.599 Alfredyman represents the kind of blithe stupidity. 54 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:46.000 Personalized and embodied the whole spirit of the magazine that 55 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:51.039 I wanted to do, which was kids were smart and 56 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:54.639 they had a certain outlook, like Jesus, you know, I'm 57 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:57.879 facing this terrible world and the hell, what were you worried? 58 00:03:58.759 --> 00:04:00.439 I don't know if it's the uh, you know, the 59 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:03.520 way that it deals with the forty figures, or trying 60 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.080 to figure out your place in the world, or dealing 61 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.439 with the fact that everybody's lying to you when you're 62 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:11.680 that age, it really speaks to you. 63 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:16.560 Rolling Stone called Mith the best political satire magazine in 64 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:17.079 the country. 65 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:27.319 Now, oh, Mad the number one magazine of good taste. 66 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:31.879 Hey, folks, want to do a special episode of the 67 00:04:31.879 --> 00:04:35.439 Projection Booth. On this episode, I'm talking with Alan Bernstein. 68 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.839 He is the writer and director of When We Went Mad. 69 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:44.319 It is a documentary all about Mad. Magazine been following 70 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:48.560 the project since twenty thirteen. I think when the kickstarter 71 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:52.399 is out, I've been bugging Alan ever since to have 72 00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:55.279 an interview with him, as you'll hear in this interview, 73 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:58.120 so we finally made it happen. Twenty twenty four. The 74 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:02.560 movie is out well, it's touring around. It will be 75 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:05.920 playing in Detroit on November fourteenth at the Redford Theater. 76 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.720 I highly recommend this film. Thank you so much for listening, 77 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:12.360 and I hope you enjoyed the interview. When was the 78 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:15.079 first time you remember reading a Mad magazine? 79 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:19.279 The first moment I remember it was nineteen seventy six. 80 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:23.240 We were vacationing in California and I was a little 81 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:26.480 bit bored during some downtime, so we stopped in a 82 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.319 drug store going through the magazine sections. I picked up 83 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:35.279 a Star Trek coloring book, and while I was making 84 00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:39.079 my way back to meet at my parents, I saw 85 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:40.839 a Mad on the shelf, first time I had ever 86 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:41.240 seen it. 87 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:42.399 Didn't know what it was. 88 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:45.360 It said Mad and seemed interesting, and you flipped through 89 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:49.519 it and it was cartoons, but it wasn't cartoons, and 90 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:53.839 it had words, and I just found it interesting and thought, oh, 91 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:57.199 can we get this too? And my parents didn't blink 92 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:01.720 an eye. They made no indie cation whatsoever. That they 93 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:05.040 knew what I had in my hand. They weren't opposed 94 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:09.519 to it, nor were they ahh here, okay, this is 95 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:12.720 a big step for him, none of that. So I went, 96 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:16.000 I bought it, and I went in completely blind. When 97 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:19.360 I found out later on that it wasn't a one 98 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:22.879 off like a coloring book would be. There was another 99 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:28.120 issue on the shelf months later, Oh, another one, okay, 100 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:32.240 And from there it just it. That's how it started. 101 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.519 That must have been around the time where Cracked and 102 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.040 Crazy and were there other kind of pretenders to the 103 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:40.879 throne that were going out right around there? 104 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:45.040 Yeah, Cracked Crazy, I think a few years later there 105 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:46.120 was one called Wacko. 106 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:48.560 Right, it was Sick, I don't remember. 107 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:51.040 I don't know if Sick was still in publication at 108 00:06:51.079 --> 00:06:55.120 that time, around seventy six, but it was. It was 109 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:02.959 the heyday of periodicals. Magazine shelf, even in a drug 110 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:08.399 store was just stacked with monthly issues of everything. I 111 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:12.319 don't have any recollection whatsoever of seeing a crazy or 112 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:15.160 a sick or any of those other than it was 113 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:17.120 just it was the mad. It had that kind of 114 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:21.439 in a moment that I didn't know what I was 115 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:22.160 in store. 116 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:25.319 For especially since you've just spent the last how many 117 00:07:25.399 --> 00:07:26.959 years working on this documentary. 118 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:31.959 This is twenty twenty four and my first interview was 119 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:34.120 in January of two thousand and eight. 120 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:37.480 What was your inspiration? How did you come to say 121 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:39.959 I'm going to make the ultimate documentary about Mad? 122 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:44.600 It was really quite simple, So I went into film production. 123 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:47.680 That's what I chose to do, That's what I wanted 124 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:51.079 to do for your career. And as the years would 125 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:56.040 go by, I kept, frankly waiting for someone better than 126 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:59.720 me to make a Mad documentary, and I never understood 127 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:05.600 why Mad seemed to be left off the interest level 128 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:11.480 of telling their story documentary style, And quite frankly, I 129 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:16.920 was starting to read newspaper headlines of Mad artists and 130 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:21.399 writers who were passing away Dave Berg and I think 131 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:25.439 it was either Don Martin or Antonio Proheas who did 132 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:28.639 Spy verse a spy. Reading that, I was like, obviously 133 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:31.600 this is not happening fast enough. 134 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:32.480 I'm going to do it. 135 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:35.200 So what was your approach? How did you even decide 136 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:38.039 how to get your arms around a project of this size? 137 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:42.519 You don't look at how big it really is. You 138 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:47.399 just go in head first and Al Feldstein, who was 139 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:53.360 the longtime editor of Mad, who oversaw Mad's rise to 140 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:57.159 its iconic status that it became. He was in town 141 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:03.080 in the Detroit area for actually a exhibit at Eastern 142 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:06.480 Michigan University on the history of the Alfred y Newman character. 143 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:09.919 A good friend of mine, John, who is also a 144 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:12.919 fellow MAD collector but also lives in the area, I 145 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:17.399 arranged this exhibit and brought al Feldstein in, and while 146 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:21.240 Al was in town for that weekend, I just approached him, Hey, 147 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:23.600 do you mind if I sit down and interview you. 148 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:27.360 I'm thinking of doing a documentary. You're my first interview. 149 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:31.360 I have nothing other than what I'm hoping to do, 150 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:33.000 and let's see what happens. 151 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:34.120 And he was fine with it. 152 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:37.159 He sat down, and I actually ended up interviewing him 153 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:39.279 a second time a couple of years later when he 154 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:42.559 was in town for a comic book convention, just to 155 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.639 fill in the blanks. So he was the first interview. 156 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:50.320 And like you asked, how do you take on something 157 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.000 so daunting you don't know it's daunting. You go one 158 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:55.879 interview at a time and you just chip away at it. 159 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:58.440 I was going to say from two thousand and eight 160 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:01.720 to twenty twenty four. That's a lot of time and 161 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:03.960 a lot of interviews that you must have been doing 162 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.240 over the years. Obviously there's so many in the movie, 163 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:11.039 it just becomes us who's who of Mad writers as 164 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:11.879 well as fans. 165 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:17.480 Without even thinking about how this would cut in a documentary, 166 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:22.000 I just felt, more than anything, I wanted to get. 167 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:23.000 Their stories down. 168 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:29.000 Over the years, there had been Mad interviews. Sixty Minutes 169 00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:32.639 did a segment on Mad magazine around nineteen eighty seven, 170 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.440 and there had been others throughout the years, but they 171 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:39.360 were all three to four minute, maybe seven minute segments 172 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:44.120 where they interview the key players, the editors and the publishers, 173 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:48.840 and maybe an artist or two. And because of my fandom, 174 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:54.120 my fanboy attachment to Mad, those were just some of 175 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:56.279 the names that I knew. So many of the other 176 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:59.519 artists and writers who I quite frankly wasn't even sure 177 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.919 what they looked like, because no one had ever done 178 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.559 an interview with them, or at least I had never 179 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:08.240 seen one, And so the goal was to get all 180 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:11.080 of their stories while I could, because every one of 181 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:16.279 them has their own individual stories, and Mad was the 182 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:20.399 connecting fiber that brought them all together, and that was 183 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:24.879 the goal, really was to get everyone on camera before 184 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:27.559 they passed away, and then figure out what to do 185 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:28.279 with it after that. 186 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:32.879 Usually when you're doing a documentary, it's on a person 187 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:36.200 or there's the people that you have to convince, take 188 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:39.799 me seriously, please give me this interview. Sounds like you 189 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:42.639 were being taken seriously pretty much right off the bat. 190 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:47.720 Yes, And I don't know what I did to convince 191 00:11:47.799 --> 00:11:51.480 them other than be sincere, and in some regards it 192 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:55.120 became a domino effect. Once I think I earned the 193 00:11:55.159 --> 00:12:00.639 trust of the people, the staff at MAD, the editors 194 00:12:00.679 --> 00:12:07.759 and our department art directors, I would approach other outside freelancers, 195 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:11.159 and I think on occasion they would call the guys 196 00:12:11.159 --> 00:12:13.120 at Matt and say, what's the story with this guy? 197 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:16.480 And they would say, no, he's okay, we think he's okay, we. 198 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:17.600 Think he's okay. Yea. 199 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:19.679 I think that was part of it, and the other 200 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:22.279 thing I'd like to think that part of it was 201 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:27.080 they were just genuinely touched to have someone want to 202 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:31.360 sit down and record their story. Other than some people 203 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.360 who might have called Matt and did the background check 204 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.879 on me, most of them were just yeah, when do 205 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:37.240 you want. 206 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:38.159 To do this? Come on over. 207 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.240 So some of them I actually interviewed in their living room. 208 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:44.159 There were some that I interviewed on a sound stage. 209 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:47.879 But again some of these, some of the guys were 210 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:51.480 so welcoming. Hey, we have a light kit and a 211 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:53.960 camera and some microphones. Do you mind if we come over? 212 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:56.159 And they're like, nah, we've got some room. We'll make 213 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:57.440 some room for you, come on over. 214 00:12:57.799 --> 00:12:58.080 Wow. 215 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:00.000 So it couldn't have worked out any better. 216 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:02.879 How many miles are you putting on your credit card? 217 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:03.879 At this point? 218 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:08.759 It was two or three trips to New York and back. 219 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:14.799 Obviously a drive to North Carolina where a few mad 220 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.399 writers and editors were there for gathering, flight to Los 221 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:24.879 Angeles and back. Obviously credit card. I don't even want 222 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:27.840 to look at what that was. But between that and 223 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:30.840 the mileage, I took it as far as I could 224 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:36.360 with the out of pocket. And from there the crowdfunding 225 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.919 started to catch on, and so we did a Kickstarter 226 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:44.000 and we were able to raise enough money to get 227 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:47.240 us to a good rough cut. We were still missing 228 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:50.559 some celebrities. I was able on my own to get 229 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:56.039 weird Al and Gilbert Gottfried the two name celebrities that 230 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:00.360 most people would recognize. And then once I got to 231 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:02.600 the point as far as I could take it that 232 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:07.240 you ask did these interviews? Did they take me seriously? 233 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:12.200 The MAD folks did. It was hard getting to other celebrities. 234 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:16.240 I knew it was important to get more iconic celebrity 235 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:21.639 people who read MAD, who could give it that fan perspective. 236 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.559 Right now, I had an entire documentary of artists and 237 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:28.399 writers telling their story. We needed to hear from people 238 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.519 who were personally affected by MAD and who better than 239 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:35.240 you know celebrities to do that. I was having trouble 240 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:38.639 getting through them. So between the money needed to finish 241 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.639 the film in general and also trying to get some celebrities, 242 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:46.000 I teamed up with Chessis Media, which is run by 243 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:52.480 Adam Carolla, comedian, and their producer, Nate Adams was able 244 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:55.919 to get us the rest of the celebrity interviews and 245 00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:59.120 raise the funds to finish the film, which is where 246 00:14:59.159 --> 00:14:59.679 we are now. 247 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:03.519 I was amazed with all of the interviews, but of 248 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:07.679 all of them, Brian Cranston just seemed so tickled to 249 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:08.559 be talking about it. 250 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:09.159 I know. 251 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.639 It was just a great interview and there's the reason 252 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:15.960 why the celebrities are at the status they are. They're 253 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.360 just so good at this, and it obviously helps that 254 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:23.039 they have an affinity towards mad magazines, so to get 255 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:27.519 them to publicly speak, which is their specialty, about something 256 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:29.279 that has an importance to them. 257 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:30.960 He was terrific. They were all terrific. 258 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:34.879 They all brought their own something to it, and yeah, 259 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:37.120 you're right. Brian's interview was great. 260 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:40.039 Did this ever become a full time job? Were you 261 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:43.320 working other things throughout this or was there a point 262 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:45.720 where you said, I have to spend all my time 263 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:46.679 on this documentary. 264 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:49.679 I still had to earn a living, so I still 265 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:53.279 had my quote unquote day job. I work in freelance television, 266 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:57.360 and so it's not a traditional nine to five when 267 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:00.840 I am working, It's usually a one to eleven. So 268 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:05.000 on work days, I would plot myself down in front 269 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:08.039 of the computer at eight and work until I had 270 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:10.720 to leave for work, And on off days, I would 271 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:14.279 plot myself down at eight and generally wrap things up 272 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:18.360 at around eight at night or longer, depending on how 273 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:20.919 knee deep I was into it. At that time, it 274 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:23.720 was a full time job while still maintaining a full 275 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:24.240 time job. 276 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:28.039 How did you catalog all of these interviews and try 277 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.480 to start pulling out this is what it's going to 278 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:31.919 be in the final product. 279 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:34.639 Well, the first thing you do is you find a 280 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:40.559 really good editor. And the first editor who worked directly 281 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:45.519 with me, Eric Weimer, did this for free. He's a 282 00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:49.360 professional editor, and it was sounded like a fun project 283 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:55.080 for him, and between the two of us, he would 284 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:57.960 rifle through the footage and find the bites that he 285 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:04.759 thought really stood out. And the goal was I think 286 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:08.799 we both had the idea early on to try to 287 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:13.680 treat telling the documentary as if it were a Mad magazine. 288 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:15.519 And so what do you find in Mad magazine when 289 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.799 you find the movie section, You find politics, and you 290 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:24.240 find and so for each section of a Mad magazine, 291 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:28.559 those became kind of the chapters of the documentary. And 292 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:30.599 then we would add more like we're going to do 293 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:34.000 a chapter on the artists and writers themselves, as they're 294 00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:36.400 called the usual gang of idiots. We're going to do 295 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:39.319 a chapter on the fold in and so in a 296 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.039 way that made the structure pretty easy. Now we just 297 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:48.839 need to hone down the interviews to tell those chapters. 298 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:50.079 The best way possible. 299 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:52.319 What were some of the things that you had to 300 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.359 get rid of that you really regret. 301 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:56.559 More than anything. 302 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:00.440 When Eric was editing, he learned pretty quick what a 303 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:05.680 fanboy I was, and I knew what a fanboy I was, 304 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:11.480 and I did my very best to not go too 305 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:16.240 deep in the inside baseball, so to speak, of telling 306 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:17.960 the stories that only. 307 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.519 You know if you know you know type people. 308 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:25.160 I really wanted to tell the Mad story that anyone 309 00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:29.440 who grew up reading Mad, or had a brother, sister, 310 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:32.680 or parent who read Mad and knew about it, it. 311 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:33.920 Would appeal to them as well. 312 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:36.200 I needed it to appeal to the died in the 313 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.880 Wolf fans who could fact check me, and I needed 314 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:43.079 it to appeal to the general reader who just remembers 315 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:45.559 it as a part of their life for a brief moment. 316 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.640 So there were a number of stories that the Mad 317 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.960 folks would tell, personal stories or favorite articles that I 318 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:58.319 thought were iconic too Mad, but didn't move the story along, 319 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:00.799 or it was just one more story story of another 320 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:04.799 great thing that Matt had. And we have enough. We 321 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:08.240 got to pick the best of the best, and there 322 00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:12.000 are a number of stories on the cutting room floor 323 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.480 or back of the hard Drive if you will. 324 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.720 Are you looking forward to a deluxe Blu ray edition 325 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:19.279 with tons of extra scenes? 326 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:23.359 Boy? Would I? Do you know anyone who wants to 327 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:25.200 fund that? No? 328 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:31.640 Exactly how long did we say this documentary took. I 329 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:36.720 don't want to spend any more time cutting more what 330 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:40.359 I would like to do, and we've started doing it 331 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:43.559 a little bit. I think the best thing to do 332 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:47.960 is to take all of the interviews and break them 333 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:53.519 down individually into a podcast. There could be enough interesting 334 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:58.519 bits in each individual interview. If I re recorded my 335 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:02.720 questions so it sounded appropriate for podcast, we could do. 336 00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:08.440 Here's forty five minutes chatting with Al Jaffe about his background. 337 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.519 Here's forty five minutes talking with stan Hart, the mad writer. 338 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:15.799 I think that's the best way to go. Just for expedients. 339 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:18.559 All of the interviews were essentially shot on green screen. 340 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:24.440 Any type of deluxe edition with more interviews requires removing 341 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:28.720 green screen. And now we're getting into special effects and 342 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.799 all of that stuff, and that's where both time and 343 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:33.359 money are prohibitive. 344 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:37.359 Speaking of special effects, tell me about the effects for this, 345 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:39.519 because I love some of the things that you're doing, 346 00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:43.319 especially where you've got the people framed in the magazine itself. 347 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.720 That goes back to the idea of imagine yourself reading 348 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:53.279 a Mad magazine and let's place the movie into it. 349 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:57.279 And so we'll make our own version of it. And 350 00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:57.799 where do. 351 00:20:57.759 --> 00:20:58.680 You find these interviews? 352 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:01.440 They're taking place at the start of each chapter, and 353 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:04.119 then we dive into those interviews and they go from 354 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:08.119 magazine to full screen and yeah, that was the basic 355 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:12.640 idea of it. And then from there we include examples 356 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:16.599 of specific articles that people are talking about, and that 357 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:21.119 was an interesting challenge because you only have a limited 358 00:21:21.160 --> 00:21:23.240 amount of time to show them on the screen before 359 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.480 the subject changes. You want to give the audience enough 360 00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:30.799 time to get the gist of that one particular panel 361 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:32.880 that you show. You can't show the whole article, so 362 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.680 you have to show the best panel from an article 363 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:40.920 that explains or supports what the interview was saying. And 364 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:43.960 that was a fun challenge in figuring out how to 365 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:44.279 do that. 366 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.400 Well, I'm pretty envious of anybody that gets to see 367 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:50.359 this on the big screen because speaking of framing this, 368 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:53.720 like the magazine having those little drawings on the side, 369 00:21:53.720 --> 00:21:56.920 which were some of my favorite things from the original 370 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.920 Mad magazine, and trying to see those on my TV 371 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.759 not so good. But I imagine seeing that projected in 372 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:04.920 a movie theater must be spectacular. 373 00:22:05.799 --> 00:22:10.839 It obviously helps to have it as big as possible. Yes, 374 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:16.960 so what those are generally referred to as the term 375 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:21.720 they use is chicken fat. It's the fun little stuff 376 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.359 that they include, not only in the specific article, but 377 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:28.680 on outside the edges, the little marginals that Sergio Aragones 378 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:31.759 would draw. That was chicken fat. And I wanted to 379 00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:35.960 include chicken fat in the movie itself, again trying to 380 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.920 mimic that Mad magazine feel, and that's what you find 381 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:43.160 in a mad So let's make sure that we populate 382 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:44.880 the movie with that as well. 383 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.200 Speaking of seeing it on the big screen, when did 384 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:48.079 you have your premiere? 385 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:52.920 The world premiere was August twenty second in New York 386 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:56.960 at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, and it 387 00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.680 went great. We had a sold out show. We had 388 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:04.559 an number of Mad artists and writers attend. We also 389 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:08.960 had a number of family members of people we interviewed 390 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:12.240 who had since passed away, and then we just had 391 00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:16.680 a bunch of Mad fans and it was great. It 392 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:20.960 couldn't gun any better. You never know what the response 393 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:25.960 will be when you premiere any type of creative piece 394 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:29.039 that you've done, and it was to me it was 395 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:33.960 doubly nerve wracking because there were people who were in 396 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.480 the movie, who were in attendance who had never seen 397 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:40.279 it and had no idea what to expect, and there 398 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:43.720 were family members who were there on the behalf of 399 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:47.000 people in the movie who were no longer there, and 400 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:50.880 as far as I could tell, everyone seemed to really 401 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:55.599