MAD, The Middle East & “Comedy Killers”
With the 17-zillionth flareup in the Eternal & Unsolvable Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, I’m reminded of perhaps the most surreal moments I ever witnessed on any of my 4 MAD trips. Let me paint the picture for you:
The Year: 1989. A resort hotel lobby in peaceful, neutrality-loving Switzerland, listening to Dave Berg and Sergio Aragones carry on a “spirited” discussion of the tit-for-tat history of the Middle East, whilst the latter works on pages of his (and Mark Evanier’s) comic book “Groo the Wanderer” spread over a large table. (BTW: Yes, it’s true: Sergio IS the Fastest Artist in the World!) Every so often, as the rising outrage- and volume-level of the arguments threatens to boil over, Dave turns to me, the new kid, to explain that “Sergio is one of my best friends!” To which Sergio reciprocates, “Absolutely! And Dave Berg is one of MY best friends!” “That’s right,” Dave says, “even though he actually believes that the Palestinians…” And then it’s back to the argument – to be interrupted again by Dave (the author of a 1960s book entitled, “My Friend, God”) telling me that “he’s not that religious”; that his views on Israel are strictly secular. And back to the argument…on and on, ad infinitum (pretty much like the conflict itself!)
Dave and Sergio were the only two MAD guys I ever heard get serious about Israel/Palestine. I guess everyone else knows in their bones what a “comedy killer” it is and, therefore, utterly pointless for a comedy writer to spend time thinking about (unless you happen to be a comedy writer living in Beersheba or Gaza City). One of my few forays into this topic was within a MAD piece I wrote called “CNN Sitcoms Based on News Stories They’ve Covered” – it was a faux sitcom called, “Shlomo Loves Fatima,” about an Israeli soldier during the intifada and the female Palestinian agitator “whose rock hits him like Cupid’s Arrow.” Apparently, I heard, even that was too much for some angry letter-writers.
Other “Comedy Killer” subjects: let’s see, Cancer…Child Abuse…oh, the new kid on the block, 9/11, and of course, the JFK and Lincoln Assassinations (the other 2 presidential hit-jobs are theoretically okay…but it’s been ages since I’ve heard a good McKinley Assassination joke!)