[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mad-magazine_6300.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"What, me worry?"]]

For decades a key influence on [[TheParody parodists]] and satirists in all entertainment media, ''Mad'' began in 1952 as a full-color ComicBook, ''Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad'', published by ECComics. Harvey Kurtzman, the founding editor and writer, started it when he complained how other artists got more money with more page counts, especially when he was so meticulous with his war comics. His publisher, William Gaines, suggested that he do a humor book on top of his present work since that material came easily for him.

Kurtzman began by satirizing popular comic book genres of the time (horror, crime, SF and adventure), but soon found his niche concentrating on parodies of specific comic books and strips, TV shows, films, and classic literature, as well as broader satire of American pop culture. EC artists, such as Jack Davis, Will Elder and John Severin, accustomed mostly to drawing in a "serious" style, were encouraged to cut loose for ''Mad'', resulting in panels filled to capacity with outrageous caricatures, physics-defying antics, gross-out humor and innumerable background signage gags.

In July 1955, with issue 24, ''Mad'' became a black-and-white magazine (only to become color again in the 2000s). Contrary to popular belief, EC did not do this in order to escape the ComicsCode. Rather, Kurtzman had received an offer from the more lucrative magazine market, and so EC publisher Bill Gaines proposed the change in format in order to retain him. Nevertheless, the new medium benefitted from the lack of [[MoralGuardians censorship]], as well as the broader range of subject matter and media available (including prose and photo features). By late 1956, ''Mad'' had become EC's only surviving publication. As history shows, it was more than enough for the company to prosper with.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, ''Mad'' began to take on its most familiar (and commercially successful) form, with a long-lasting team of core writers (Jerry [=DeFuccio=], Dick [=DeBartolo=], Frank Jacobs) and artists (Don Martin, Al Jaffee, Dave Berg, Mort Drucker, Angelo Torres, Bob Clarke, Paul Coker (jr.), Norman Mingo (long time cover artist), George Woodbridge, [[SpyVsSpy Antonio Prohías]]) and a willingness to take on [[AcceptableTargets any target it felt it could get away with]]. More recent contributors (since the 1980s) include writers Desmond Devlin, Arnie Kogen, Michael Gallagher, Charlie Kadau and Joe Raiola, and more recent artists include Don "Duck" Edwing, Tom Bunk, Sam Viviano, Sergio Aragones, Rick Tulka, Tom Richmond and James Warhola.

Currently in its fifth decade, ''Mad'', now published by DCComics, lacks the circulation and cultural impact (and [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks some would say quality]]) it had at its peak. All the same, entertainment figures and critics ranging from [[TheSimpsons Matt Groening]] to RogerEbert to Patti Smith have cited ''Mad'' as a major influence.

For the page on the animated spin-off see ''WesternAnimation/{{Mad}}''. See also ''Series/MadTv'', the loosely-affiliated SketchComedy show, and ''Literature/PlanetTad'', a regular feature in the magazine that was released as a book in 2012.

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!!This magazine contains examples of:

* AccidentallyAccurate: They once did a parody of ''{{Cathy}}'' called ''Amy!'', which depicted AmyWinehouse hiding drugs in her behive hairdo. Then someone filmed her pulling a vial of cocain from... guess where?
* ActorAllusion: In the movie / TV parodies, there are many jokes related to this.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: It's almost become routine for celebrities to write to the magazine with positive reviews of articles that parody their works, some of them including photographs or even original artwork, which the magazine always displays on their letters page.
* AmericanAccents: Exaggerated Beatnik Speak and Hippie Speak.
* AnimatedAdaptation: For its first few years on the air ''MadTV'' aired animated bumpers featuring Don Martin characters and "Spy vs. Spy".
** Similarly, Creator/CartoonNetwork premiered an animated adaptation, also titled ''WesternAnimation/{{Mad}}'', in September 2010. It's the magazine in animated form: parodies and quick gags.
* AnimeHair: Monroe of the ''Monroe and...'' series had [[HairAntennae two antenna-like hair protrusions]].
* ArtEvolution: Many of the longtime artists have done this, whether by choice (e.g. SergioAragones going from a somewhat plain style to his loose but highly-detailed SignatureStyle), by old age (e.g. Dave Berg's style becoming sloppier due to old age). Al Jaffee had a little bit of both — his early art in the 1950s and 1960s was far less cartoonish, and the late 1990s has seen his art become a little more muddy looking due to old age.
** Everyone's art was a lot more staid in the 1950s, even stalwarts like Mort Drucker and George Woodbridge.
* ArtifactTitle: The 'departments' listed at the top of each article. This is a leftover from the days when Mad was a color comic book in the 50's, when it actually had things like "Western Department" or "Horror Department" depending on the article's subject matter. Now (and at least since the 60's) it's little more than a throwaway gag and usually JustForPun.
* AskAStupidQuestion: The premise of Al Jaffee's recurring "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions."
* AuthorTract: ''Mad'' has had quite a long-running relationship with ''TheSimpsons'', prompting the former to regularly launch [[TakeThat take thats]] against ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' for perceived plagiarism and causing the latter to regularly feature ''Mad'' (with one notable episode having it be integral to the plot).
* BadassBeard: William Gaines and Al Jaffee. Jaffee's signature is a caricature of himself, with "Al Jaffee" in place of the hair.
* BadassMustache: Dick [=DeBartolo=] and SergioAragones.
* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted in one early feature, in which in the "real life" version of the scene, more Indians arrive instead of the cavalry, overwhelming the settlers.
* BlackComedy: "Celebrity Cause-of-Death Betting Odds" is but one example.
** They actually got [[DudeNotFunny angry mail]] after running an issue in 1999 in which readers were encouraged to choose which way {{P|okemon}}ikachu was going to die[[note]] A few issues later, after the votes were counted, Pikachu was killed via inserting a stick of dynamite into its behind[[/note]], and on the back page, a spoof advertisement about several children's books as written by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, all with suicide or death themes.
* BluffingTheMurderer: One prisoner is tricked into confessing by being told that he will be given a pardon. His crime was [[DisproportionateRetribution stealing a loaf of bread]].
* {{Bold Inflation}}/EmphasizeEverything: '''Dialogue''' in the magazine tends to have '''several words''' bolded for '''no particular reason''', particularly '''the majority of the nouns''' and '''almost every sentence''' ends in an '''exclamation point'''!
* {{Bowdlerise}}: This trope gets parodied mercilessly in Harvy Kurtzman's and Jack Davis's sketch [[http://www.litkicks.com/BookMovie/ Book! Movie!]] about the many changes made for a book's LiveActionAdaptation.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Also in the movie / TV parodies.
* BriarPatching: A boy gets in trouble, and begs his mother not to tell his father, resulting in her deciding to do so. The boy's friend chastises him for letting his mother know his weakness, but the boy says his father is soft.
* BrokenAesop: {{invoked}}. One article talks about how various lessons in childhood are undermined by certain people and organizations not being held to those standards (a lesson about admitting your wrongdoing and accepting punishment is undermined by headlines about [[KarmaHoudini Nixon getting pardoned and Spiro Agnew getting off with a fine]]).
* ButtMonkey: Monroe
* CallBack: A few in the Monroe stories, typically identified by "See Monroe and...". The ones that don't have this notificaition are typically [[NoodleIncident Noodle Incidents]].
* {{Calvinball}}: [[http://www.madcoversite.com/quiz_olympics.html 43-Man Squamish]]. Also an example of {{Defictionalization}}, as one group in Canada actually formed a 43-Man Squamish team.
** An earlier example is an article for a board game called "Gringo," written back in the 1950s, with intentionally silly rules.
*** Which was guest-written by Ernest Kovacs, the famous TV comedy pioneer.
** ''MAD'' also did this again with "Three-Cornered Pitney".
* CatchPhrase: "What, me worry?", "Price: $x.xx (Cheap!)", "Fa! Fa! Fa!", and "The Usual Gang of Idiots" (used to describe the creators on the credits page of almost every issue).
* CensorshipBySpelling: In one "Lighter Side Of" strip, the parents are talking about their son's bad report card in front of him; the mother is reluctant but the father says "just spell it." So they have the conversation, which ends with:
-->'''Mother''': I-M W-O-R-R-I-E-D T-H-A-T H-E M-A-Y B-E S-T-U-N-T-E-D I-N-T-E-L-L-E-C-T-U-A-L-Y.\\
'''Son''': That's I-N-T-E-L-L-E-C-T-U-A-L-L-Y!
* CobwebOfDisuse: Done frequently, particularly in SergioAragones' "A MAD look at _____". If a person bought something that sits in disuse, you'll see it sitting on a shelf or in a closet with spider webs.
* ComicallyInvincibleHero: Fantabulaman.
* CoolOldGuy: Lots. Most of the magazine's old guard are in their seventies and eighties, and Al Jaffee turns ninety in 2011.
* CouldntFindAPen: Amusingly done in one "A Mad Look At", in which the victim writes out not only the name of his killer, but also his motivation.
* CreatorKiller: {{invoked}} MAD is relatively quick to label works as this.
* CreatorThumbprint: Harvey Kurtzman had some odd attraction to the name "Melvin": an overwhelming amount of stories from his reign as writer have one of the characters named Melvin in them. The name's even on the first cover.
* TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks: "If Truth in Advertising Laws Applied to Comic Books" skewered a lot of trends that plagued comic books in the Nineties.
* {{Deconstruction}}: One of the older issues dealt with how a movie cowboy "Lance Sterling" would be different from a real life cowboy, "John Smurd". In the movie, Sterling defeats his rival in a long fistfight and gets the girl. Smurd, however, misses several shots in a shootout, gets knocked out for some time after being hit with a chair, and shoots his rival dead after taking him by surprise, but gets hanged for murder.
** ''Reel Life vs. Real Life'' was a brief feature in the early 1990s that took several popular movies and asked how they would play out in reality. Similarly, the ending of the ''Film/TopGun'' parody has the hero's actions resulting in WorldWarIII.
* DeconstructorFleet: Unlike many examples, though, the deconstruction is typically PlayedForLaughs.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Most artists who drew front covers stuck close to Kelly Freas's design of Alfred E. Neuman. SergioAragones's [[http://madcoversite.com/quiz_aragones.html two covers]] were closer to his loose, sketchy style, and John Caldwell's [[http://madcoversite.com/mad295id.jpg cover]] was closer to his squiggly style. (He drew a second cover in 2001, but it was changed at the last second because his original cover art was deemed possibly offensive after 9/11.) Lampshaded in Frank Jacobs' anthology of ''Mad'' covers, where Jacobs recalled a conversation with Aragonés over one of his covers: Jacobs said that it was one of the only Alfreds not to follow Freas' style, but Aragonés protested it was "the best [he] could do".
** Drew Struzan's [[http://madcoversite.com/mad379id.jpg lone cover attempt]] is eerily OffModel too.
** Averted since the early-mid 2000s, as Mark Fredrickson has done about 95% of the covers.
* DeusExMachina: Many parodies are like this, such as their ''DesperateHousewives'' parody, which ended with [[spoiler:[[DoctorPhil Dr. Phil]] visiting the wives]].
* DisneyDeath: Frequently mocked in parodies, especially if the writers know the death will be reversed.
* DivorceRequiresDeath: In the parody of ''Film/TheGodfather Part II'', when Kay demands a divorce from Michael, he refuses because it is against God's will. He then turns to family consigliere Tom Hagen and orders a "hit" on her. Hagen then tells Michael he is a good Roman Catholic for not divorcing her.
** Also in the parody of the Shining, in which Dinny's mother tells him that his father is trying to kill her because he cannot divorce her.
* DontYouDarePityMe: In one "The Lighter Side Of", a man politely refuses assistance carrying his groceries to the car, saying there are things he has to do himself. It turns out he parked in a handicapped parking space despite not being handicapped, and this attention is the reason he regrets doing so.
* DownerEnding: Every entry in the "Monroe and…" series has one.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Many artists and writers submitted one-offs well before they became regulars. Examples include:
** Al Jaffee, who first illustrated for the mag in the 1950s, jumped ship to ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' and returned by the 1960s.
** Sam Viviano drew a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MAD223.jpg cover]] in 1980, four years before any of his other work appeared in the mag. By the late 1990s he was promoted to art director, and what little illustration he did after that was typically credited to Jack Syracuse.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The early issues (of the magazine format) were very different. The humor was "lighter and softer", the tv/movie satires were less biting and more likely to deviate from the plot, and most notably, they had contributions by famous humorists of the day (Bob and Ray, DannyKaye, Sid Caesar, Andy Griffith, Stan Freberg, etc.). It wasn't until the sixties until it gained its traditional format it's most known for.
** Even some of the artists and writers display this beyond the scope of ArtEvolution. For instance, Don Martin's early gags were often BlackComedy, lacking the manic pacing and wacky sound effects he would soon become known for.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: One recurring sketch in the "Fundalini Pages" (a slapdash collection of mini-gags at the front of the mag) involves randomly adding monkeys to certain famous photos. Taken UpToEleven with an ''issue'' featuring nothing ''but'' monkeys.
* {{Fanservice}}: Dave Berg's and Mort Drucker's women, or at least until old age took its toll on Dave's drawing skills.
** The Grey Spy as well. Yow.
** Bill Elder was drawing hot chicks since the book's start. The lady in red in "Dragged Net!" in #3 is a good example.
** Wallace Wood's women, either. The preface to the 2002 re-release of ''The Mad Reader'' goes out of its way to point out all of the fanservice contained in Wood's ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' parody.
* EvilLawyerJoke: Used quite frequently, and discussed in one Lighter Side strip, in which it a lawyer points out that no one likes lawyers until they need one.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: {{invoked}}. The Superman III parody, discussing Superman's inner struggle, points out that good triumphs over evil, if good is more violent than evil.
* FarSideIsland: A frequently-used trope in Don Martin's work.
* FelonyMisdemeanor: A running gag, especially in parodies, when characters get angry with others over minor slights rather than things that would be considered unforgivable.
* FlippingTheBird: The cover of ''Mad'' #166, which was nothing but an illustration of someone doing just that, captioned by "The Number One Ecch Magazine". Many newsstands refused to display this issue.
* FollowTheLeader: The magazine's success inspired a succession of copycats, including ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' and countless others, many of which even had {{Expy}}s of Alfred E. Neuman as their mascots (and many of which lasted for only a few issues). William Gaines supposedly kept a voodoo doll that had pins marked with the names of ''Mad'' knockoffs; by his death in 1992, only the ''Cracked'' pin remained.
** Gaines even launched his own rip-off, ''Panic''.
* FracturedFairyTale: One of Frank Jacobs' favorite tropes was to write satirical versions of MotherGoose rhymes, typically in some sort of theme.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The main premise of SergioAragones' "Drawn Out Dramas" in the margins. Many of the parody artists tend to do this as well, some moreso than others. They're quite common in the direct parodies of television shows and films.
* GagWords: "Fershlugginer" and "potrzebie" in the early years.
* GambitPileup: In ''SpyVsSpy''.
* GetIntoJailFree: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] when they point out that Michael of PrisonBreak will have to serve his own sentence even if he clears his brother's name.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Although the magazine had become more vulgar in the 1990s, it has usually refrained from using "fuck" and "shit", and the few times it does, they are censored with asterisks (for example, "F**k."). [[http://www.madcoversite.com/mad326printid.jpg Usually.]] (The F-bomb is to the left of the cardboard box.) Al Jaffee snuck the word "shit" into an article entitled "Who's Who at a Comics Convention" and Aragonés drew barely-visible uncensored penises in the graphics accompanying a Frank Jacobs-penned parody of "We Are the World".
** Sergio got away with female nipples a whole lot of times.
** A parody of Archie has Betty hurl herself at Archie. As she does so, several syringes and bottles of pills spill from her handbag, and this was a strip from the fifties!
** "Woman Wonder!" saw the titular character change her outfit inside her invisible jet with it implied her boyfriend was watching her. He keeps a horrifically lecherous face through the next few panels.
** They've never been afraid of the [[StealthPun Stealth F-bomb]]. For instance, their parody of WelcomeBackKotter included the exchange
--> Minus five percent? How can you get -5% on an exam?\\
He spelled his '''name''' wrong! That's S-H-'''O'''-T, Horseshot!
* GodModeSue: Fantabulaman is a [[InvokedTrope deliberate example.]] [[invoked]]
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Lampshaded in the introductory text of "[[ABeautifulMind A Booty-filled Mind]]" regarding John Nash, but [[InformedAttribute not referenced in the actual parody]].
* HonestAdvisor: The magazine, especially in the '60s and '70s, was popular among kids because it was one of the few places adults would be honest about some aspects of the world.
* HotterAndSexier: The magazine got considerably more vulgar in the late 1990s, leading to the departure of some veterans such as longtime artist Jack Davis. Lampshaded in the first "hotter and sexier" issue, which had Alfred E. Neuman [[CheekCopy photocopying his ass]].
* InThatOrder: In ''[[Main/PlanetOfTheApes Conquering the Planet that Went Ape]]'', the intelligent ape addresses his army:
-->All right! If we're going to win against the humans you need to listen up and stop embarrassing me! For example, when I tell you to put on your shoes and socks, I don't mean in that order!
* JustBetweenYouAndMe / WhyDontYouJustShootHim: In a feature discussing how movie scenes happen in the film and in real life, one scene had Lance Sterling and his girlfriend at the mercy of some mobsters. Instead of just shooting them, one mobster decides to take them outside to avoid drawing suspicion to the others (justified), then proceeds to tell him the plan (stupid) and then gives him a chiclet as his last request (completely unnecessary), allowing Sterling to jam his gun, defeat him and destroy the gang. In the real life version, Sterling and his girlfriend get shot on the second panel.
* KingKongClimb: One cover features Alfred as King Kong.
* LampshadeHanging: Especially in Kurtzman's early deconstructionist parodies.
* LastSecondWordSwap: One feature showed how to turn an offensive statement into a non-offensive one, often the ''complete opposite'' of what was about to be said.
* LonelyAtTheTop: One LighterSideOf strip has everyone, up the chain of command of a company hoping to take their immediate superior's job. The CEO says he wants nothing more than to be an entry-level stock boy again, since his position has brought him nothing but heartache.
* LongTitle: The original title of the comic version was ''Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad: Humor in a Jugular Vein''.
** The title for the parody of the movie ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' started out ''Boob & Carnal & Tad & Alas & '' and continued adding name after name of historical, entertainment, and political people running around the borders of the panels of the 6 page article, finaling ending next to the final panel with ''...& Everyone Else in the World & Alfred''.
** The parody of the TV Series ''Room 222'' became ''Room 2222222222ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz''.
* LudicrousGibs: Used frequently in ''Spy vs. Spy'' ever since Peter Kuper took over. Also, nearly any one-page gag written by Michael Gallagher, especially if Tom Bunk is handling the art. (Oddly, Gallagher tends to avert this when someone else is drawing for him.)
* {{Mascot}}: Subverted with the ugly Alfred E. Neuman.
* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: In the Adam West Batman parody, having to deal with his girlfriends leaving him because he's called away on crime-fighting business and can't adequately explain what happened without exposing himself, combined with Batman's lack of sympathy for him over having to do this, is the Boy Wonder's reason for his FaceHeelTurn.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: In the Monroe story in which he goes to China and gets tricked into working for a sweatshop, you can see his actual host family trying to get his attention at the airport as he runs into the sweatshop people.
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Averted; Mad Magazine often likes making fun of or criticizing even recently deceased people.
** Discussed in ''The Lion King'' parody when Simba, watching Scar flee into exile, tells his subjects to never speak well of him again, and TheSimpsons in attendance note that people spoke well of Richard Nixon after his death.
** After Michael Jackson's death, they first ran a "Brutally Honest Obituary" that pointed up all the strange and suspicious things he did in life and printed his mugshot (taken, as they put it, "in happier days") from his 2003 arrest on child molestation charges alongside it. The world essentially canonizing him as a saint was later declared the Stupidest Event of 2009.
** One comic has a ventriloquist priest pretend to use the voice of a dead man to bring up his rapid promotion. The assembly at the funeral, including the murderer, angrily denounces him.
* NoDialogueEpisode:
** SergioAragones' ''A Mad Look At...'' almost never uses dialogue; if a character needs to speak, it's usually represented through pantomiming or icons in a speech balloon, or very rarely, a "gesundheit." On one occasion, bodyguards listening to soccer on their earpieces scream "GOAL!".
** And ''Spy vs Spy''.
* NoFourthWall: Quite often, the characters in movie and TV parodies are [[GenreSavvy blatantly aware]] that they're in a parody.
* ObviousObjectCouldBeAnything: Given the surreal nature of the magazine, this is usually inverted.
* OncePerEpisode: Nearly every issue since the 1960s has featured a Mad Fold-In and ''A Mad Look At...'', with several other recurring features coming and going over time. Also, Alfred has appeared on almost every cover.
* TheParody: Duh again.
* ParodyCommercial: Duh yet again.
* ParodyNames: Duh for the last time. Notably averted in the ''{{Seinfeld}}'' parody.
* PedophilePriest: A common joke; in the RoadToPerdition spoof, Michael tells his son not to go to their Catholic priest, not because of his ties to the mob, but because he might be this.
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: "Potrzebie" was a RunningGag in the magazine's first decade. A fan ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth Donald Knuth!]]) made a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Potrzeb.jpg "Potrzebie System" of weights and measurements]] which got published in the magazine.
* PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes: An article on [[AffablyEvil villains politely discussing their plans to kill or torture the heroes]], while the [[GoodIsNotNice heroes rudely reply]].
* PopularityPolynomial: Foreseen in an article from the early 1960s predicting that when rebellious teenagers of the '50s have children of their own, the children will rebel against them by doing "square" things like refusing to put off studying, and pursuing careers in medicine. Then, when those offspring have children of ''their'' own, this new generation will rebel against ''them'' by practicing the same behavior that their grandparents did as '50s teenagers.
* PromBaby: One issue has a series of fake magazine covers, including one called "Prom Mom" with articles like "Drinking the spiked punch: What the hell, it's not like anyone expects good judgment from you at this point!"
* RandomEventsPlot: Some TV show spoofs are like this. Others go through plot points in a given season, and still others create a new plot.
* RapidFireComedy: Many of the comic book issues managed to overstuff ''every'' panel with little gags. It originated with Will Elder's work in the 1950s, when ''Mad'' was still a comic book; Elder and Kurtzman called these little gags "chicken fat." Kurtzman was reportedly pretty bad about forcing the other artists to follow Elder's example. The stalwart artists such as Angelo Torres and Mort Drucker often engaged in this to varying degrees, as does Tom Richmond in the present day. (Gary Hallgren also went all out in the two parodies he drew, of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''.)
* RealityEnsues: A recurring theme for humor.
* TheReveal: Some of the parodies have one of the heroes turning out to be the main villain.
* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: One white-paper front cover for the magazine greatly [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] this phrase [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]].
* RightWayWrongWayPair: "Melvin and Jenkins". Jenkins, a nerdy-looking chap, is polite and intelligent and always tries to do his best; Melvin, on the other hand, is a gangasta wannabe hoodlum who delights in petty mischief.
** They're obviously a [[ShoutOut parody]] of HighlightsForChildren's GoofusAndGallant.
* RunningGag: Over time, the magazine has adapted a large number of icons that appear at random spots, such as a skinny bird named [[PunnyName Flip]], a potted plant named Max, a zeppelin with "MAD" written on it and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blivet.png poiuyt.]]
** The table of contents lists the articles in the magazine as being from various departments whose titles are [[PunnyName various plays on words]]. The two constants through the run are the letters section, which is listed as being from the "Letters & Tomatoes Dept.", and "Spy Vs. Spy" from the "Joke and Dagger Dept."
* SadistShow: ''Monroe and...'', where something bad ''always'' happened to the title character.
* SelfDeprecation: The masthead's listing of the creative team as "the usual gang of idiots".
** The magazine has done this a lot over the years, and they sometimes take their own affected self-deprecation to the extreme: In an article on how to make a food poisoning victim throw up (in issue #256), reading ''Mad'' magazine to him is described as the very last resort, because it's so effective that he'll drown the house with puke.
** Their Christmas-season magazines suggest giving a subscription to Mad as a Christmas present. The ads rip the magazine as dumb and unpleasant, but conclude it's good to give to someone because it's a cheap present.
** Even Bill Gaines, the magazine's owner, was constantly mocked in the magazine due to his stinginess and obesity. A man who strongly resembles him is often seen in "The Lighter Side."
** Occasionally the parodies lampshade the fact that MAD's love of ParodyNames is taken to such ridiculous extremes that a casual reader can't tell what the original character name was supposed to be.
** Those who write in to the magazine are often mocked for reading something as bad as it.
* ShoutOut: Many, such as the frequent cameos from {{Peanuts}} characters early on. Schulz later returned the favor by giving Alfred E. Neuman a quick appearance in his strip, as the punchline at the end of a story arc in which Charlie Brown kept seeing baseballs everywhere he went. Watching the sunrise, he doesn't see a baseball over the horizon, but Alfred's face!
* SpinOff: ''Mad Kids'', a magazine with similar content for younger audiences.
* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Quite frequently, when the characters of a movie they parody do something illogical, and the most common response is "[[LampshadeHanging It makes too much sense]]!" For example, in the DoubleJeopardy parody, it's suggested that the main character could bring to light that her husband is still alive, clearing her name and getting custody of her son.
* StayInTheKitchen: Nivlem forces the Woman Wonder to do this, as he turns out to be her boyfriend and is jealous of her superior skills.
* StealingFromTheHotel: In a "Lighter Side of" feature by Dave Berg, a husband and wife are traveling abroad, when the wife is suddenly alarmed that one of their suitcases was stolen. She rants about how those foreigners are all crooks. When her husband asks what was in that particular bag, she replies "The ash trays and the towels and the silverware" that they took from the hotel.
* SuicideAsComedy: Frequently done, especially with completely outlandish suicide methods (such as eating until you become heavy enough to cause an elevator to exceed the weight limit).
** A subscription ad on the letters page carried the headline "WHY KILL YOURSELF? ... Just because you missed the last issue of Mad. The drawing would be of a man or woman about to commit suicide in an outlandish way.
* SymbolSwearing: Shows up from time to time (most notably in the ''{{Deadwood}}'' spoof), because the magazine usually steers clear of certain profanities. However, since the writers (most often Arnie Kogen) leave in at least one letter in each swear, it's often blatantly obvious what words the grawlixes represent.
** Lampshaded in the parody of '''E.T.'''s "penis-breath" scene. Elliot's Mum: "That's it! I will NOT have any asterisks, ampersands, or percentage signs spoken in MY house!"
* SympatheticMurderer: In one Ventriloquist Priest comic, a receptionist falls in love with a mail clerk, who gets her pregnant but leaves her for the boss' ugly daughter in order to gain a promotion. She then poisons his coffee in retaliation.
* TakeThat: '''''HUNDREDS.''''' If we listed them all, we'd be here all day, since the magazine has been running for decades, and believes nothing is sacred.
* TakeThatAudience: They often imply that anyone who actually reads their magazine ''has'' to be a moron (this goes hand-in-hand with their constant SelfDeprecation). They also insult anyone who writes them a letter when it appears in their "Letters and Tomatoes Department".
* TeethFlying: A Running Gag in "Spy Vs. Spy". Whenever one spy is caught in an explosion, a set of teeth come flying out of the blast.
* ThinkNothingOfIt: A response given at a few points, such as in one The Lighter Side strip and in the Batman Returns parody. It's then followed by the person thanking the benefactor revealing that he or she is not actually grateful. Below is a paraphrased exchange from one Lighter Side strip.
-->'''Birthday Girl''': I must thank you for this gift!
-->'''Gift Giver''': It was nothing!
-->'''Birthday Girl''': (scowling) [[UngratefulBastard I know]]! But my mom said I should thank you anyway!
* TomatoInTheMirror: In "[[ABeautifulMind A Booty-Filled Mind]]", Nash's wife turns out to be a hallucination.
* TopTenList: A staple of the Fundalini pages.
* TwistEnding: Especially in the ECComics era. Most movie parodies end with an altered version of the film's ending, sometimes revealing something about the plot that had been concealed all along.
** In "[[Film/ABeautifulMind A Booty-Filled Mind]]", it's revealed that "Mash's" wife is also a hallucination.
** "[[Film/BramStokersDracula Drek-ula]]" mocks the 1992 adaptation's huge RomanticPlotTumor when the title character is transformed by ThePowerOfLove into the Beast from ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''. To make matters worse, Disney's lawyers arrive to sue Francis Ford Coppola and company for ripping off their movie, and they'll probably win, because it was a much better movie!
** "[[Main/ETTheExtraTerrestrial Q.T. -- The Quasi-Terrestrial]]" ends with Q.T. going up the ramp of the spaceship...and Richard Dreyfuss coming down, thankful that they finally made a sequel to ''[[Main/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind Gross Encounters of the Turd Kind]]'' allowing him to get away from all those crazy aliens.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: A firing squad in one comic strip suggests there's no way a man could have killed as many people as he did on the basis that he's skinny. He then proceeds to kill them all [[WithMyHandsTied with his hands cuffed]], and then [[HereWeGoAgain later gets recaptured, with the new firing squad saying the same thing that the old one did]].
* ViewersAreMorons: Usually done jokingly.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Defied on a few jokes regarding the church panhandle. In one "A Mad Look At" strip, a priest records the collection, prompting people to give generously out of fear of being seen. In a Ventriloquist Priest strip, the priest forces the statues to talk about how people who don't give generously are going to hell.
* WorldsShortestBook: They occasionally had a shelf of these, usually political- or current events-themed. A few examples:
** "Etiquette" by Lyndon B. Johnson
** "Truths I Have Told" by Richard Nixon
* WriterRevolt: A running joke in the magazine, and somewhat true behind-the-scenes occasionally.
* WriteWhatYouKnow: Dick [=DeBartolo=] was working for Creator/MarkGoodson Productions when he was tapped to write the ''FamilyFeud'' parody. Naturally, he took that opportunity to knock down ''every'' trope that show presented (and submitted the parody under a pen name).
* WritersCannotDoMath: The ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' parody, "Ghost-Dusters," (''MAD'' #253) featured the characters explaining the $10,000 charge for capturing the parody's equivalent of Slimer. The individual prices actually totaled $11,000. A reader wrote in and the magazine had to admit its error.
* WrittenSoundEffect: Don Martin was very fond of atypical ones, such as "Dingalinga" for a bell ringing, "Ferrap" for shuffling cards, etc. Sometimes he would use {{Unsound Effect}}s: "Don't Walk," "Applaud," etc. He even had a vanity plate reading "SHTOINK." There's also a [[http://www.madcoversite.com/dmd.html dictionary]] of them.
** [[ShoutOut "I'll take]] [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy the Don Martin sounding guy"]]
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: In the DoubleJeopardy parody, this is defied, when [[RealityEnsues the mother gets arrested for all the laws she broke in the process of tracking down her husband]].
* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Most prominently "fershlugginer," but plenty of Yiddish appeared in the mag's early years.
** From the Popeye parody: "Right in the kishkas!" Also an example of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
*** Likely because a good chunk of the staff were Jewish, and many of them are still around.

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