Mad #49

"A Mad Look at Late Night TV" delivers a sharp, satirical snapshot of 1960s television politics through three fictional CBS memos to the Smothers Brothers, each penned in mock-poetic form and illustrated with biting humor. Written by Ronnie Nathan and drawn with biting precision by Jack Rickard—both inks and pencils—the issue captures the tension between comedy and censorship in a striking visual narrative. The cover, by Tom Richmond, completes the send-up with a vivid, bound-and-gagged image of the duo, underscoring the era’s fraught relationship with free expression.