Grade-school humor.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Briefly Noted - Totally MAD: 60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity, and Stupidity - Brief article - Book review

The subtitle of Totally MAD (Time Home Entertainment), a new coffee table book about the magazine I eagerly devoured in grade school, is "60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity, and Stupidity." One more stupidity might have been appropriate, since the jokes, especially in the movie parodies, are much lamer than I recall.

Still, there are items of genuine interest to people smarter than a fifth grader, including accounts of copyright battles over song parodies and Mad mascot Alfred E. Neuman. Mad nostalgics may even find material that's both clever and new to them.

In retrospect, Mad was...