Mad (TV series)

Mad
Genre	Sketch comedy Surreal humor Satire
Developed by	Kevin Shinick
Written by	Kevin Shinick Aaron Blitzstein Marly Halpern-Graser Steve Borst Justin Becker Ben Joseph Greg White Mason Steinberg
Directed by	Aaron Horvath
Voices of	Kevin Shinick Hugh Davidson Mikey Day Larry Dorf Rachel Ramras Gary Anthony Williams
Theme music composer	Devin Flynn
Opening theme	"Mad!"
Composer(s)	Armen Chakmakian Rony Brack Devin Flynn Dean Landon
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	103 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sam Register Peter Girardi For Cartoon Network: Curtis Lelash, Nick Weidendfeld, and Conrad Montgomery
Producer(s)	Kevin Shinick Mark Marek Dave Mendel (Season 4 only)
Editor(s)	Dave Mendel
Running time	11 minutes
Production company(s)	Warner Bros. Animation
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	Cartoon Network
Picture format	16:9 HDTV
Original release	September 6, 2010 – December 2, 2013[1]
Chronology
Related shows	Mad TV
External links
Website

Mad is an American animated sketch comedy produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The series was based on Mad magazine, where each episode is a collection of short animated parodies of television shows, movies, games, celebrities, and other media using various types of animation (CGI, claymation, stopmotion, etc.) instead of the usual animation style that Warner Bros. Animation is known for. The series premiered on the evening of September 6, 2010 on Cartoon Network.^[2] The series ended its 3-year run on December 2, 2013.

Recurring sketches

The series has some recurring sketches:

• A Mad Look Inside – A short piece in which viewers see a magical world inside a celebrity. This only played during Season 1.
• Alfred E. Neuman for President – During the Election of 2012, there were campaigns for Alfred E. Neuman's presidential election.
• Ask the Celebrity – Where various celebrities respond to fan letter questions, which the answers are always absurd. Such as Miley Cyrus, when asked what she did to put on a good concert performance, states that she rubbed cats on herself and walked on wool carpeting.
• Bad Idea # – This presents a scenario from the long list of possible bad ideas.
• Celebrity Birthdays – This segment shows the birthdays of fictional characters and other people in show business. Only one section of this type has been shown, though.
• Celebrities Without Their Make-Up – The segment shows what real and fictional celebrities would look like without their make-up. For example, Zach Galifianakis is Benson from Regular Show without his make-up, Russell Brand is a wooden nutcracker without his make-up, Robert Pattinson is Alfred E. Neuman without his make-up, Iron Man is C-3PO without his make-up, and SpongeBob SquarePants is a fruitcake without his make-up.
• Commercials – There are some commercials for fictional items and programs on every episode.
• Dear Reaper - Letters from children and letters from the Grim Reaper about their death.
• Don Martin – Adaptations to comics strips by longtime Mad cartoonist Don Martin.
• Drawn-Out Dramas – After one of the primary sketches of the episode concludes, the Mad "wallpaper" will appear and "rip open" to reveal a Sergio Aragones-style sketch in front of a colored background, often using a version of Alfred E. Neuman in some capacity.
• Gross and Beyond Gross – Differences between gross and beyond gross.
• MAD News – A newsman ends up delivering the recent news. This sketch originally began broadcasting randomly in the middle of an episode usually interrupting another sketch. Starting with episode 9, the sketch now serves as a cold opening for every episode until MADvent Calendar came into view as the MAD News goes back to interrupting another sketch.
• MADitorial – An editorial segment starting with episode 5 of Season 4. The sketch is animated by Jorge R. Gutierrez.
• MADucation 101... – Lessons in any subject.
• MADvent Calendar – A series of funny and ridiculous pop culture events that happened recently. Starting with Season 3, the sketch serves as the new cold opening for every episode.
• Mike Wartella – Animations by cartoonist M. Wartella.
• Rejected – A segment revealing rejected ideas within various pop culture properties like Rejected Transformers, Rejected Superheroes, Rejected Audition Tapes, Rejected Pokémon, Rejected Toy Story 3 Characters, Rejected Smurfs, and more.
• Security Cam – A presentation of surveillance footage of things that happens at public places during nightly closing hours. Each video features supernatural occurrences that suggests would never happen during the day.
• Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions – An adaptation of Al Jaffee's reoccurring magazine feature, it features a scenario when a person asks a question regarding something that obviously presented, resulting in the person or people who were asked to give a sarcastic response that suggest otherwise.
• Spy vs. Spy – An adaptation of the long-running comic series Spy vs. Spy.
• Super-villains for Your... – A parody of the PSA segments from the Super Friends. Here various super-villains from the Legion of Doom present themselves as moral guidance to some child or children. However, as they are villains, they always manage to swindle, double cross, or betray the children resulting in them dying at the villain's hand or suffering some unforeseen related event.
• This Day in History – A look at an achievement on the day of the initial broadcast. Most cases it will involve a lesser known person of historical significance doing or coming up with something in the shadow of another well-known historical figure.
• What's Wrong with this Picture? – A game depending on what is virtually incorrect about the picture shown on the screen, but tells the correct or least likely things shown hyped as the wrong thing.
• Where's Lady Gaga – A Where's Waldo type sketch featuring pop superstar Lady Gaga who is hiding at a small-time public function. The viewer is asked to try to find her only to see at the end that she is always cleverly disguised as a prop to blend in perfectly with her surroundings.

Episodes

Voice cast

Principal cast

• Kevin Shinick
• Hugh Davidson
• Mikey Day
• Larry Dorf
• Rachel Ramras
• Gary Anthony Williams

Guest/other voices

• Jason Antoon
• Eric Artell
• Diedrich Bader
• James Barbour
• Josh Beren
• Gregg Berger
• Jeff Bergman
• Gregg Bissonette
• Steven Blum
• Rachel Butera
• Jen Cohn
• Chris Cox
• Daniel Cummings
• Brian T. Delaney
• Grey DeLisle
• Barry Dennen
• John DiMaggio
• Ben Diskin
• Chris Edgerly
• Eden Espinosa
• Keith Ferguson
• Quinton Flynn
• Will Friedle
• Tamara Garfield
• Ralph Garman
• Mark-Paul Gosselaar
• Gilbert Gottfried
• Clare Grant
• Seth Green
• Nikki Griffin
• Melinda Hamilton
• Anthony Hansen
• Whit Hertford
• Aldis Hodge
• Richard Steven Horvitz
• Tom Kane
• Tom Kenny
• Arif S. Kinchen
• Seana Kofoed
• Stan Lee
• Matthew Lillard
• Beth Littleford
• Eric Lopez
• Biz Markie
• Deborah Marlowe
• Jason Marsden
• Julia McIlvaine
• Jim Meskimen
• Breckin Meyer
• Piotr Michael
• Dan Milano
• Shirley Mitchell
• Jason Nash
• Julie Nathanson
• Nolan North
• Jason Palmer
• Nicole Parker
• Rob Paulsen
• Christopher "Kid" Reid
• Corinne Reilly
• Peter Renaday
• Kevin Michael Richardson
• Joey Richter
• Elizabeth Rodriguez
• Rico Rodriguez
• Salli Saffioti
• Meredith Salenger
• Ben Schwartz
• Michael Sinterniklaas
• Dana Snyder
• Kath Soucie
• Stephen Stanton
• Brody Stevens
• Tara Strong
• James Patrick Stuart
• Cree Summer
• Catherine Taber
• Fred Tatasciore
• Kirk Thornton
• Ho-Kwan Tse
• Christine Tucci
• Alanna Ubach
• Andrew W.K.
• Windy Wagner
• Audrey Wasilewski
• Michaela Watkins
• Frank Welker
• Scott Whyte
• Billy Dee Williams
• Debra Wilson
• Thomas F. Wilson
• Henry Winkler
• Adam Wylie
• "Weird Al" Yankovic
• Victor Yerrid
• Keone Young

Awards and nominations

2012 Emmy Awards

Outstanding Short Format Animated Program for "Kitchen Nightmares Before Christmas / How I Met Your Mummy" (Nominated)

2012 PAAFTJ Television Awards

Best Animated Series (Nominated)

International broadcast

Country	Network
United States	Cartoon Network
Canada	Cartoon Network
Latin America	Cartoon Network
Philippines	Jack TV
Russia	2x2
Australia	GO!
France	France 4
Portugal	RTP2

DVD release

The DVD Mad – Season 1, Part 1 was released on September 20, 2011 with a matted 1.33:1 picture and an English stereo track. The extras on the DVD are trailers for Young Justice, the 2011 ThunderCats, and The Looney Tunes Show.^[3] The rest of the first season was released on January 17, 2012.^[4]

References

1. http://turner.tekgroup.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=6661&
2. http://www.thewrap.com/television/column-post/cartoon-network-will-premiere-two-new-series-labor-day-20389
3. Gord Lacey (September 9, 2011). "Mad – Season 1, Part 1 Review". TV Shows On DVD.
4. David Lambert (September 21, 2011). "Mad – Cartoon Network/Warner Announces 'Season 1, Part 2' on DVD!". TV Shows On DVD.

External links

• Mad at the Internet Movie Database