"The Lighter Side" was never a must-read for me, but the feature was an essential part of MAD, and some of the gags were insightful and memorable.

Like: Nurse calls man into doctor's office. We see him handing off his toddler son to his wife. Man describes a peculiar irritation on his neck. Doctor prescribes ointment. "Damndest thing," says physician to nurse after the man has left, "if I didn't know better I'd swear the man had _diaper rash_ up there." Out of the office window, we see the patient and his wife walking away. The man is giving the kid a piggy-back ride . . .

Here's a blast from the past: http://boingboing.net/kaputnik.html

While Don Martin was my guy, Berg's suburban 'modern life' sensibility was like training wheels for NYer stuff. Mental lapse: who did Scenes We'd Like To See?

'Scenes' was done by Joe Orlando

The Lighter Side of Death:
You don't need to see what _Mad_ has become.

I remember the piggy back cartoon. And the one where the kids get a cool sled and end up playing with the box. There's a whole slew of 70s movies I've never seen but only know through Mad.

My cool single aunt lived in Tahoe in an A-frame. We'd go there as kids and read Mad in the loft. Goodbye Dave Berg.

This is so weird. I though of Dave Berg this very morning. I was sitting eating a bagel before a job interview and I saw a guy and I remarked to myself, that guy looks like a Dave Berg character. And I wondered how old Berg was. And I haven't thought of Berg in years. It's all my fault. I promise never to think of you, okay?

Gary, that happened to me with Jay Ward (Rocky & Bullwinkle creator). I had a long dream about him, which was weird because I hadn't consciously thought about him for years. Then the next morning I read in the paper that he died.

Gary & Mark, could you please think really hard about . . . oh, that's just being mean. Never mind. :-)

Well, maybe Osama Bin Laden.

To the tune of White Christmas:

I'm dreaming,
Of Osama
Bin Laden.....

;-)

cheers to a great guy !wish he'd last for more time . yeah, don martin was my favrite too.