Mad #437 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Dumbest People 2003 Issue - January 2004

2003 was a banner year for dumbness especially considering the mass stupidity that existed in the Bush administration.  Mad chose twenty that did not include The Hulk movie, the Iraqi Minister of Information, American Idol, Dr. Phil, Joe Millionaire, Liza Minelli, Mike Tyson, William Bennett, Roman Polanski, Nike, Ben & JLo and Freedom Fries.  Is is time to expand the dumbness issue?  The best of the "20" were "GarbagePailKiss", "The Fall of Geraldo", "Dumb Teen People", "Cheaties", "G.I. Joke", and "Mademi and Child".  This 22-page feature is a bonanza for parody fans.  "Monroe and ... the Presidency" seemed oddly out of place in this issue.  And, what gives with the "tonal rendering" of "The Blue Shield"?  This half-color, half-black-and-white format is irritating.  The Bush administration and its right-wing enablers received the majority of the jabs during the third year of an awful presidency with the "Idiot-in-Chief" cover, page 5 of "The Blue Shield", the great action figure parody on page 29, "Al Frankenstein", "Rush Limbaugh Fumbles", "Five homophobic men", and "Taping Spaces".  Can you believe that these guys were reelected?  [JAM 6/10/2014]

Color Pages: 46 of 64 pages (72%)
Humorous Content: 47 of 64 pages (73%)

Departments:
A Chiklis Wonder - The Blue Shield
Claus And Defect - When Department Store Santas Go Bad
Look Who's Tolkien - Mad's Epic Outtakes from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Mad Dumbest People, Events and Things of 2003
An Embarrassment of Richard's - Unbend-A-Dent! Home Auto Repair Kit
Angster's Paradise - Monroe and ... The Presidency
The Croak's on You - Assisted Suicide Knock-Knock Jokes  [fake department]
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at the Holidays
Zing Out the Old - Mad Counts Down Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve

Fold-In - Movie Box Office