Mad #523 (John Ficarra) - Homeland Issue - October 2013

This issue contains two excellent parodies plus the usual fillers.  The first parody ("Ho-Hum Land") starts with a classic double-splash-page by Tom Richmond that includes Crazy-Eyes "Scarrie Mathison" and Really-Long-Neck "Mess Broody" plus special guest appearances by David Petraeus (out of uniform) and Dick Cheney as himself.  Also, look for 14 appearances by the Prohias spies and one by everyone's favorite sailor, Popeye.  My hat is off to the writer, David Shayne who managed to find some humor in a mostly-depressing television show about the activities of the CIA.  The second great parody is the latest from the team of Scott Maiko and Scott Bricher.  The "Silliams-Wonoma" ... "Catalog for Kooks" is a wonderful collection of luxury items that nobody needs.  Some of my favorites are the "Brimstone Mega-Premium 4-Story Grill" with "a hot tub or a small heliport", the S-W signature "Burger Spackle", the "Garbanzo Bean ... wire hopper" and the "Single Kernel Microwave Popper".  As silly as these fake catalog items are, we all know that we have seen sillier items in actual catalogs.  My only problem with this issue is that "The Cover We Didn't Use" (Alf marrying Ellen and Doogie) is much better, much funnier and much more timely than the actual cover of President Obama among the spies.  The editor call this the "War on Privacy Issue" but the Homeland parody is the only article that remotely considers the privacy question. [JAM 8/20/2013]

The jurors on page 12 are Peter Kuper, John Ficarra, Tom Richmond, Desmond Devlin, Tom Bunk and Anton Emdin.  [Thanks to Ed Meisinger, Doug Gilford and John Caldwell.]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
Claire And Present Danger - Ho-Hum Land
Thinking Inside the Box - Rules of Office Cubicle Etiquette
Rotten to the Encore - The Mad Vault
The Grimm Sleeper - A Fairy Tale We'd Like to See: Goldilocks
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at The Theatre
Reality Bytes - 9 Reasons Technology Sucks
No Rhyme or Season - Global Warming Haiku
Pen And Stink - The Mad Strip Club
The Rodent Less Traveled - Touring America's Rural Backroads with a Squirrel Chauffeur  [fake department]
An Embarrassment of Richard's - The Clear-Crap X-None Digital Antenna!
The Hurt Mocker - The Influences of 50 Shades of Grey on Modern Weddings
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
The Fright Stuff - Chilling Thoughts: 2013 Edition
Too Many Crooks in the Kitchen - Silliams-Wonoma
Our Daily Dread - The Best of the Idiotical

Fold-In - Recorder