Mad #543 (John Ficarra) - Dumbest People 2016 Issue - February 2017

The "Dumbest People, Events and Things" theme began in Mad with issue number 377 (Dumbest 1998).  This 19th edition of the "20" is the most depressing and most unfunny of the lot.  It is all because of the disastrous campaign of Donald Trump and the subsequent election of a minority president who lost the popular vote by 2% and possibly 3 million individual votes.  Trump fills four of the dumbest slots (1. The Toxic Contender; 13. Misogyny; 16 Tax Evader; 20. Foundation) and eight of the 20 are directly related to the ugly 2016 campaign.  In fact, there was plenty of dysfunction during the year to give Trump the entire 20.  His presidency will certainly gain him the top position in the Dumbest Hall of Fame.  But where are the classic Mad parodies of the dumbest?  The editors seemed to be uninspired in 2016 as fascism takes its first grip on our once proud country.  The best parody of the 20 is 18. "Kelly and Michael Aren't Friends" wherein Meredith Zeitlin and Gary Hallgren use Arnold Lobel's 1970 children's book (Frog and Toad Are Friends) to illustrate the politics of daytime television.  While the "Dumbest 20" is usually the best Mad issue of the year, let us hope that it is not so in 2017; or it will be a humorless year indeed.  [JAM 12/6/2016]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
Plane Nonsense - Silly
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Make America Grate Again - When Congress is Influenced by the Parmesan Lobby [fake department]
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Commuting
Mad 20 Dumbest People, Events and Things 2016
Neckelodeon - One Day at the Doctor's Office
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
Pen And Stink - The Mad Strip Club
Out with the Old, In with the Neuman - The Gap-Toothed Gallery

Fold-In - Ghostbusters