5 MAD Magazine Parodies from the 1990s That Aged Perfectly

With that in mind, we set out to identify the five best pop culture parodies from the 1990s, skewering movies like Gremlins 2, The Flintstones, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While it’s been more than 30 years since issues appeared on magazine racks, most of the jokes haven’t aged a day since the source material has remained popular. Actually, a couple of them have managed to get better with age thanks to the current state of American politics.

1

The Flintstones

In issue number 331 from 1994, artist Angelo Torres and writer Dick DeBartolo parodied The Flintstones for the release of the new movie starring John Goodman as Fred Flintstone. There are a bunch of good little jokes in this one, like Dino’s resentment of Barney the Dinosaur, but the best one is a running gag about how much of a rip-off The Flintstones is of the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, as the characters keep accidentally calling each other by the character names from that show.

2

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Artist Sam Viviano and writer Dick DeBartolo took on the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film in issue #298 from October 1990. Much of it is about how the characters seem like rip-offs of Star Wars characters — like, Splinter resembling Yoda; and Shredder resembling Darth Vader — but the best jokes are about the merchandising juggernaut the Turtles had become at that time. The best line in the parody comes on the first page, when Splinter chastises Raphael for beating up a pretzel vendor since the Turtles are supposed to remain in the shadows.

“We must not be seen anywhere!” Splinter shouts, “except on licensed lunch boxes, sweat shirts, hats, bendable dolls, watches, and our Saturday cartoon show and Nintendo games!”

3

Gremlins 2

In MAD issue 298 from October 1990, artist Mort Drucker and writer Stan Hart took on Gremlins 2, and as much as Gremlins 2 is already a parody, they managed to squeeze off some good jokes that actually play better in 2026 than they did in 1990. The main reason for that is because of the character Daniel Clamp, played in the movie by John Glover. That character was already an obvious parody of Donald Trump in the movie, but in the five-page parody, the character is renamed to “Donald Chump” and made to look exactly like Trump. There are also a number of jokes about what a gross, greedy sleazeball he is, the best of which comes from a panel where the female Gremlin has become Chump’s secretary, and he thinks how easy it’ll be to take advantage of her at the company Christmas party, which sounds pretty much exactly like our esteemed commander in chief.

4

The Wizard of Oz

This is another one where our current politics enhance the comedy from a quarter-century ago. In issue number 300 from Jan. 1991, MAD did a 1990s take on The Wizard of Oz where the movie was recast with celebrities from that time. Some of them are still recognizable — like Vanna White as the Good Witch of the North — while others are nearly forgotten to history, like Tammy Faye Bakker as the Wicked Witch. The best bit of casting goes to the Wizard, played by Donald Trump. At the end of the story, rather than grant them whimsical gifts like the Wizard does in the movie, he gives them all loathsome advice, like encouraging the Scarecrow to get into selling junk bonds.

5

Edward Scissorhands

Artist Angelo Torres and writer Dick DeBartolo spoofed Edward Scissorhands in issue number 304 from 1991. Most of the parody points out the film’s many idiosyncrasies, like why Edward was given scissor hands to begin with, or why this woman would bring him home at all. One fun running gag in the story is that Edward keeps cutting all the hedges into licensed characters, like the Simpsons and Big Bird, but the best joke comes in a flashback where Edward recalls the death of Vincent Price’s character, The Inventor. In the parody, The Inventor begins to choke on some food and Edward tries to give him the Heimlich maneuver, slicing him in half.