Mad #435 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Friends Issue - November 2003

The first parody of Friends ("Fiends") appeared in Mad #339.  Eight years and 96 issues later, Mad says good-bye to them.  But what was the point of it all?  It was a popular show that created six new multi-millionaires for the world.  The guys were super-inept and the gals were super-naive.  The plots all seemed the same to me as twenty-something angst became thirty-something angst.  These six attractive humans spent most of their free time together except when they were dating other people who never fit into their dysfunctional group.  Mad evaluated the retiring young millionaires from two perspectives: 1. "Signs That Friends Just Don't Give a Damn Anymore" and 2. "More Ridiculous Friends Spinoffs We're Sure to See".  I do not care about number one since I stopped watching this repetitive show after season one.  And, fortunately, we were not bombarded with all of those awful spinoffs after Joey tanked in 2006.  Look for John Ficarra and Charlie Kadau in Ray Alma's drawing of the camera crew.  Mad cover artist Mark Fredrickson wins the Friends drawing contest.  [JAM 5/26/2014]

Iraq War Humor: Writer Stan Sinberg puts Bush and Rumsfeld in a tank forcing "regime change" on innocent Iraquis ("Where Do They Get Off? Vol. II"); Writer Greg Leitman thinks Tom Selleck looks a lot like Saddam Hussein ("More Ridiculous Friends Spinoffs We're Sure to See"); Writer Mike Mikula expects Bush to start at least five more wars ("Non-Sports Over/Under Bets"). 

Color Pages: 43 of 68 pages (63%)
Humorous Content: 49 of 68 pages (72%)

Departments:
Bland on the Run - Carpool - The Video Game
Inferior Decorators - Trashing Places
We Have Nothing to Fear Except Queer Itself
Dis the Season - Signs That Friends Just Doesn't Give a Damn Anymore
Gallbearers - Where Do They Get Off? Vol. II
The Wizard of Odd - Duke Bissell's Tales of Undisputed Interest
Sticker Schlock - Unintended Bumper Messages
Split-Coms - More Ridiculous Friends Spinoffs We're Sure to See
Angster's Paradise - Monroe and ... The Downloads
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy
The Plot Sickens - Mad's Make Your Own Movie Sequel
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Fashion
Monkey Pee, Monkey Poo - 101 Uses for Zoological Waste  [fake department]
Schlock the Vote - Things We Might Have Seen Had Jerry Springer Run for the Senate
The Blizzard of Odds - Non-Sports Over/Under Bets
May the Horse be with You - Seebrisket
Tales From the Duck Side - Some Like It Shot

Fold-In - Hazing