Mad #452 (John Ficarra) - Celebrity Poker Issue - April 2005

There were four articles and a cover drawing devoted to poker in this issue but "A Mad Peek Behind the Scenes at Celebrity Poker Showdown" is by far the best.  Four writers (Desmond Devlin, Steve Rosso, John Caldwell & David Shayne) contributed to this one a artist Tom Richmond outdid himself with an amazing triple-splash-page (it should have been a fold-out).  Richmond paid tribute to fellow Mad artists John Caldwell, Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Paul Coker, Antonio Prohias (and/or Peter Kuper), Bill Wray, Dave Berg, Al Jaffee, Duck Edwing, Kevin Pope, Garth Gerhart, Tom Bunk, and P.C. Vey by placing their characters in the poker audience with founder Bill Gaines.  Also of note in the splash are Alfred E. Neuman playing with flash cards [the square root of five divided by infinity equals zero], Yosemite Sam, Paul Newman, Max Korn, a house of cards, Pete Rose, an eight-ball, a black bomb, Arthur, Flip and Ben Affleck's double-Jen tattoo.  In the other poker articles Loser Monroe started his own celebrity game; Andrew Schwartzberg reminded us that Ben Affleck does not really have a poker face - that is his only facial expression ("Ben Affleck: The Art of the Poker Face"; John Caldwell shows what the poker phenomenon is doing to our culture ("... Thanks to the Popularity of Poker ..."); and, Mark Stutzman drew the cover of Alfred playing poker with dog with a "Potrzebie" clock and the Mad zeppelin in the background.  The other exceptional article in this issue is "Mad's Minute-by-Minute Breakdown of a Typical Red-Carpet Pre-Awards Show" by David Shayne with perfect drawings by Rick Tulka. [JAM 8/12/2014]

Note that none of the index graphics labeled as 6, 10, 14, 18, 28, 38 or 42 actually appear in the issue.  Must be an April Fool's joke.

Color Pages: 40 of 56 (71%)
Humorous Content: 46 of 56 (82%)

Departments:
Pranks for Nothing - Mad's April Fools' Contents Page  [12 fake departments]
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages  [Celebrity Cause-of-Death Betting Odds - Jon Stewart]
Slight of Handler - Limited Thickwit's A Series of Uneventful Misfortunes
Capitol Funishment - 8 Solid Reasons to Get Rid of the Death Penalty
All Bets Are Awful - A Mad Peek Behind the Scenes at Celebrity Poker Showdown
Angster's Paradise - Monroe and ... Texas Hold 'Em  [not a fake department]
Babs in Goyland - Repeat the Fock-Ups
Anchor Away - Dan Rather's Final News Broadcast
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Bullies
A Mad Ad Parody - Ben Affleck: The Art of The Poker Face
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
The Walk of Lame - Mad's Minute-by-Minute Breakdown of a Typical Red-Carpet Pre-Awards Show
The Tragically Chip - Thanks to the Popularity of Poker ...
Trump Roast - One Fine Morning in Florida
The Vile, Vile West - Dreadwood

Fold-In - Steroids in Baseball