Mad #470 (John Ficarra) - Earl Issue - October 2006

Scientologist Jason Michael Lee is a professional skateboarder from Huntington Park, California who starred as "Earl" in 96 episode of My Name Is Earl from 2005 to 2009.  Mr. Lee is also known as the voice of "Dave" in three terrible "Alvin" movies, and as the voice of "Underdog" in Underdog.  Earl is a reformed thief, cad and loser who vows to make amends to all he has offended in his dysfunctional life.  As you might imagine, all 96 attempts at atonement ran into complications with (hopefully) comedic effects.  Writer David Shayne decided to update Earl's friend list by adding Jennifer Aniston, President Bush, fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to the show ("How Lame Is Earl").  Mark Fredrickson's cover drawing ("Earlfred") and the celebrity drawings of Mort Drucker save this "lame" parody concept.  Monroe is back with a new  artist (Tom Fowler) but I still struggle to find the humor in multiple skin boils.  I give Teresa Burns Parkhurst much credit for two cringe-inducing humor topics: "10 Things Not to Say During a Hospital Visit" and "Children's Holiday Characters From 'Round the World".  Ms. Parkhurst can never be criticized for being repetitive (unlike the My Name Is Earl writers).  [JAM 10/20/2014]

Color Pages: 56 of 64 pages (88%)
Humorous Content: 44 of 64 pages (69%)

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
Swindler's List - How Lame Is Earl?
The Joke's on Youth - A Back-to-School Look at the Common Miscues, Flubs & Screw-Ups of the Novice Class Clown
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Price Clubs
Pen And Stink - The Mad Strip Club
The Wheel Deal - The DMV Road Test for the Real World
Clay Achin' - The Most Common Injuries Suffered by Wallace & Gromit  [fake department]
The Sick Sense - 10 Things Not to Say During a Hospital Visit
Angster's Paradise - Monroe & ... The New Beginning
Breaking the Lore - Children's Holiday Characters From 'Round the World
Another Brick in the Rall - 7 Periods Closer to Death
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
If Cooks Could Kill - Yell's Kitchen

Fold-In - Parents