An interview with 89 year old Mad Magazine artist Al Jaffee

If you’ve ever been a fan of Mad Magazine, you should know the name Al Jaffee. At 89 years old, he’s still kicking and still drawing for Mad and probably will be til the day he dies. The grand old man of Mad Magazine recently sat down for a rare interview with Dan Lybarger for the Huffington Post to talk about his work, his legacy and his longevity.

It’s still possible to pick up a copy of Mad and see one of your Fold-Ins. Why have you kept at it after all these years?

I still do. As a matter of fact, I’m on Fold-In #417 now. May I mention the fact that there’s going to be a box set of four books of Fold-Ins coming out this spring?

I guess all 400 Fold-Ins will be in it. It should be very nice. I’m a little bit amazed that it’s gone on so long myself. As a matter of fact, I’m working on one right now.

The last one you did was on institutions that are too “big to fail.”

Oh, yes. It turns out to be Kim (Kardashian’s butt).

Is it true that you produced it by first drawing her and then the stuff that fools the reader in the middle?

I’m going to reveal the secret of it, and then everybody in the country will now be able to do Fold-Ins ad nauseum. You work backwards. You do the answer first, and then you spread it apart and do the middle part. See how simple that is?

Read the entire interview here