When We Went MAD! Blu Ray Review (Gravitas Ventures)

When We Went MAD! is a 2025 documentary film co-written, edited, produced, and directed by Alan Bernstein (One Half Gone). It was co-written and produced by Nate Adams (Countdown to WFA: King of the Streets, Bad Ass Bikers, Meme Gods, Vanquish, The Ritual Killer, and Mr. Birchum). It was produced by Adam Carolla (Windy City Heat, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, The Hammer, Crank Yankers, The Man Show, The Adam Carolla Show, and The Andy Milonakis Show). It’s a detailed look into the origins, story, influence, and a tribute to the legacy of MAD Magazine. It shows it’s stamp on pop culture and the media over the years. It features interviews with Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, The Hateful Eight, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, and Grindhouse), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Your Honor, Seinfeld, Little Miss Sunshine, Drive, Godzilla, and Malcolm in the Middle), Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This is 40, The King of Staten Island, and Funny People), Howie Mandel (Gremlins franchise, The Outer Limits, and Little Monsters), “Weird Al” Yankovic (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, UHF, Mad, Spy Hard, The Naked Gun franchise, and Tapeheads), Jimmy Kimmel (Road Trip, Garfield: The Movie, Smurfs franchise, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and The Man Show), Howard Stern (Private Parts), David Zucker (Airplane! franchise, The Naked Gun franchise, Ruthless People, BASEketball, Scary Movies franchise, and Top Secret!), and Gilbert Gottfried (Beverly Hills Cop II, Aladdin franchise, Up All Night, and Problem Child franchise). It also has conversations with a variety of MAD artists, writers, and editors that were all known as the Usual Gang of Idiots!!!! MAD magazine might be the most important comedy publication ever made. It’s responsible for so many inspirations all over the world and it’s a heavy influence in pop culture. It was a risky project that paid off with it’s uncensored approach. This was announced on Kickstarter in 2013 when it was officially launched that raised around $50,000. Director Alan Bernstein has been consistently working on this feature for 12 years before it was finally released everywhere. It was actually developed around 4 years ahead of that process so 16 years total of dedication. When We Went MAD goes over the beginnings and it’s current status of the iconic entertainment magazine. They discuss it’s start in comics. They break down it’s changes during it’s long existence. They go through the family business that blew up way bigger than expected. They chat losing most of their staff to a rival at one which caused a major switch from the past. They say their subjects and no holds barred style upset the F.B.I because nothing was taboo for the ambitious company as they battled censorship. Some of the biggest names around which Quentin Tarantino, Bryan Cranston, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Judd Apatow, David Zucker, Howard Stern, Jimmy Kimmel, Howie Mandel, Gilbert Gottfried, and Jimmy Kimmel. They all share their personal experiences, interactions, favorite material, and what MAD meant to them since they first discovered it. A few even admit that being on the cover was one of their biggest achievements in their impressive careers. I honestly figured that most of these celebrities would barely be in this documentary but they were featured heavily here which was a nice surprise. It has various other people that chat about the classic funny magazine which includes Sergio Aragonés, Samuel Wolf, Sam Vermiglio, Frank Santopadre, Harold Prince, Grant Geissman, Drew Friedman, Mort Drucker, Al Feldstein, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, Paul Coker, and Tim Carvell. They talk about it’s competition and rip offs during it’s popularity. They bring up their material getting praise even before it was released to the public at times by the media. They were offered help from some of the biggest companies around. They refused to deal with advertisers because it would compromise their uncensored atmosphere and they always did it themselves. It brings up some of their most known parodies and it’s mascot Alfred E. Neuman. It points out some of biggest films were fans of it’s outrageous narrative and it shows in the work. It has plenty of behind the scenes information, stories, and footage. I personally learned so much about this hilarious publication that I didn’t know about. It’s a passion project for Alan Bernstein and all it’s contributors, you can easily tell that MAD meant so much to them. This is a must watch for any fans of parody, spoof, and comedy. Unfortunately, there’s no special features on this disc. This is a M.O.D (BD-R) home video release from Gravitas Ventures. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, this is one of my favorite documentaries of the year so far. It’s a must own and it needs to be added to your collection. RECOMMENDED!!!!