Comic strip for Mad.
Sam Viviano is an American (comic) artist, best known for his wide-jawed caricatures and crowd scenes. Born in 1953 in Detroit, Michigan, Viviano attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, in 1974 obtaining a degree in Fine Arts. He began his career as a textile designer in New York in 1975. Eventually, he got caricature and illustration assignments, among other for titles published by Scholastic Magazines (a.o. Dynamite! and Bananas). Among his main graphic influences are painters Michelangelo, Rembrandt Van Rijn and Diego Velazquez and comic artists Carl Barks, Roy Crane, Robert Crumb, Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, The Fleischer Brothers, Carmine Infantino, David Levine, Norman Rockwell and Ronald Searle. Between 1980 and 1990, Viviano illustrated many covers for Scholastic Magazine.
His earliest magazine cover for Mad - issue #223 (June 1981), depicted Larry Hagman as J.R. in 'Dallas'. Three issues later, Hagman reacted in a letter to Mad: "I immediately went out and bought 100 copies of the magazine! Of all the covers I've made in the last two years, such as Time, Saturday Evening Post, etc., the two that have given me the most pleasure are your crazy publication, which I have been devoted to since the early 1950's, and appearing on the cover of the 1981 CBS Stock Holder's Report. I loved the spoof! You caught me dead to rights!".
By 1984, Viviano received regular assignments from Mad Magazine, doing features like the movie parodies and fun advertisements. He also pioneered in digital illustration for the magazine, and was assigned art director in January 1999. He remained part of Mad's staff until 2019, when they moved their offices from New York City to Burbank, California. Interviewed in Mad XL #24 (November 2003), Viviano named his parody of 'Titanic' his personal favorite.
In issue #321 (September 1993), Mad printed a letter from actor and comedian Keenen Ivory Wayans, regarding Mad's spoof of ‘In Living Color' (issue 317, March 1993, scripted by Arnie Kogen (under the pseudonym A.J. Marley) and Sam Viviano. Wayans described it as a “pleasure”.
Based on an idea of Desmond Devlin, Viviano illustrated the cover of Mad issue #325 (February 1994), which featured U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore as Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head. The Hyatteville, Maryland, newsletter reported that that same month, on 9 February, Clinton and Gore visited the Prince George's County Correctional Center. One staff member of the center's library deliberately left this very Mad issue behind in the hope that the political duo would notice it. The next day Clinton and Gore had autographed the cover, which they considered "really funny".
On the cover of Mad issue #495 (November 2008), Viviano featured Mad's mascot Alfred E. Neuman in a parody of U.S. President Barack Obama's promotion posters, as designed by Shepard Fairey. Fairey himself said on his personal website that he considered this Mad spoof "something I consider a high point in my career for pop culture recognition." In issue #497 (January 2009), Mad published his quote and their reply: "That gives US hope!"
Viviano has additionally contributed to Rolling Stone, Family Weekly, Reader's Digest and Consumer Reports. Between 1981 and 1992, Viviano taught a caricature class at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts. Ray Alma was one of his students.
Caricature of Sam Viviano (left) in Mad.