# MAD's Dave Berg, Kaputnik **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2002, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666 "2002-05-24T15:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/21 "2002-05-24T22:01:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Labdad \* > \*\* > > Nah - I’m pretty sure Mort Drucker and Jack Davis are still with us, and they’re both younger than Jaffe and joined the gang of idiots before Jaffe did. \*\* You’re probably right. Add to that the fact that [Jaffee mouths off to a lot of people](http://www.vividvision.com/Duffy/Jaffeespews1.jpg) and performs deadly magic tricks, I’d guess that ain’t good for the ol’ life expectancy. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/22 "2002-05-24T23:56:25Z")
Yep, Argones is still around, doing Groo I think. I just picked up the current Mad for my son, saw Berg’s latest, and thought ‘son of a gun, he’s still around?’ The parodies in that issue (the Britney Spears one) are still on top, especially “The Royal Paininthebums” (I think it was called that.) Just saw the movie, and it was on target. Done by one of the old MADmen, too. I’ll miss you, Dave. PS: He didn’t do nudes in Mad, but he still drew hot women! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/23 "2002-05-25T00:22:09Z")
To becoming the old geezer “Mad? You call that rag you younguns are readin’ Mad? Now, when _I_ was a kid we had Mad.” ``` Apparently I've hit the age when all the people who conspired to make my childhood wonderful die. ``` What Is Berg Doing Now? IMO- Picture man wearing big glasses and a white robe. He is smoking a pipe and smiling. He sketches frantically on a large pad. Pan to shot of pad-The Lighter Side Of Being Invisible In The Womens Locker Room. RE-Berg’s Women I agree completely. What’s more, he drew hundreds of incredibly sexy women _who were realistically proportioned._ Anybody got any links???😃 ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/24 "2002-05-25T00:27:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*I remember reading years ago that William Gaines was a militant atheist, while Dave Berg was an observant Jew. > \*\* Dave Berg was a messianic Jew, and essentially the lone social conservative voice of “The Usual Gang of Idiots.” His moral clashes with Gaines (who was, yes, an atheist). He was also, consistently, the single funniest writer that Gaines ever hired, although Martin and Aragones come close. Damn, it sucks to lose him. Oh, and just to make an **UncleBeer** -proof version of **TigoleBitties** ’ comment: Damn, it sucks that Berg is gone while Garfield and Cathy continue unabated. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/25 "2002-05-25T00:39:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Some Guy \* > \*\* > > Dave Berg was a messianic Jew, \*\* :eek: :eek: Excuse me while I pour a steaming cup of cofee down my pants in an attempt to reconnect with reality. Better now. ``` I'm just kinda stunned here. Anybody have a link to a bio? I'd look for one myself but this second shock has fried the vacuum tubes in my mental veeblfetzer. ``` ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/26 "2002-05-25T00:49:29Z")
I’m not attempting to voice any opinion on Messianic Judaism. It’s just a fact that completely clashes with my view of Berg. I am attempting to express shock/confusion, not shock/approval or shock/disapproval. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/27 "2002-05-25T02:20:09Z")
Damn. This is quite a loss. Will there be anything worth reading in **Mad** anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/28 "2002-05-25T03:38:12Z")
Let me just say that I don’t think it was cancer that killed Berg, it was the fact that _Mad_ started have advertisements. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/29 "2002-05-25T07:13:37Z")
Well, the fish and the niced women have been mentioned. Berg also included a tree in his backgrounds. Arthur? Is that the right spelling? I understand the tree really did exist. It’s evidence that at one time somebody at MAD ate a salad. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/30 "2002-05-25T18:23:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Some Guy \* > \*\*Damn, it sucks that Berg is gone while Garfield and Cathy continue unabated. \*\* And both strips will probably continue long after their creators have died. In fact, Jim Davis doesn’t draw “Garfield” now, so that cat will almost certainly out-live him. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/31 "2002-05-25T20:17:11Z")
☹ ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Kahuna_Burger)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/32 "2002-05-25T21:59:34Z")
The same day I get MAD, Dave Berg dies. I wonder if _The Ligher Side_ will continue now that he’s gone, just like how Spy vs. Spy continued even after the guy who did it originally [I’m having a brain freeze here, maybe the sunburn destroyed my brain too] left. I don’t like Monroe (it’s just depressing and rarely funny, the last one I liked was the 2000 Christmas issue) and they have this new thing, “Duke Bissell’s Tales of Undisputed Interest,” but Tom Caldwell, Mike Snider, Sergio Aragones, the Letters and Tomatoes Page and the Fold-ins, $3.50 will always be Cheap!. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/33 "2002-05-25T23:30:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Some Guy \* > \*\* > > Dave Berg was a messianic Jew, \*\* I don’t think he was. He was an Orthodox Jew, I think Hasidic, and he was an illustrator of the “Mosiach Times”, which is a children’s magazine put out by Tzivos Hashem, the Lubivicher founded Jewish youth group. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/34 "2002-05-27T01:34:45Z")
I’d like to know exactly which flavor of Judaism Berg followed, since it seems to have been an important part of his life and character. Again, I’m not trying to say one kind is good and another is bad. They’re just very different. ``` Considering that Cap's post contains more specifics, I'm leaning toward him. ``` BTW-I’ve been unable to find any sites containing nudes by Berg. Either admit that you’re lying, or post some links. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TigoleBitties](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@TigoleBitties](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TigoleBitties)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/35 "2002-05-27T06:43:55Z")
wish I could Only time I seen the nudes were at a showing in Chicago and they were owned by someone who I believe commissioned them. Shame too…they are tasteful and very beautiful to look at. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666/36 "2002-05-28T16:19:45Z")
I have _got_ to find [Totally Mad](http://www.dccomics.com/mad/totallymad/) and reminisce about when Mad was really Mad and not some imitation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mads-dave-berg-kaputnik/110666.md?page=1)