"The Lighter Side of..." is an American satirical comic strip series written and drawn by Dave Berg and published in Mad Magazine from 1961 to 2002.
Concept
"The Lighter Side of..." gently satirized everyday topics such as medicine, office life, parties, marriage, psychiatry, shopping, and school. Originally Berg would take an omnibus topic and deliver approximately 15 short multi-panel cartoons on the subject. From late 1980 on he used multiple topics for each installment. The series had no recurring characters, except for the hypochondriac Roger Kaputnik and his personal doctor, who typically concluded every monthly installment. Kaputnik was a self-caricature. Berg also caricatured his colleagues whenever he drew gags based around an office. Publisher William M. Gaines's head was often seen mounted on a wall like a taxidermied moose's head. Compared to much of the other content in Mad Magazinethe strip was notable for being more old-fashioned and less brutal in its style of comedy. The drawing style was also more realistic. Still, according to Mad's editors, "The Lighter Side" was the magazine's most popular feature. After Berg died the strip was retired.
Homages and reboots
Four months after the last Berg artwork was published, his final set of gags, which Berg had written but not penciled, were published in Mad as a tribute. They were divided among 18 of the magazine's regular artists, including Jack Davis' last original work for Mad. In 2007, an occasional feature called "The Darker Side of the Lighter Side" debuted, which consists of reprinted Berg strips, with rewritten word balloons that change the gags to black comedy topics.
Publications
Sixteen original collections by Berg were published as paperbacks between 1964 and 1987.
The artist's lightweight gags and sometimes moralistic tone were roughly satirized by the National Lampoons 1971 Mad parody, which included a hard-hatted conservative and a longhaired hippie finding their only common ground by choking and beating Berg. Bart Simpson reads "The Lighter Side of... Hippies" in The Simpsons episode "Bart of Darkness" and laughs: "They don't care whose toes they step on!" In "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", Bart visits Mad Magazines headquarters, where he witnesses Alfred E. Neuman calling for "Kaputnik and Fonebone". While Neuman is yelling, Kaputnik is walking right behind him. In Family Guys parody of , the episode "It's A Trap!", Chris Griffin suggests that Stewie Griffin should hang out on the "lighter side" instead of "the dark side of the force". This leads to a cutaway which spoofs the comic strip.
