The day I embraced being an Idiot marked the pinnacle of my career in professional cartooning.

Despite the prestige and excitement of finally being published in the New Yorker, nothing compares to the thrill (or the nervous lump in my throat) of seeing my first cartoon in MAD Magazine. Decades after eagerly grabbing my first copy of MAD with my grubby little hands, that moment still stands out. To illustrate the difference in enthusiasm: as a kid, I would spend my allowance on MAD, while I resorted to swiping copies of the New Yorker from my dentist’s waiting room. (I attribute this mischievous behavior to MAD’s influence.)