If I were still reading MAD, I would probably appreciate it. At the time it came on the scene, it was perfect timing for my age level. It was a comic book for an older generation, at least that is how I thought of it, but for all the crazy nonsense in it's pages, there was a kind of intellectual humor to it, at least to an 11 year old like myself.
Sometimes it required knowledge of current films and events. I remember its parody of the film Moby Dick, or Morbid Dick as the MAD version was called. I had never read anything that made me laugh so hard before that time. My parents of course didn't understand it. I would try to explain it to them, but they only seemed worried about me. I wondered at times if something was wrong with me, but I couldn't stop reading.