Mad Fold-in - Outside Cultural References

Outside Cultural References

On January 24, 2010, the New York Times published a specially-constructed "Fold-In" crossword. The fully completed puzzle could be folded in the Jaffee style to reveal six further solutions, each of which was something that could itself be folded (e.g. LAWN CHAIR, NEWSPAPER, POKER HAND and ORIGAMI). Also mimicking Mad's design, the top and bottom rows of the crossword both featured an "A" and a "B" in their horizontal grids, which needed to be folded together to touch one another to produce the desired result.

Beck's 2005 video for "Girl," is based heavily around fold-ins, ranging from paper fold-ins to elaborate collapsible sets, including a foldable sidewalk and a foldable pharmacy. One of the video's Fold-Ins revealed the name "Al Jaffee."

In 2006, Stephen Colbert saluted Jaffee's 85th birthday on an episode of The Colbert Report with a large "fold-in" birthday cake, bearing the message "AL, YOU HAVE REPEATEDLY SHOWN ARTISTRY & CARE OF GREAT CREDIT TO YOUR FIELD." But after the center slice was removed, the remainder spelled out the message "AL, YOU ARE OLD."

That was not Jaffee's first interaction with the comedian. In 2010, he recalled:

"I got a call from The Daily Show — they asked me if I would contribute a fold-in to their book, America. I said I'd be happy to do it. When I was done, I called up the producer who'd contacted me, and I said, "I've finished the fold-in, where shall I send it?" And he said — and this was a great compliment — "Oh, please Mr. Jaffee, could you deliver it in person? The whole crew wants to meet you." And that's where I met Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart and all the writers, and they told me it was our work in Mad that inspired them. Not me, particularly, but us, generally. They're your age, and they said, "Without you guys, we wouldn't be here." And I felt really good about that."