Desmond Devlin is an American comedy writer. His work has appeared in ''
Mad'' since 1984, and with more than 450 bylined articles, he ranks as one of the magazine's three most frequent non-illustrating writers.
Devlin's recurring features have included "Melvin and Jenkins' Guide to ____," "Badly-Needed Warning Labels for Rock Albums," "Chilling Thoughts," "Stuff My Friend Moish Says," "Pop-Off Videos," "Mad Deconstructs Talk Shows" and "Graphic Novel Review." He has also written over fifty TV and movie parodies for the magazine, including all eight of the ''
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' films
and all six installments of the ''
Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...
/
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional race of people in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. About half average human height, Tolkien presented hobbits as a variety of humanity, or close relatives thereof. Occasionally known as halflings in Tolkien's writings, ...
'' film series.
[
He was nominated for a 2001 ]Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...
for Best Writer for his work at ''Mad''. He was also nominated for a CableACE award in 1994 for the game show ''Rumor Has It
Rumor Has It may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Rumor Has It'' (film), a 2005 romantic comedy film
* ''Rumor Has It'' (game show), a 1993 game show on VH1
* ''Rumour Has It '', a 2016 series by Ndani TV
Music
* "Rumour Has It" (Donna Su ...
''.
In September 2020, with ''Mad'' having been reduced to a primarily reprint format, Devlin and ''Mad'' artist Tom Richmond announced that they were crowdfunding a book of newly-created movie parodies called ''Claptrap''. They launched their Indiegogo campaign with the completed two-page opening spread for '' Star Worse: Plagiarizing Skywalker'', a spoof of the ninth film in the ''Star Wars'' saga. The book will also include takeoffs of older popular or iconic films that ''Mad'' had for various reasons opted not to parody at the time of their releases.The Big Lebowski
''The Big Lebowski'' () is a 1998 crime comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler. He is assaulted as a result of mistaken i ...
'', ''Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'', ''The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...
'', ''Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'', ''Die Hard
''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan, with a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. Based on the 1979 novel '' Nothing Lasts Forever'', by Roderick Thorp, it stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Ale ...
'', ''Goodfellas
''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' Wis ...
'', ''The Princess Bride The Princess Bride may refer to:
* ''The Princess Bride'' (novel), 1973 fantasy romance novel by American writer William Goldman
William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He ...
'', '' Psycho'', ''The Shawshank Redemption
''The Shawshank Redemption'' is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the 1982 Stephen King novella ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption''. It tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), w ...
'', ''Toy Story 4
''Toy Story 4'' is a 2019 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 3'' ( ...
'' and ''Unforgiven
''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American Revisionist Western film starring, directed, and produced by Clint Eastwood, and written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, ...
''.
References
External links
Complete list of Devlin's MAD articles
*
Mad (magazine) people
American comedy writers
American comics writers
American satirists
American parodists
Living people
Hunter College High School alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
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