Dick DeBartolo is a writer for Mad Magazine. He is occasionally referred to as "Mad ' s Maddest Writer," this being a follow-up to Don Martin's former status as "Mad ' s Maddest Artist." DeBartolo is cited as a "Creative Consultant" on the magazine's masthead.
Mad has long spaced out DeBartolo's articles to ensure that at least one appears in every issue. Thus, he has appeared in over 350 consecutive issues, dating back to 1966. This is the longest such record streak, surpassing Sergio Aragones by nine issues. Aragones would be 25 issues ahead of DeBartolo's run if not for a single missed issue, #111. Al Jaffee would also be 16 issues ahead of DeBartolo had he appeared in issue #360. Other than these three, only Dave Berg (whose streak was halted by his death) appeared in as many as 300 consecutive issues. Don Martin and Paul Coker Jr. both surpassed 200 straight.
DeBartolo was also a long-time writer for TV game shows, beginning with Barry-Enright and moving on to Goodson-Todman. During the early 1960s, while writiing for Match Game, DeBartolo cast the show's panelists and guests in his own 8mm film comedies which he shot on the studio's rooftop. A rare public showing of those films was held in a Manhattan hotel ballroom in 1964. DeBartolo told GSN in 2006 that when The Match Game moved west in the 1970s, he stayed in New York and sent in his questions to the Match Game staff in Los Angeles. The West Coast version ran for nine years on CBS and in syndication. After his experience on the Match Game, DeBartolo served as creative consultant on other Goodson-Todman game shows.
