"I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I've searched for the phrase "not a doctor" in all the Mad's from the '70s
through the '80s. (There's a way to search all issues at once, but don't ask
 me what it is or how I found it.)

A remotely (oops! I mean "eerily") relevant passage occurs in issue 230
(Apr., 1982) in the Soap de Jour Department (p. 44). This relates the story
of DeGenerate Hospital.  Marcus Welby is on board and asks someone I don't
recognize, "If you're not a Doctor, why are you operating on this patient?!"
The reply is, "It's part of my cover! I'm faking being a Doctor while I'm
looking for a secret formula that's being passed here at DGH!" Welby tops
this with, "Well, you're doing a lousy job impersonating a Doctor at this
hospital. You're doing everything right!"

One could argue that reading this panel planted the idea in the mind of an
ad writer who a couple of years later found himself working on the Formula
44 account. (A TV "doctor" "doing everything right"? Guy in commercial comes
from cast of  _General Hospital_? Formula/  "Formula"?  Get it?)

I wouldn't argue for that proposition, but, hey, I'm not looking for a
dissertation topic right now.

JL

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