head comedy writer editor of Cracked
Born in Brooklyn, Laikin graduated in 1944 from James Madison High School. Returning home in 1947, he studied English at Columbia University and began writing for leading comedians, including Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, January Murray, Editor Wynn and Alan King.
Satirist Jay Lynch commented, "He was an important figure in the world of whatever that is, that Mad magazine, post-World World War II satire thing." Publisher Jim Warren called him "one of the funniest minds in the world."
He was stationed at the former Dachau concentration camp (then a prison for Germans convicted of war crimes). In 1957, he started writing for Mad and later contributed to other humor magazines. He replaced Harvey Kurtzman as the editor of Jim Warren"s Wildest Westerns magazine.
Foreign three years he was the editor of Cracked.
