Last November real-life ad agency McCann NY took out some cheeky advertisements celebrating their "takeover" of fictional ad company Sterling Cooper in the season three finale of "Mad Men." Last Sunday the show returned the favor with one of its patented pre-PC throwaways, courtesy of Sterling Cooper holdover (and alternate universe Atlantic scribe) Ken Cosgrove. Said a boozy Cosgrove of McCann's corporate culture: ""It's the worst agency I've ever seen. The worst. My mother was a nurse at the state hospital [ ... ] and that was the last time I saw so many retarded people in one building."

Yowza. The agency, to its credit, seems to be taking the comment in stride, with creative director George Dewey even offering these potential rejoinders to New York magazine's Emma Rosenblum:

• "The 'Mad Men' premiere garnered 2.9 million viewers while the 'Jersey Shore' premiere garnered 5.2 million viewers. Clearly, the 'retards' are the winning team."

• "It is not appropriate to make fun of people with disabilities. You know, like TV writers."

• "We watch 'Mad Men' for the commercials. We skip through the actual show."

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Ray Gustini