Could be, though what he said implied he wasn't getting along with Mike BEFORE he handed the host reins over to him. (Again, this is conjecture; he didn't say Mike's name and could just as easily have been referring to Jim Mallon or somebody else. But he DOES seem to have a beef with Mike.)
I'm more of a Mike fan but Joel was a perfectly good host. As a character he was more laid-back; as a comedian he focused more on sight gags than Mike did. (Hence CT continuing with the silhouette format where Film Crew has given it up.) The whole concept was originally Joel's, of course, and some of the best eps were Joel-era (most notably Manos, though a few of my other favorites are Godzilla vs. Megalon, Cave Dwellers, Pod People, and Joel's swan song, Mitchell).
As for the rest of the cast, I generally preferred Beaulieu's Crow to Corbett's, Murphy's Servo to Weinstein's, and Forrester/Frank to any other Mad combination. So I guess that means seasons 5 and 6 were the sweet spot for me. But don't get me wrong, I loved the whole series.
