''Spy'' was a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

monthly magazine published from 1986 to 1998. Based in New York City, the magazine was founded by Kurt Andersen and E. Graydon Carter, who served as its first editors, and Thomas L. Phillips Jr., its first publisher. ''Spy'' specialized in irreverent and satirical pieces targeting the American media and entertainment industries and mocking high society.

Overview

Some of its features attempted to present the darker side of celebrities such as

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American socialite, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist. He was a son of 35th United States president John F. K ...

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...

, and especially the real-estate tycoon

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and his then-wife Ivana Trump. Pejorative epithets of celebrities, such as " Abe 'I'm Writing As Bad As I Can' Rosenthal", "short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump", "churlish dwarf billionaire Laurence Tisch", "antique Republican pen-holder

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...

", "dynastic misstep

La Toya Jackson La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956) is an American singer and television personality. The fifth child and middle daughter of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, ''The Jacksons (TV ...

", "bum-kissing toady Arthur Gelb", "bosomy dirty-book writer Shirley Lord", and "former fat girl Dianne Brill" became a ''Spy'' trademark. In the summer of 1992, the publication ran a story on President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

's alleged extramarital

affair An affair is a relationship typically between two people, one or both of whom are either married or in a long-term Monogamy, monogamous or emotionally-exclusive relationship with someone else. The affair can be solely sexual, solely physical or ...

s. The following year, it ran an article entitled " Clinton's First 100 Lies", detailing what it described as the new president's pattern of duplicitous behavior. In March 1989, ''Spy'' published "The Pickup Artist's Guide to Picking Up Women: A Case-by-Case Look at Movie Director James Toback's Street Technique." It was written by Vincenza Demetz and included accounts from thirteen women—including the author—who accused Toback of sexual misconduct. Spy was acquired in 1991 by Jean-Christophe Pigozzi and

Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi ( ; ; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest advertising agency in the 19 ...

. In early 1994, the magazine, which was losing money and couldn't find a buyer, was forced to suspend publication. It was saved by Sussex Publishers Inc., the publishers of ''

Psychology Today ''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. The publication began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The print magazine's reported circulation is 275,000 as of 2023. ...

'' and ''

Mother Earth News ''Mother Earth News'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that has a circulation of 500,520 . It is published in Topeka, Kansas. Since its founding, ''Mother Earth News'' has promoted renewable energy, recycling, family farms, good agricultura ...

'', resuming publication with the July–August 1994 issue. The magazine ceased publication in 1998.

Features

Introduced in the May 1987 issue, ''Private Lives of Public Enemies'' (renamed ''Private Lives of Public Figures'', then simply ''Private Lives'' in 1989) presented fictional representations of public personalities in unflattering situations. ''Separated at Birth?'', first presented in a feature article in December 1987, was a regular section which would present juxtaposed photos of two different personalities exhibiting visual similarity, to comical effect. The first of each pair was typically a public figure or celebrity, and the second was usually another such figure, but sometimes (usually in the last set) a more absurd subject such as a fictional character, animal, or inanimate object. ''Separated at Birth?'' became one of the magazine's most popular features and was spun out into a set of paperback books.

Legacy

In 1990, NBC aired a TV special ''Spy Magazine Presents How to Be Famous'' hosted by

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a semi-fictionalized version ...

and featuring

Victoria Jackson Victoria Jackson (born August 2, 1959) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1992. Early life Jackson was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Marlene Esther (née Blac ...

and Harry Shearer satirizing American celebrity culture. In October 2006,

Miramax Books Miramax Books was an American publishing company started by Bob and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films to publish movie tie-ins. Between 2000 and 2005, while Jonathan Burnham was its president and editor-in-chief, the imprint published the memoir ...

published ''Spy: The Funny Years'' (), a greatest-hits anthology and history of the magazine created and compiled by Carter, Andersen, and one of their original editors, George Kalogerakis. In January 2015, after the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo,

made a series of tweets attacking both ''Spy'' and ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; ) is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism ...

'', calling ''Spy'' a "rag magazine." In October 2016, ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' produced a special online version of ''Spy'' during the last thirty days of the presidential campaign.

Books

* ''Separated at Birth?'' (1988, ): A collection of photographs from "Separated at Birth?" * ''Private Lives of Public Figures'' ( Drew Friedman, cartoons from ''Spy'', 1990) * ''Spy Notes on

McInerney The name McInerney is of noble Irish origin where it is found in the modern Irish form of ''Mac an Airchinnigh'' () and in the old and literary forms of ''Mac an Oirchinnigh'' and ''Mac an Oirchindig''. The pronunciation of ''Mac an Oirchinnigh' ...

's '' Bright Lights, Big City''/ Janowitz's '' Slaves of New York''/ Ellis's '' Less than Zero'' and All Those Other Hip Urban Novels of the 1980s'' (1989, ): A CliffsNotes-style look at the literature of the nineteen-eighties * ''Separated at Birth? 2: The Saga Continues'' (1990, ) * ''Spy High'' (1992) * George Kalogerakis, Kurt Andersen, and Graydon Carter, ''Spy: The Funny Years'' (2006, )

References

External links

''Spy'' magazine
at

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Full archive available
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* Todd Leopold
“''Spy'' magazine remembers ‘The Funny Years,’ ”
''

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