Spy (magazine)


Spy was a satirical 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, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Steven Seagal, Martha Stewart, and especially, the real-estate tycoon Donald Trump and his then-wife Ivana Trump. Pejorative epithets of celebrities, e.g., "Abe 'I'm Writing As Bad As I Can' Rosenthal," "short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump," "churlish dwarf billionaire Laurence Tisch," "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's alleged extramarital affairs. 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.

Features

Introduced in the May 1987 issue, Private Lives of Public Enemies 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 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 October 2006, Miramax Books 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 Charlie Hebdo shooting, Donald Trump made a series of tweets attacking both Spy and Charlie Hebdo, calling Spy a "rag magazine"
In October 2016, Esquire magazine produced a special online version of Spy during the last thirty days of the presidential campaign.

Books