Political humor is no longer welcome in Academia as administrators choke the life out of parody
Artist Barry Blitt’s brilliant illustration — which sought to satirize the naysayers who portray Obama as a flag-burning, unpatriotic Muslim and his wife as a black-power radical — cut to the core of today’s political paradox.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | July 30, 2008

Poli-sci

Jimmy Tingle runs again
Comedian Jimmy Tingle is on the stump.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | July 15, 2008

Russert explained

NBC’s top talking head had an outsized influence simply because he did his job so well
In terms of being an old-fashioned, old-style media icon, nobody in broadcasting today could top Tim Russert.
By EDITORIAL | June 18, 2008

The devil and Mr. Young

Multi-office seeker drops the knowledge on House Judiciary
Holy water, Batman!
By PHILLIPE + JORGE | May 14, 2008

Clips ahoy

The treasures of Hulu.com
This past February, Tina Fey returned to host Saturday Night Live and announced, in mock triumph, that the Writers Guild of America had struck a deal with the studios that would pay them for on-line content.
By MIKE MILIARD | April 22, 2008

Publish and Perish?

Blogging Harvard courses could revolutionize open education — if its contributors aren’t expelled first
Professor Tal Ben-Shahar is a resident rock-star lecturer on Harvard’s campus.
By SHARON STEEL | February 28, 2008

Superpower of attorney

The jury’s out on Harvey Birdman
Why did they make this game, again?
By MITCH KRPATA | January 28, 2008

Defending the universally loathed

The Phoenix looks with loving eyes at some of the worst people, places, and things in the world — and gives them a big hug
Forsaken entities deserve a second chance.
By PHOENIX STAFF | January 14, 2008

Wikipedia rules

Wikipedia doubled its number of articles in just 18 months. But who are the “Wikipediots” writing them? And why do they do it?
The ancient Library at Alexandria, once the largest on Earth, housed perhaps 500,000 volumes.
By MIKE MILIARD | December 12, 2007

Comedy Rambo

A gladiator of mockery, Stephen Colbert is dismantling American society from the inside
Misunderestimate Stephen Colbert at your peril.
By DAVID BIANCULLI | November 16, 2007

Cynthia M. Reed

Almost famous
I’m your friendly neighborhood socialite/librarian.
By FRANK MULLIN | November 14, 2007

Puppet government

Four-score-or-so years ago, Will Rogers began a comedic political tradition
When Stephen Colbert threw his hat into the presidential ring — before South Carolina threw it back — he was embarking on a remarkably recurrent pop-culture event.
By DAVID BIANCULLI | November 14, 2007

Mood-swing votes

Fed up with politics-as-usual conventional candidates, the public may well be ready to embrace innovative outsiders
The nation’s political mood is shifting dramatically, and the campaign press has yet to notice the change.
By STEVEN STARK | October 31, 2007

War, peace, and Robert Pinsky

The season's fiction, non-fiction, and poetry
Every few years, a fall publishing season emerges that should remind us that Boston could be the literary epicenter of America.
By JOHN FREEMAN | September 12, 2007

Nothing's sacred

Biting art at AIB
“I’ve been called anti-woman, a racist, anti-Semitic, anti-American, you name it!”
By SHARON STEEL | September 05, 2007

Dead white females

From Fall Out Boy to One Night in Paris , modern pop culture is what it is today thanks to 10 long-expired ladies
Can you remember the last time you curled up under the covers with Marcel Proust’s I n Search of Lost Time ?
By SHARON STEEL | August 08, 2007

The Mauss that roared

Meet the man who could put Boston’s comedy scene back on the map
A month ago, Boston comedian Shane Mauss could barely get local comedy clubs to return his calls.
By SEAN L. MCCARTHY | March 30, 2007

Miss you, Muncie

Armed and Famous goes down; Nashville Star 5 goes on
Inured by long acquaintance as I am to the caprices of reality TV, to its playful love of twists, surprises, rug pullings, plug pullings, and decapitations, I confess to having been thrown for a loop
By JAMES PARKER | February 20, 2007

Stringer in a strange land

Is Borat laughing at you?
One principle of comedy is that something is funny if it’s us laughing at them, not the other way around. Watch the trailer for Borat (QuickTime) The anti-Borat: Ali G on DVD; Sergei Dvortsevoy at the HFA. By Gerald Peary
By PETER KEOUGH | February 20, 2007

Maine’s most massive screw-ups in 2006

Stuff that just should never have happened
2006, we’re going to miss you.
By JEFF INGLIS AND SARA DONNELLY | December 20, 2006

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