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Spy: The Funny Years Hardcover – October 25, 2006

by Graydon Carter (Author), George Kalogerakis (Author), Kurt Andersen (Author)

29 customer reviews

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Just in time for the 20th anniversary of Spy's creation comes the definitive anthology, inside story, and scrapbook. Spy: The Funny Years will remind the magazine's million readers why they loved and depended on Spy and bring to a new generation the jewels of its reporting and writing, photography, illustration, design, and world-class mischief-making. It will demonstrate Spy's singular niche in American magazine and cultural history. But it is also intended to be enjoyed on its own: one beautiful volume containing Spy's funniest and most creative work, along with the ultimate insiders account of how it all came to be.

All the best is here: Separated at Birth; Naked City; The Fine Print; Logrolling in Our Time; the Blurb-o-Mat; those hysterical (and now ubiquitous) charts; the inside stories on the New York Times and Hollywood by J.J. Hunsecker and Celia Brady; the covers; investigative features; and the hilarious stories on pretty much everyone who was anyone during the late 80s and early 90s. Not to mention the often grisly but always entertaining regular cast of characters from Spy's pages -- the churlish dwarf billionaires; beaver-faced moguls; bull-whip-wielding uber-agents; knobby-kneed socialites; and, of course, short-fingered vulgarians.

During its heyday, from 1986 through 1993, Spy broke important ground in journalism and design, defining smartness for its generation. It was a once-in-a-lifetime creation that shaped the zeitgeist and succeeded (for a while) against all odds. Spy: The Funny Years will be the fun, stylish, hilarious holiday gift of the year.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With equal parts nostalgia and snarkiness, this history /anthology celebrates the now legendary satirical magazine during its heyday—aka 1986 to 1991, when founders and partners Andersen (Turn of the Century and host of [PRI's] Studio 360) and Carter (editor of Vanity Fair) ran the show (the magazine folded as a monthly in 1994). "We were very lucky to catch two waves—the post-'60s ironic mood and the go-go financial mood," observes Andersen, and these pages offer plenty of opportunity to travel back to those heady days of "Separated at Birth?" and "The Spy Guide to Postmodern Everything." Those who wondered what life at Spy was really like will also be rewarded: former deputy editor Kalogerakis [...] has collected plenty of stories about minuscule paychecks, ridiculously tight budgets and bacchanalian parties (Andersen and Carter chime in with extensive annotations). Certain to be on the holiday wish lists of aging hipsters. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Spy was the most influential magazine of the 1980S . . . it was cruel, brilliant, beautifully written and perfectly designed . . ." -- Dave Eggers

"It's a piece of garbage." -- Donald Trump

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Product details

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Miramax (October 25, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401352391
ISBN-13: 978-1401352394
Product Dimensions: 10 x 10 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 29 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #837,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Newspapers & Magazines
- #4782 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Pop Culture > General
- #5926 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Communication & Media Studies

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Ernest Roberts

This isn't a collection of articles

May 31, 2013

Verified Purchase

I expected a volume of selected articles and instead found that this book is a history of the magazine. I guess it's fine for people who want to know what this or that editor said one day, or how a magazine is published, but it bored me to tears. I was hoping to read articles that made the magazine memorable, not stories of the day to day lives of authors and editors.

Not my cup of tea.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

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R. W. Rasband

SPY: More Influential Than Ever

January 16, 2007

Verified Purchase

I have several piles of old SPY magazine back issues around my house, so I suppose I am part of the ideal audience for this book, "SPY: The Funny Years." It contains a generous sampling of classic SPY articles that I recognized, as well as a few that I missed from the first few issues when I guess it wasn't very available outside New York City. The book also features a detailed history of the magazine written by former editor George Kalogerakis with notes and commentary by co-founders Graydon Carter and Kurt Andersen.

You ask, "why should I buy a big, sort of expensive book about a magazine from twenty years ago?" Well, first because this book is funny as hell. Two of the first pitches of SPY were "The New Yorker crossed with the National Enquirer and David Letterman", or "MAD Magazine for grown-ups", and those are pretty good descriptions. The famous article about the Bohemian Grove is reprinted here in full, as well as Paul Rudnick and Kurt Andersen's "The Irony Epidemic" (perhaps the quintessential SPY piece), and Joe Eszterhas' flame-thrower letter to Mike Ovitz (with annotations.) The best SPY articles produced belly-laughs and cool investigative journalism at the same time.

The history of the magazine included in this volume might seem a little inside to those who aren't already fans, but if you read it you will learn why SPY was probably the most influential magazine of the last twenty years, certainly since the heyday of the National Lampoon. SPY was reviewing other reviewers before blogs were even thought of, and its brand of radical skepticism towards all things media has been ripped off by VH1, E!, and every other pop culture outfit you can name. Only SPY was smart. I think I got a post-graduate education of sorts from my reading of erudite pieces like the satiric explanation of post-modernism reprinted here. (SPY was the first place I had ever heard of post-modernism, which tells you either how smart it was or how sheltered I was at the time.) Each issue demanded a lot from the reader, which is probably why it wasn't long for this world. (In a just universe, SPY would still be going strong and be universally recognized for inventing "reality" entertainment, for good and ill.)

Co-founders Carter and Andersen have gone on to become solid members of the media establishment (and some would say that "Vanity Fair" editor Carter has become what he once mocked.) Old issues of SPY are avidly sought after on eBay. And "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" try to emulate SPY, not realizing that the old magazine didn't have a political agenda: it made fun of everybody. This book is a valuable keepsake for admirers of the magazine and a good introduction for those who are yet unfamiliar but are curious about the legend. Man, I sure do miss it.

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(Loretta&Dolly)

Five Stars

January 22, 2018

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Funny, funny. funny!

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

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Jim Yoakum

WHEN PRINT WAS FUNNY

January 22, 2013

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Maybe the days of funny print are over but if so this book tells the tale of the glory years when Spy mag ruled the world. Some of it is dated, sure, it was of its time, but as an avid reader when it was kicking this is a glorious journey back in time. Plus it looks great. A must for short fingered vulgarians everywhere.

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Joseph C. Sweeney

Spy lives!

January 21, 2009

Verified Purchase

The greatest magazine of my youth is reprised here in book form! Anyone familiar with how wonderful and fascinating Spy magazine was back in the late 1980's should read this one. Spy broke new ground in "funny" and "ballsy" in the pre-internet age of media. Quite funny and well worth the time, though anyone not familiar with Spy probably won't get much out of it.

Highly recommended for former Spy readers!

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Zabadu

Great book

August 13, 2008

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I loved Spy. I remember one issue that had autopsy reports on Jim Croce and someone else, in tiny print, in the margins. This was an outstanding magazine, too far ahead of its time to succeed. Hell, it wouldn't succeed now; way too much narcissism today for anyone to find humor in it. This book is a great tribute to a great magazine.

Did anyone ever win the prize for the errors on the cover?

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Jared_S

disappointed

October 12, 2012

Verified Purchase

I thought this book would be fascinating, but it's kinda of boring. SO unlike the original magazine. THere is a lot of
writing, but the design is so thoughtful, pretending to be chic, it's rather hard to read. The type is so small. I couldn't get though it.

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N. Miller

Spy, the funny years

August 29, 2013

Verified Purchase

Absolutely hysterical memorial of Spy magazine. Yep, those were the funny years . . . kind of like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and Jon Oliver. My absolute favorite is here: the war playoff series. Guess who is undefeated world champion?

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