Mar022005
Not a Premier Target
Filed Under Humor Magazine
crak city map romeGawker had some fun with the announcement of Harvard Lampoon’s next parody target this past Friday. (The title “Do Toothless Parodies Sell Magazines” is a play on “Does Sex Sell Magazines” the cover line Lampoon’s 1969 Time Parody). The tweak on publishing a parody with the permission of Premiere is a little unfair, since the parody is going to newsstands rather than the bookstore humor section. An unsanctioned parody on the newsstands makes a very easy case for a lawyer as far as confusing readers. If permission is obtained and confusion happens, at least the targeted publisher knew what they were getting into.
But Gawker is right on the choice of target. I haven’t looked at or thought about Premiere magazine in ten years and don’t imagine many others do either. It’s a good vehicle for Hollywood jokes I suppose, but almost ANY magazine would be just as good. And those magazine would be more likely to have a distinct voice on which to hang those Hollywood jokes. Lampoon’s president Simon Rich says Premiere needs to be taken “down a peg or two,” but it’s real difficult to think of a single story or issue that would support that.
If you were going to parody a mainstream magazine now, I can only think of two targets: US Magazine and Maxim. US’s obsession with celebrity culture is great fodder, as well as it’s teetering Enquirer-People personality. Maxim has a distinct voice and audience that perfect to exaggerate (although the slamming frat boys trap would be all too easy to fall into). I don’t know if either would give permission like Premiere would, and maybe that’s where the problem lies. Anybody who would give permission probably isn’t worth doing and anybody who wouldn’t, is.
Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to being proven wrong. The Harvard Lampoon parody of Premiere comes out May 31st.
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