Well it's official - John Mayer is a complete and total pig. A very quotable, jaw-droppingly honest, hilarious, fairly introspective pig. But a pig nonetheless. He did a lengthy interview with Playboy in which he discussed his racist penis, having sex with Jessica Simpson, dropped an n-bomb and much much more. Here are some highlights. (more...)

collection The recent New Yorker Christmas cover, featuring a brilliant Barry Blitt illustration of President Obama bowing deeply to Santa Claus, reminds us of how much we like the long tradition of magazines making bold holiday statements on their covers for the December issue. We went to our local newsstand looking for more of these covers and found… very little. What was once considered essential for any magazine worth its ink and paper has now obviously been banished by an aggressive War on Christmas Magazine Covers by the Forces of Evil. (more...)

Playboy magazine is not the cultural touchstone it once was and is on track to lose $8 million this year. To counteract such disappointing numbers, the company has decided to outsource all of its publishing jobs, excluding only editorial, to generically named American Media Inc., according to a report from Reuters. (more...)

video Let no one accuse Glenn Beck of not having a sense of humor. As predicted, Beck took some time last night to highlight his sort of starring turn on South Park last week (Cartmen discovers a socialist regime at South Park elementary): "You haven't lived until South Park has done an entire episode on you...Last week Eric Cartman played a much thinner version of me." But he didn't stop there! Jon Stewart's Beck impression warranted a hat's off: "Congratulations Jon, very funny stuff." The New Yorker, SNL, and Playboy -- where you will find him "between the cheeks and the nipples" -- also received honorable mentions. Video below:

video To begin, a side note: My big takeaway from the Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin interview was that I wish Oprah would have shown a tiny bit of the sort of ferocity Glenn Beck routinely shows towards his subjects (sans the chalkboard) towards Palin than she did (she showed none). Maybe she needed a purple squad! (more...)

POLL Yes, that is Marge Simpson naked on the cover of the November issue of Playboy, covered by a strategically-placed bunny head. It's how the magazine is honoring the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons. (more...)

Over at Webdesigner Depot, Angela West has put together an excellent list of 30 of the most controversial magazine covers of all time. A) we wish we had thought of it first, and B) we urge our readers to check it out. Looking the list over, a few patterns start to emerge: (more...)

VIDEO The other big star at Fox News besides the usual hosts we write about here (Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck) would be Sean Hannity, who's ratings each night make him the #2 or #3 cable news host on television. Last night on his Great American Panel, he featured FNC regular and longtime Democratic strategist Bob Beckel, right-wing regular Erick Erickson of RedState.com...and Playboy cover model and "singer" Aubrey O'Day. The conversation, inevitably, moved to masturbation. (more...)

In a July interview with Playboy, Alec Baldwin was true to his actor ego and ambitiously revealed his desire to enter politics. "I have sometimes thought I could move to New Jersey or Connecticut and run," he told the classic skin-mag, singling out every lefty's favorite turncoat Joe Lieberman as a potential opponent. "I have no use for him," said Baldwin before admitting that "it's all fantasy" because he wouldn't ever be able to leave New York, as noted by Gossip Cop. The half-hearted challenge seems to have left Lieberman a little shaken, though, as the Connecticut senator took to CNN's "State of the Union" to dust off the potential contest, telling Baldwin: "Make my day." In what might be interpreted as a smug tone and with a nervous chuckle, Sen. Lieberman continued, "You know, I must say that I respect Alec Baldwin as an actor and as a comedian, and if he wants to run, that’s his right." (more...)

A brief but candid interview between Folio's Jason Fell and new Playboy CEO Scott Flanders featured the following exchange:

FOLIO:: What about your experience at Freedom Communications, and elsewhere throughout your career, has prepared you to serve as chief executive at Playboy? Flanders: I have operated in the media business my entire career and have taken on situations with businesses in transition. Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve been a change agent. In 1999, I joined Columbia House, which was a $1.5 billion marketer of music and VHF tapes right before Napster was released and DVDs emerged. We had a business that was over 50 years old, that started in the same timeframe as Playboy, that needed to migrate into the new model, including online. I think that singular experience is most analogous to the opportunities for Playboy.

It's worth noting that Mr. Flanders facilitated a leveraged buyout of Columbia House by The Blackstone Group in June 2002. In conjunction with the transaction, AOL Time Warner and Sony Corporation each retained minority ownership interests. In May 2005, Blackstone sold the company to Bertelsmann in a transaction which closed in July 2005. This begs the question -- is Playboy officially on the market? Back to the interview:

FOLIO:: So, then, is Playboy on the block? Flanders: The company, as a policy, does not comment on “rumors.”

We'll let you be the judge.