Trigger Warning: Woody Allen

Here's one of the humor pieces Playboy would do once in a while that was kind of like the articles in Mad, but too dirty for them. Here's a piece they did in October 1967.

Jules Feiffer
March 1967

I know it's not cool too like Woody Allen right now but this stuff is fifty years old. I compartmentalize that way, applying things to the standard of the time they were produced.

As an artist, he did hit after hit (with a few missteps) until the mid-90s when he became completely inconsistent, maybe somewhat lazy. His output has been very inconsistent but with bigger actors in it for the prestige. I don't even know most of what comes out until a couple years later. It's never publicized. I don't even think some of his films are even shown in theaters sometimes. It's like guerilla filmmaking, except by someone in their eighties.

As a person, and the only reason I'm writing this, he's a bit more—shall we say, complex—to say the least. A lot of people I know, both male and female, don't like him because of the charges from some of his family. It was in the news back when it happened, dismissed by the courts, and resurfaced a few years ago when his stepdaughter wrote an op-ed piece. Even without that story, he has a small enough moral compass. I won't say unequivocally that he did or didn't touch her. I see it as part of the bigger picture, the idea that all women should be given the benefit of the doubt, it's not like anyone's lying with something to gain.

Regardless, here are a couple pieces he did for Playboy back when he was just a comic and comedy writer, and just did fare like Take the Money and Run. This first one was in their November 1967 issue.

February 1969