The Playboy interview became a regular feature of the magazine in 1962 and set a high standard for periodical journalism.[ 1] [ 2] AP News called the feature "models of the art form", stating that "Playboy 's long and searching conservations are remarkable for the people who spoke to the magazine and for what they said."[ 3] Booklist called the Playboy interview "the gold standard for in-depth discussion with leading cultural figures".[ 4] [ 5]
The conversations with artists, athletes, business leaders, and political figures have been referenced by mainstream publications such as AP News, Billboard , CNN , Los Angeles Times , The Paris Review , Slate , Time , Variety , Vice , and The Washington Post as a benchmark for in-depth interviews. Publishers Weekly commented on the feature's ability to go further than a normal magazine interview: "Since the interviews have no length restriction, interviewers are able to probe deep into their subjects and allow them to ramble expansively."[ 6]
The Los Angeles Times described the subjects as coming from "all across the cultural spectrum: entertainment, politics, literature", calling them "open-ended, sprawling, a kind of 'Charlie Rose Show ' of the printed page",[ 7] and Playboy 's format served as inspiration for Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner when he designed his own magazine's approach to interviews.[ 3]
The Playboy interview with candidate Jimmy Carter is regarded by many to have influenced the 1976 presidential election,[ 8] and the interview with John Lennon before his death (later published as a standalone book) is referenced in several retrospective articles by other media.[ 9] [ 10] Playboy 's interview with pop singer Azealia Banks caused controversy for her open criticism of the American public.[ 11] [ 12]
Selected interviews have been published as mass-market collections, including The Playboy Interview (1981)[ 13] and The Playboy Interview Volume II (1983).[ 14] In 1992, a large-format book The Playboy Interview: The Best Of Three Decades 1962-1992 , was released with a foreword by CBS journalist Mike Wallace .[ 15]
Dark Horse published five collections of the interviews from 2006 to 2008: "The Comedians", "Movers and Shakers" (business), "The Directors", "Larger Than Life" (high-profile celebrities), and "They Played The Game" (sports).[ 16] In a review of this series, the Directors Guild of America said, "The Playboy face-to-face encounter is remarkable", and "the lengthy, in-depth interviews are well researched and more penetrating than standard-issue media chatter."[ 17]
The following people have been featured in Playboy magazine as the subject of the full-length interview or the 20Q (Twenty Questions) section.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2010
Interview
Sean Combs
John Mayer [ 68]
Sarah Silverman
Matthew Fox
Michael Savage
Cameron Diaz
Cornel West
Paul Reubens
Josh Brolin
Robert Downey Jr.
Conan O'Brien
20Q
Guy Fieri
Shaun White
Will Forte
B. J. Novak
Russell Brand
2011
Interview
Frank Gehry
Lamar Odom
Deepak Chopra
Helen Thomas
Barney Frank
Lawrence O'Donnell
Justin Timberlake
James Franco
Steve Buscemi
Paul Rudd
Anthony Bourdain
Craig Ferguson
20Q
2012
Interview
Chris Wallace
Paul Krugman
Jon Hamm
David Brooks
Tom Cruise
Charlie Sheen
Richard Dawkins
Lee Child
Stephen Colbert[ 69]
Quentin Tarantino
20Q
2013
Interview
Matt Damon
Jimmy Kimmel
Clive Davis
J. J. Abrams
Ai Weiwei
Sean Hannity
Tony Robbins
Samuel L. Jackson
Bernie Sanders[ 35]
Ray Kelly
20Q
2014
Interview
Ben Affleck
Nick Denton
Stan Lee
Tony Hsieh
Jonah Hill
Gary Oldman[ 70]
James Spader
David Fincher
Brian Schweitzer
Joaquin Phoenix
20Q
Patton Oswalt
Ty Burrell
Iggy Pop
Kate Mara
Kevin Hart
Marc Maron
Frank Miller
Bob Corddry
David Walton
Charlie Day
2015
Interview
Joaquin Phoenix
Vince Vaughn
Dick Cheney, Azealia Banks[ 11]
Bill Maher
Reza Aslan
Jeremy Renner [ 71]
Sanjay Gupta
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Christoph Waltz
Bryan Cranston
20Q
2016
Interview
Ron Howard
Rachel Maddow
Don Cheadle
Ray Kurzweil
Trevor Noah
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Andy Samberg
Jason Dill
Michael Hayden
Billy Bob Thornton
20Q
2017
Interview
Matthew McConaughey
Scarlett Johansson
Ezra Klein
Christopher Nolan
Patton Oswalt
Chelsea Handler
20Q
2018
Interview
Christie Hefner
John Krasinski
Cecile Richards
Kathy Griffin
Michael Shannon
Tucker Carlson
20Q
Cillian Murphy
Jesse Plemons
Jim Jefferies
Lakeith Stanfield
Sofia Boutella
Charlie Cox
2019
Interview
Sam Harris
Seth Ambramson
Tarana Burke
Jeremy O. Harris
20Q
2020
Interview
Christiane Amanpour
Jameela Jamil
--
20Q
^ Giles, Matt (September 29, 2017). "The Genius of the Playboy Interview" . Longreads . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy's Iconic Interviews Come Roaring Back to Life" . LAmag - Culture, Food, Fashion, News & Los Angeles . January 19, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ a b c "Playboy's interviews were models of the art form" . AP News . September 30, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ Playboy Interviews: The Directors, edited by Stephen Randall | Booklist Online .
^ "Reviews - The Playboy Interviews: The Directors" . Dark Horse Comics . Retrieved July 30, 2024 .
^ "The Playboy Interviews - The Directors (Review)" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved July 30, 2024 .
^ a b "Revisiting classic Playboy interviews with e-books" . Los Angeles Times . September 6, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ a b "Jimmy Carter and Playboy: How 'the weirdo factor' rocked '76" . AP News . April 16, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ Oyler, Lauren (September 10, 2015). "You Don't Have to 'Imagine' John Lennon Beat Women and Children—It's Just a Fact" . Vice . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ Oppelaar, Justin (December 19, 2002). "McCartney on feud with Yoko: Let it be" . Variety . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ a b Leopold, Todd (March 17, 2015). "Azealia Banks: 'I hate everything about this country' " . CNN . Retrieved July 29, 2024 .
^ Toppa, Sabrina (March 18, 2015). "Azealia Banks: "I Hate Everything About This Country" " . Time . Retrieved July 29, 2024 .
^ Golson, G. B., ed. (1981). The Playboy interview . New York: Playboy Press. ISBN 978-0-87223-644-8 .
^ Golson, G. B., ed. (1983). The Playboy Interview Volume II . Perigee Books. ISBN 9780399507694 .
^ Wallace, Mike (foreword) (1992). The Playboy Interview: The Best of 3 Decades 1962-1992 . Playboy Enterprises. ISBN 9780872239081 .
^ "Playboy interview collections by Dark Horse Comics" . Dark Horse Comics . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "The Playboy Interviews: The Directors - Stephen Randall & the editors of Playboy" . www.dga.org . Retrieved July 23, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1962" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ a b c d e f g h i Lynch, Joe (September 28, 2017). "From Frank Sinatra to Azealia Banks: 10 Fantastic Artist Interviews From 'Playboy' " . Billboard . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1963" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Alex Haley Interviews Malcolm X" . Alex Haley . July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2024 .
^ Isenberg, Noah (April 5, 2021). "The Making of Billy Wilder" . The Paris Review . Retrieved July 23, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1964" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ a b c d Linsky, Max (November 26, 2012). "Read Playboy ... for the Interviews" . Slate Magazine . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Ayn Rand Playboy interview March 1964" . archives.aynrand.org . Retrieved July 23, 2024 .
^ Nelson, Max (January 21, 2016). "Kicked Toward Saintliness" . The Paris Review . Retrieved July 28, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1965" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "MLK's famous criticism of Malcolm X was a 'fraud,' author finds" . Washington Post . May 25, 2023. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved July 23, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1966" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ " '8½': Federico Fellini's Daring, Self-Reflexive Masterpiece as a Most Intimate Exploration of Cinema • Cinephilia & Beyond" . January 27, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2024 .
^ "The Ten Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews of All Time" . Vulture . October 4, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1967" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1968" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1969" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ a b c d e "7 of the Best Playboy Magazine Interviews of All Time | Cool Material" . coolmaterial.com . June 28, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1970" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1971" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1972" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1973" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1974" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1975" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1976" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1977" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1978" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1979" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1980" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1981" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1982" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1983" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1984" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1985" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1986" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1987" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1988" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1989" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1990" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1991" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1992" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1993" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1994" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1995" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "From Russia, With Lust Zhirinovsky Puts The Moves On Playboy Writer, Translator At Interview | The Spokesman-Review" . www.spokesman.com . Retrieved July 28, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1996" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1997" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1998" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "Playboy Archive 1999" . Playboy | The Complete Archive . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ "One of Amazon's biggest challenges in its early days was solved by an obscure book about lichen | Business Insider India" . Business Insider . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ Herrera, Monica (February 10, 2010). "John Mayer's Sexually, Racially Charged Playboy Interview Sparks Outrage" . Billboard . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ Zakarin, Jordan (October 23, 2012). "Stephen Colbert's 'Playboy' Interview: Super PAC, Family and Jon Stewart" . The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved July 22, 2024 .
^ McNary, Dave (June 24, 2014). "Gary Oldman Blasts Hollywood Politics, Defends Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin" . Variety . Retrieved July 31, 2024 .
^ "Jeremy Renner Opens Up About Divorce and Sexual Preference Rumors" . ABC News . Retrieved July 31, 2024 .