Playboy is a monthly magazine, founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates and targeted at adult men. The magazine is published monthly and features photographs of nude women, along with various articles on fashion, sports, consumer goods, and public figures. It also has short fiction by top literary writers. Playboy's use of "tasteful" nude photos is often classified as "softcore" in contrast to the more "hardcore" pornographic magazines that started to appear in the 1970s in response to the success of Playboy's more explicit rival, Penthouse.

References

• In a 1966 presentation for La Choy, the magazine is featured during a Superman-esque introduction which claims that Delbert the La Choy Dragon is "sexier than Playboy."

• A copy of Playboy can also be seen on the conference table for a Wilson's Meats Meeting Film.

• Kermit's mansion in The Muppets is decorated with various magazine covers. One of them is a doctored cover of the Fall 1982 issue of Playboy Fashion with Kermit and Raquel Welch. Although the cover has been manipulated for the movie, the two did once share the actual cover of Us magazine in 1978.

Connections

Several artists whose work has appeared in Muppet/Henson productions have also contributed to Playboy.

Models

• Drew Barrymore
• Amanda Beard
• Downtown Julie Brown
• Cindy Crawford
• Bo Derek
• Carmen Electra
• Daryl Hannah
• Chelsea Handler
• Jenny McCarthy
• Shanna Moakler
• Denise Richards
• Lisa Rinna
• Marge Simpson
• Nancy Sinatra
• Vanna White

Other magazine staff

• B. Kliban was a longtime illustrator for the magazine.
• Harvey Kurtzman, creator of the "Little Annie Fanny" comics in Playboy, worked on several Sesame Street inserts that aired in the 1980s.
• Cliff Roberts, who created Jasper and Julius for Sesame Street and created the Sesame comic strip, also contributed to Playboy.
• Alberto Vargas was featured as a pin-up artist.
• Dean Yeagle has been featured both in Muppet Magazine and in Playboy.