Yo, Philly! Here’s a Web site just for youse

More than two centuries after Ben Franklin wrote his daughter a letter declaring his admiration for a certain native bird, there’s a new turkey in his town. And it’s one that Franklin the satirist would no doubt appreciate.

With its playful brand of humor, its silliness and, most importantly, its unwavering devotion to lampooning some of Philadelphia’s most prestigious political figures and institutions, The Philadelphia Turkey [www.phillyturkey.com] is a satirical Web site in the vein of The Onion that takes aim solely at the City of Brotherly Love.

Offering visitors “news youse can use,” the Web site is the brainchild of writer and cartoonist Jacob Lambert, AS ’00. Lambert came up with the idea last summer, and with the help of his friend Dan Baker, AS ’00, who designed and maintains the technical aspects of the site, The Philadelphia Turkey soon became a reality.

Before starting the online venture, Lambert had worked for MAD and Nickelodeon magazines, which helped him hone his satirical skills. “I’ve been writing for MAD for about eight or nine years and Nickelodeon for the past four years, so writing that kind of stuff was something that I had already been doing,” he says.

Lambert started at MAD on a six-week summer internship for credit, while still attending UD as a fine arts major. “I started writing stories for them during my internship, and eventually after a few months, it started to pick up and after a couple years [the work] was pretty regular,” he says.

Though writing for MAD continues to be Lambert’s main source of income, he says, he also contributes frequently to Nickelodeon magazine.

“I sold them a couple of cartoons four years ago, and then I started selling cartoons more regularly, and eventually through that I started writing for the magazine,” he says. “Now, for the past year, I’ve been doing Sponge Bob Square Pants comics for them.”

The experience Lambert gained at the two magazines helped instill in him the discipline necessary to run a weekly Web site like The Philadelphia Turkey, he says, but developing the work ethic to achieve his goals is also something he attributes to his time as a student at UD.

“In terms of taking this kind of thing seriously as a career, the discipline aspect is where the University helped me the most,” Lambert says.

“People really think that if you’re just drawing cartoons and writing jokes that it’s somehow easier than sitting at a desk or something, but it’s hard because it’s all on you to make it happen. You have to work that much harder because it’s so competitive and if you take it easy, you’ll fall behind pretty quickly.”

He jokes that the most challenging part of his job is “being able to work really hard at a career that no one actually thinks you’re working hard at.”

Lambert also credits the University for helping him sharpen his cartooning skills, specifically recalling the assistance of Robyn Phillips, associate professor of art.

While at UD, Lambert met his wife, Kirsten Angel-Lambert, AS ’01, who also earned her degree in fine arts.
Speaking about The Philadelphia Turkey, Lambert says, “It was just an idea that I had had for a while, to do an Onion-style site but have it focus just on Philadelphia.”

The site, which has been in publication since the end of October 2007, lampoons everything from serious, politically divisive topics like the Mumia Abu-Jamal murder case, which Lambert admits “is a delicate story to do any kind of humor on,” to more light-hearted topics, such as poking fun at the band Lifehouse as it prepared to play a concert at the Electric Factory.

Lambert, who writes all of the Turkey’s material, does not pull any punches and even goes after Ben Franklin himself. In an article dated 1752 from the site’s “Archives” section, where stories appear that purport to have been published in past issues, Franklin discovers both “electricitie” and a certain social disease.

Other archived stories include a 1978 account of show-and-tell presentations in an area elementary school by 8-year-old future filmmaker Manoj (M. Night) Shyamalan. His teacher and second-grade classmates complain about his “long, convoluted” stories—”My baseball glove is magical…or is it?”—with weird twists at the end.

Another article from the “archives,” dated 1968, reports on the opening of the new South Philadelphia sports stadium and City Council’s discussions on what to name the facility.

“Just as with the Baker Bowl and Shibe Park, this stadium’s name will become an important part of our civic identity,” a councilman is quoted as saying. “That’s why we’ve taken our time in narrowing it down to two worthy choices: our nation’s brave military heroes or an enormously wealthy bank.”

Despite the plethora of material presented to him on a national scale, Lambert says he is dedicated to keeping the Turkey focused on Philadelphia and nowhere else.

“What makes it unique is that it’s just Philadelphia, because if I was going to do national stuff, then it would be just an Onion junior. So keeping it Philadelphia is what I think makes it unique,” he says.

—Adam Thomas