What’s a Pasquinade?
pas · qui · nade | \ ˌpa-skwə-ˈnād \ n. A satire or lampoon, especially one that ridicules a specific person, traditionally written and posted in a public place.
The word originated in Rome. According to one story, there was a shop there in the 15th century owned by a man named Pasquino. Outside of his shop there was a somewhat mutilated statue, where satirical poems were frequently posted. Pasquino himself was said to be quite a wit, and was thought to have been the source of most of the poems.
Is this stuff for real?
In the words of the Pasquinade’s own supercomputer, the PASJ2000S, “Does the Pope shit in the woods?”
Where are you located?
Though we have contributors all over the globe, the Pasquinade is headquartered in a gleeming office tower overlooking the only city tacky enough to have spawned John Waters and Sisqo… Baltimore, Maryland.
How do I become a contributor?
Fill out this form and await further instruction.
Do you publish any print issues?
Each fall, depending on the alignment of the planets, we publish our spoof issue, in which we parody a magazine genre. For more information, or to request print copies, just send us an e-mail.
Do you guys do movies too?
Yup. In 2003, the Pasquinade developed Pasquinade Films, an independent film production company which has produced three feature films and is in development with a sitcom pilot.
What’s your story?
The Pasquinade has been around for a while. Print versions of the magazine have been kicking around college campuses and coffee shops since the fall of 1995. The brainchild of Dallas Shelby, a college journalism student with a bent for satire and a love of pop culture, we have featured everything from Jocelyn Elders’ first post-DC interview to a review of the misunderstood horror film “The John Wayne Bobbitt Story.”
The Pasquinade has since cut its print production, focusing its energies on the Internet. Within a few short months our site had already gained media attention [including a mention on NPR] and had won a slew of awards.
Did The New Yorker really run a cartoon with the caption, “The Pasquinade sucks?”
Popularity within the publishing community is an ever-fluctuating thing. True, for a time there was a bit of a rivalry between our magazine and The New Yorker, but they never printed a cartoon that read “the Pasquinade sucks.” The exact wording was, “It [ the Pasquinade ] blows.”